GENIUS FORUMS

There are many interpretations out there, and we are aware of the traditional interpretations, but as thinkers, we should take a direct look at the text and see what else it could mean. In that spirit, I would like to take a fresh look at the Tao Te Ching:

The Tao that can be spoken is not the eternal Tao
The name that can be named is not the eternal name

I'm looking at the word "eternal" here. Things change. The more fundamental of things do not seem to change (look at the way people acted in the Bible, and look at how people behave now. Although there are some surface changes, much remains the same). Nevertheless, the way we describe it does change. Since, according to legend Lao Tzu wrote this under duress, he may have opened it by explaining how the words themselves would not eternally describe ultimate reality, especially since the manifestations of it change.

The nameless is the origin of Heaven and Earth

There isn't even a word to describe where Everything came from, and there couldn't have been as names themselves would have come from It.

The named is the mother of myriad things

In contrast, all that we experience comes from someplace traceable.

Thus, constantly without desire, one observes its essence
Constantly with desire, one observes its manifestations

The essence of Everything is everywhere, yet is subliminal to the level of consciousness where desire (desires for or desires against) resides.

These two emerge together but differ in name

Everything is eternal in one sense, but not in another. The idea "chair" may be the essence of what you are sitting on, but the chair you are sitting on is only a manifestation of the idea "chair" - and although the chair itself is not eternal, "chair" is, as are the components of it - although the components have and will change form.

The unity is said to be the mystery
Mystery of mysteries, the door to all wonders

How something can both be and not be is something of a paradox, yet once this one basic reality is understood, it is the key to understanding reality.
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Recalling an earlier debate about the meaning of paradox, I agree with the definition Kevin cited:

paradox - a statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth.

but disagree that to a wise person, there are no paradoxes. I believe that to a wise person, everything is a paradox because given the different perceptions and different levels of perceptiveness of people, there are many ways to see everything. Although a wise person can solve all the paradoxes of reality, a wise person can also see how much of it could look absurd or seem self-contradictory.
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hi, my opinions


since the eternal name cannot be named, the nameless must be the eternal name

since tao is named, it is not eternal name.

eternal name must be the eternal tao.



The nameless is the origin of Heaven and Earth
the nameless then is the eternal tao
from it came the beginning

The named is the mother of myriad things
the heaven and earth, the named
or the other things that are named
came everything we see now