Tao Te Ching

Yu:	Presence (Being) The empirical universe, which has its origin in wu (Absence: see the following entry). The ancients described Presence as the ten thousand living and nonliving things in constant transformation. It might more literally be translated “within form.” See also: Introduction p. 20 ff. Ref: 1.6, 2.5, 40.3-4.

Wu:	Absence (Nonbeing) The generative tissue from which the ever-changing realm of Presence perpetually arises. This tissue is the ontological substrate infused mysteriously with a generative energy. Although made of the same stuff as Presence, it is “Absence” because it has no particular form. But because of its generative nature, it shapes itself into the individual forms we know, the ten thousand things, then reshapes itself into other forms in the constant process of change. In fact, a more literal translation of wu might be “without form,” in contrast to “within form” for yu. Absence is known directly in meditation, widely practiced by ancient Chinese poets and intellectuals, where it is experienced as empty consciousness itself, known in Ch’an (Zen) Buddhist terminology as “empty mind” or “no-mind.” See also: Introduction p. 20 f. Ref: 1.5, 2.5, 40.4.

Tao:	Way As the generative ontological process through which all things arise and pass away, Tao might provisionally be divided into Presence (the ten thousand things of the empirical world in constant transformation) and Absence, the generative source of Presence and its transformations. See also: Introduction pp. 15 and 20 ff. Ref: passim.

Te:	Integrity Integrity to Tao in the sense of “abiding by the Way,” or “enacting the Way.” Hence, it is Tao’s manifestation in the world, especially in a sage master of Tao. This concept is deepened dramatically by Te’s etymological meaning at the level of pictographic imagery: “heartsight clarity.” See also: Introduction p. 25. Ref: passim.

Tzu-jan:	Occurrence appearing of itself The ten thousand things unfolding spontaneously from the generative source, each according to its own nature. Hence, tzu-jan might be described as the mechanism or process of Tao in the empirical world. See also: Introduction pp. 23 ff. Ref: 17.9, 23.1, 25.22, 51.8, 64.27.

Wu-wei:	Nothing’s own doing, etc. Impossible to translate the same way in every instance, wu-wei means acting as a spontaneous part of tzu-jan rather than with self-conscious intention. Different contexts emphasize different aspects of this rich philosophical concept as Lao Tzu exploits the term’s grammatical ambiguity. Literally meaning “not/nothing (wu) doing (wei),” wu-wei’s most straightforward translation is simply “doing nothing” in the sense of not interfering with the flawless and self-sufficient unfolding of tzu-jan. But this must always be conceived together with its mirror translation: “nothing doing” or “nothing’s own doing,” in the sense of being no one separate from tzu-jan when acting. As wu-wei is the movement of tzu-jan, when we act according to wu-wei we act as the generative source. This opens to the deepest level of this philosophical complex, for wu-wei can also be read quite literally as “Absence (wu) doing.” Here, wu-wei action is action directly from, or indeed as the ontological source: Absence burgeoning forth into Presence. This in turn invests the more straightforward translation (“doing nothing”) with its fullest dimensions, for “doing nothing” always carries the sense of “enacting nothing/Absence.” See also: Introduction pp. 25 ff. Ref: 2.11, 3.12, 10.8, 37.1, 38.5, 43.3 & 5, 47.8, 48.4-5, 57.15, 63.1, 64.15.

Ch’i:	Ch’i The universal breath, vital energy, or cosmic life-force. It is the breath-force that pulses through the Cosmos as both matter and energy simultaneously, giving form and life to the ten thousand things and driving their perpetual transformations. And so it is the tissue of which the Cosmos is made. In its originary form, it is primal-ch’i (yüan-ch’i), which is present in Absence and is perhaps the aspect that makes the primordial emptiness of Absence pregnant with possibility. Primal-ch’i is made up of yin and yang completely intermingled and indistinguishable. Once primal-ch’i separates out into yin and yang, yang rose up to become sky and yin sunk down to form earth. As the universal breath, ch’i is in constant motion, animating all things, and so is a kind of tissue that connects us always to the empty source. As the universal breath, ch’i is in constant motion, animating all things, and so is a kind of tissue that connects us always to the empty source. Ref: 10.3, 42.6, 55.15.

T’ien:	Heaven The Chou Dynasty used the impersonal concept of heaven to replace the Shang Dynasty’s monotheistic god. Heaven was eventually secularized by the early Taoists, Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu, for whom it meant natural process: the constant unfolding of things in the cosmological process. For a somewhat different perspective, consider the recurring entity “heaven and earth,” which might be conceived as “creative force and created objects.” See also: Introduction pp. 18 and 22 f. Ref: passim.

Hsüan	Dark-enigma Dark-enigma came to have a particular philosophic resonance, for it became the name of a neo-Taoist school of philosophy in the third and fourth centuries C.E.: Dark-Enigma Learning, a school which gave Chinese thought a decidedly ontological turn and became central to the synthesis of Taoism and Buddhism into Ch’an Buddhism. Like Lao Tzu, the thinkers of the Dark-Enigma Learning school equated darkenigma with Absence, the generative ontological tissue from which the ten thousand things spring. Or more properly, it is Way before it is named, before Absence and Presence give birth to one another—that region where consciousness and ontology share their source. Ref: 1.9-10, 6.2-3, 10.5-6, 15.2, 51.17, 56.9, 65.11-12.

Mu, etc.	Mother, etc. The philosophy of Tao embodies a cosmology rooted in that most primal and wondrous presence: earth’s mysterious generative force. This represents a resurgence of the cosmology of late Paleolithic and early Neolithic cultures, where this force was venerated as the Great Mother. She continuously gives birth to all creation, and like natural process which she represents, she also takes life and regenerates it in an unending cycle of life, death, and rebirth. In the Tao Te Ching, this awesome generative force appears most explicitly in Lao Tzu’s recurring references to the female principle in a variety of manifestations: mother, female, feminine, yielding, source, origin, etc. But in the end, it is everywhere in the Tao Te Ching, for it is nothing other than Tao itself. See also: Introduction pp. 14–15 and passim. Ref: 1.3-4, 4.3-4, 6.1-3, 10.9, 14.20, 19.10, 20.29, 21.15-16, 25.6, 28.2, 42.1f, 51.1&9&14, 52.1-6, 59.10, 61.3- 4, 70.5.