Tao Te Ching Ch 25

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

 Chapter 25

There is a thing plainly formed, born before the Heaven and the Earth.

So silent, without form, it stands alone and does not change.

It goes round and does not cease.

It can be the Mother of the Heaven and the Earth.

I do not know its name.

I call it "Tao" (the Truth).

Unable to describe, I style it “Great”.

Being great, it is as if passing without limit.

Being without limit, it is as if turning back to its origin.

Hence, the Truth is Great.

The Heaven is Great.

The Earth is Great.

The Human is also Great.

There are four Greatnesses within the realm,

and the human is one of them.

Man models himself on the Earth, the Earth on the Heaven,

the Heaven on the Truth, and the Truth on the way it is naturally so.

Review

    The Truth (Tao) described in the Tao Te Ching is invisible and intangible. It cannot be seen. It cannot be heard. It cannot be touched. It is like a vast space pervading everywhere. It is the emptiness only. This emptiness actually is also the Oneness, as the Truth is the One only. In this Chapter, Lao Tzu further elaborates his idea of the Truth in his beautiful and simple words. From emptiness, there is Oneness. Tao in its origin can be understood as emptiness as it is nothing. Lao Tzu says:

 

“Tao is empty.” (Chapter 4)

“Truth is like emptiness.” (Chapter 4, another translation)

 

“Attain the ultimate emptiness.

Hold firmly to tranquility.

All creatures rise together.

And I watch their return.”

(Chapter 16)

    Thus here Lao Tzu says:

“There is a thing plainly formed, born before the Heaven and the Earth.”

    Before the creation of the Heaven and the Earth, there is only the One which arises from the emptiness. Therefore, we are all One in our origin. Our differences come from different forms of creation, but the essence is One only. This essence can be comprehended as the pure living force. It is the Supreme Self described in the Upanisad-s which the ancient sages of India tried to tell us the Ultimate Reality of life. The Supreme Self is the One only. From Oneness then we have many different forms, names and shapes of different creatures. This One-ness, is depicted here:

“So silent, without form, it stands alone and does not change.

It goes round and does not cease.

It can be the Mother of the Heaven and the Earth.”

    This emptiness becomes the One which can move and circulate ceaselessly and silently, like the air and breeze we can feel and understand. But it is even more subtle than air and breeze. It is so subtle that we can only experience by ourselves when words come to failure. Lao Tzu says it is the “mother” of the Heaven and the Earth because it comes before the creation of the Heaven and the Earth. From this Oneness, there are the creation of the Heaven and the Earth. Then there are the creation of all beings. Tao is like the Mother in the sense that Tao creates all creatures as we can see all females give birth to their offspring. Tao actually is sexless. It is only an analogy for us to understand. It only refers to the mothering nature of the Truth, and even there is not a name which is sufficient to refer to the Truth. Thus Lao Tzu further says:

“I do not know its name.

I call it "Tao" (the Truth).

Unable to describe, I style it “Great”.”

    The Truth is named “Great” here, but it is actually indescribable, so are the names “Mother” here or “Valley Spirit” and “Mysterious Female” (in Chapter 6). It is coherent with what Lao Tzu says in the very beginning in the first Chapter:

“The truth that can be spoken is not the Eternal Truth.

The name that can be named is not the Eternal Name.”

(Chapter 1)

    The Truth is great in the sense that it is the pure moving energy all pervading without limit. This living force is silent and moving at the same time. It exists everywhere, while it is always in its origin as it is the origin of all beings, thus Lao Tzu says:

“So silent, without form, it stands alone and does not change.”

“Being great, it is as if passing without limit.

Being without limit, it is as if turning back to its origin.”

    The prophet, Jesus, also tells us the same Truth by his sayings in the Gospel of Thomas, the lost scrolls of Jesus’ earliest words excluded in the Bible[1]:

“……If they ask you, “What is the evidence of your father in you?”

Say to them, “It is a motion and a rest.” (Gospel of Thomas, verse 50)

    Both father and mother are analogies to convey the Truth for our limited understanding and cognition which is actually indescribable. Therefore, in the Quran, Allah tells us that He is not father or mother to give birth to any offspring like our human beings. Allah has no consort. He is the Lord of all beings, neither begets nor is born.[2] Actually our soul is indicated as male, while our body is indicated as female in ancient Hindus scriptures by the term “Purusha” and “Prakriti”. “Purusha” is the pure soul, non-material in nature, while “Prakriti” refers to the material elements for the bodies of all creatures. We human are the combination of the soul and the body. Father, mother, Purusha and Prakriti are all the names only, which are not eternal. Hence, Lao Tzu tells us the Truth in simple words without using too many names or complicated terms and concepts. It is the most precious for the Tao Te Ching among all ancient religious scriptures which tells us the same deep Truth in simple words and concepts only. In the Upanisads, there are also similar words to express the Supreme Truth:

“Vast, divine, of unthinkable form, subtler than the subtle, it shines forth, farther than the far, yet here near at hand, set down in the secret place (of the heart) (as such) even here it is seen by the intelligent.” (Mundaka Upanisad, III.1.7)

    The Truth is great. It is without limit. It is omnipresent. It is the origin of all beings. It is silent, unchanged but moves ceaselessly. The Truth “stands alone”. It is independent from every creature as the Lord of all beings in Islam. The Truth is One only. It does not rely on anything while all beings rely on it. This is the Lordship of the Truth the same as told in the Tao Te Ching and in the Quran. The Truth, itself is great. The creatures made by the Truth are also great, thus Lao Tzu says:

“Hence, the Truth is Great.

