| Ah Heng's Daoism Page |
| Chapter One The Dao that can be spoken is not the True Dao; the Name that can be named is not the Eternal Name. The Nameless is the ontology of the Cosmos; the Named spawns the beginning of Cosmological Descriptions. Therefore remove its manifestations to see its true Essence, Adopt its Manifestations to see its tiniest particles. Both methods have different names but are One and the same, which can only be described by Xuan. The circularity of Xuan and its investigations, is the entrance to Divinity (miao). (Heng: The first Chapter describes the epistemic-methodological pursuit of the Dao, which can only be described by Xuan.) |
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| (Heng: Since it is the first Chapter, I must come out to say something. It is very difficult for beginners to understand this Chapter and hence Daoism. Firstly, anything and everything contain both 'manifestations' and 'essence'. Most people see things as 'manifestations' (eg: scientific and academic knowledge) but it is not easy to understand what are 'essences'. For example: can a piece of 'music' be understood from its individual notes and pitches, or 'love' be understood from specific things that people did for you? Of course not. Secondly, although 'essence' or 'spirit' is something which cannot be described by mere words, both 'manifestation' and 'essence' are one and the same throughout. Hence there is only one Existence. Same as there is only one Dao and Truth. Thirdly, the circular investigation of such is Xuan. Understand such investigation allows you to understand Daoism. Therefore the first Chapter explains to you about the 'Named' and 'Nameless'... Well, this is just a mundane explanation so I don't expect anyone to get it. Moreover, it is still not exactly to understand its divinity.) |