Tao Te Ching Ch 21

The Door of all Wonders: 
The Commentary on the Tao Te Ching
by Nirguna Chor-Kok Lam

Chapter 21

The appearance of the Great Virtue follows the Truth and the Truth only.

The Truth, as a thing, is shadowy and indistinct.

So shadowy and indistinct, yet within it is an image.

So shadowy and indistinct, 

yet within it is a substance.

So deep and profound, yet within it is an essence.

This essence is supremely genuine and can be verified.

From the antiquity up to the present, 

its name has never gone.

It serves as a means to overview the origin of the whole creation.

How do I know what the origin of the whole creation is like?

By means of the Truth.

Review

    This Chapter tells us what the Highest Virtue can appear to us, i.e. what is the sign of people having the Truth in their appearance. Do they look more beautiful or handsome than other people or not? This is not the concern of Lao Tzu. He tells us not to care about the outward appearance among us. Lao Tzu says to us:

“The appearance of the Great Virtue follows the Truth and the Truth only.”

    As the people with the Highest Virtue, what do they need to follow? Lao Tzu says it is “the Truth and the Truth only”. We should not follow anyone, anything other than the Truth. The Truth is the Only One Master among all creatures. Lao Tzu also uses the word, Oneness, to refer to the Truth because the Truth is One only. There is no second, third or many the same as the Truth. It is simple, One only, because every creature is the same in the sense that they have the same origin. We all come from the same source, i.e. the Truth.

    This concept of Oneness actually is closely related to Allah in Islam. The name, “Allah”, in Arabic, means the One God. So the name, Allah, also refers to the One only. In Islamic faith, Allah tells the whole world that there is none to be worthy to worship, there is none to be worthy to obey, except Allah only: “laa ilaaha illallou” (in Arabic). We should all obey and worship Allah alone, and nothing else. There are also some other names of Allah in Islam which also means the One only, i.e. Al-Waahid (the Only One/the Unique), Al-Ahad (the Indivisible One) and Al-Badi (the Unique One/the Originator). So what our Creator Lord in Islam tells us is the same Lao Tzu tells us here about the appearance of the Great Virtue should be: to “follow the Truth and the Truth only”.

    Then what is the Truth that we ideally need to follow? The Truth is the One only. It is not a concept or imagination by people. It really exists and can be found and experienced though it seems to be highly imperceptible and invisible. Lao Tzu tries very hard to describe the appearance of the Truth (Tao) though it cannot be seen, cannot be heard, cannot be smelt and cannot be touched as mentioned in Chapter 14. The same as in Chapter 14 where Lao Tzu tries to depict here:

“Thus it is called the form of the formless, the image of the imageless.

This is called indistinct and shadowy.”

(Chapter 14)

    Here in this Chapter, Lao Tzu also says the same:

“The Truth, as a thing, is shadowy and indistinct.”

        Then Lao Tzu further elaborates how shadowy and indistinct it is:

“So shadowy and indistinct, 

yet within it is an image.

So shadowy and indistinct, 

yet within it is a substance.”

    Tao, the Truth, is the image and substance which we cannot see by our eyes, we cannot hear by our ears, we cannot smell by our nose, we cannot taste by our tongue, we cannot touch by our hands. Therefore, it is “shadowy and indistinct”. We cannot know the Truth in the superficial level. It is very subtle, very deep, yet also very profound. The Truth is the essence of everything told by Lao Tzu here. This essence we must strive hard to know and experience. It is not fake like anything in mythical stories. Tao is the Truth, the Ultimate Reality, the origin of all beings; therefore, Lao Tzu says it can be verified. In fact, many, many saints in different cultures and times have experienced the Truth and told us the same experience with the same explanations as Lao Tzu tells us in the Tao Te Ching, thus Lao Tzu says:

“So deep and profound, yet within it is an essence.

This essence is supremely genuine and can be verified.”

    As the Truth is One, the everlasting One, it is also the name of Allah, Al-Baqi (the Everlasting One), thus Lao Tzu further says:

“From the antiquity up to the present,

 its name has never gone.”

    The Truth is the everlasting One. It is the essence of all beings which means the life force of all beings. People who attain the Truth will be like a baby full of living force told by Lao Tzu in some other Chapters in the Tao Te Ching. On the contrary, people without the Truth will tend to die devoid of all living energy. This essence, i.e. the vital force, is the origin of all beings, thus Lao Tzu says:

“It serves as a means to overview the origin of the whole creation.”

    How does Lao Tzu know the origin of all beings? How can we know that we are returning to the Truth? The Truth is the origin, from the ancient times up to now, and forever. We should never forget our origin and turn away from it. This is the main theme of the Tao Te Ching to tell us to return to our origin, to retain our pure nature by throwing away all impurities of cleverness, sharpness and cunningness.  

    In Chapter 14, Lao Tzu tells us:

“Hold fast to the Truth (Tao) of antiquity,

for keeping in control of everything today.

Know the beginning of antiquity 

as the Law of  the Truth.”

(Chapter 14)

    Here in Chapter 21, Lao Tzu tells us the same again:

“How do I know what the origin of the whole creation is like?

By means of the Truth.”