The Heaven is Great.

The Earth is Great.

The Human is also Great.

There are four Greatnesses within the realm,

and the human is one of them.”

    Our origin is the Truth, so are the Heaven and the Earth. The four Greatnesses are the Truth, the Heaven, the Earth and the Human. From one Greatness goes to the other Greatness, we human need to learn the Truth, and ultimately, to be the one with the Truth that is what Lao Tzu says:

“Man models himself on the Earth, the Earth on the Heaven,

the Heaven on the Truth, and the Truth on the way it is naturally so.”

    We human are one of the Greatnesses. It means we have the potential quality to embody the Truth dormant inside us. We need to learn and try to master our instincts to behave in the way according to the Truth. Then we can attain harmony in our life with our surroundings. So the Earth is our first teacher we need to learn from. What can we learn from the virtue of the Earth? How can man model himself on the Earth? How can man learn from the Earth, from the Heaven, and finally from the Truth?

    In the Yi Ching[3], the earliest Chinese ancient scripture which is regarded as the founder of all Chinese scriptures, tells the principles of the functioning of this world that we must observe in order to get rid of all calamities of life. In the Yi Ching, it tells the virtue of the Earth is humility and gentleness. It is the feminine force to be silent and gentle to nourish all beings just like the moon shining on us, how the earth bears all creatures without making nuisance or showing off to anyone. So we should learn the virtue of humility and gentleness from the Earth. To be humble and gentle is the virtue highly praised in the Tao Te Ching that we all should abide in. This is also the virtue of all the saints in different cultures and different times.

    If we have the virtue of the Earth, we become the Earth as one Greatness merging with the other Greatness. We think and act like the virtue of the Earth. Then from the Greatness of the Earth, we go to model on the Greatness of the Heaven. The Yi Ching tells us that the virtue of the Heaven is brightness and strength. It is the male force to have action to shine through just like the sun. To be bright means we should give light to our surroundings. We cannot hide ourselves as we have light to shine forth. Light is the wisdom in our thought and it is the righteousness in our deeds. We should act rightfully to all people, just like the sun gives light to all people without discrimination. So we should keep our silence inside us and act with strength, wisdom and righteousness. This is what we learn from the Earth and the Heaven. These, indeed, are the virtues Lao Tzu repeatedly tells us in the Tao Te Ching.

    When we have the virtues of the Earth and the Heaven, we finally can model on the Truth which means all the virtues become natural to us without being reminded of. From the initial stage we need to strive hard for cultivating our virtues and abide by them fully in life. We may face hardship and obstacles turning us away from the virtues. When we keep practicing as our life principle with endurance, it is promised in scriptures that one day we will attain the goal successfully in case we insist and never give up to be with the Truth.

“The Lord said, “…, there is no fall or destruction for him here or in the higher world. None who strives for redemption and helps others for it, will ever meet with downfall.” (Bhagavad Gita, 6:40)[4]

    From the Greatnesses of the Earth and the Heaven, we go to merge with the Greatness of the Truth. In this ultimate stage of the Greatness of the Truth, we are the Truth. We think and act as the Truth: “on the way it is naturally so.” Our life goal is complete here where the four Greatnesses become the One only.

    In Islam, Prophet Muhammad also tells us the similar stage of spiritual attainment to be nearest to Allah:

“Allah says, “……The most beloved things with which My slave comes nearer to me, is what I have enjoined upon him; and My slave keeps on coming closer to Me through performing extra good acts. Besides what is obligatory until I love him. So I become his sense of hearing with which he hears, and his sense of sight with which he sees, and his hand with which he grips, and his leg with which he walks. If he asks me, I will give him, and if he seeks refuge with me, I will give him refuge……”

(Bukhari, Vol VII, #6502)

Note:

[1] The Bible in Christianity has been distorted with some false teaching and concepts about God and His will that is why Allah needs to reveal Himself telling the whole world the true messages in the Quran. Sadly the Christianity in history, turn blind to the Quran and spread the false teaching to the whole world actively making all people turn blind to Islam which Allah intends to tell us the Truth. Jesus is not the son of God but only one of the prophets sent by Allah. The original teaching of Jesus was edited and distorted in the Bible we see in the public. There are some lost earlier scrolls being found later showing the earlier texts of the Gospel. The Gospel of Thomas is one of the lost scrolls found in Egypt in 1945.

[2] The concept of Allah in Islam is clearly told in the Quran, Surah al-Ikhlas:

“Say, “He is Allah, who is One. Allah, the Eternal Refuge.”

He neither begets nor is born, nor is there to Him any equivalent.”

Allah is One, in Arabic, is called “Ahad”. Eternal Refuge, in Arabic, is “Samad” which means the satisfaction of all needs. Allah gives all provisions and nourishment to all mankind and all other creatures. This message is exactly told in the Tao Te Ching as Tao gives beneficence to all beings.

[3] The Yi Ching  usually translated as the Book of Changes or the Classic of Changes, is an ancient Chinese divination text and among the oldest of the Chinese classics. It is an influential text read through the world, providing inspiration to the worlds of religion, philosophy, literature and art. Originally a divination manual in the Western Zhou Period (1000-750 B.C.), over the course of the Warring States Period and early Imperial Period (500-200 B.C.), it was transformed into a cosmological text with a series of philosophical commentaries.

[4] The Bagatwa Gita, in Sanskrit, means “the song of the Lord”. The author traditionally known was Vyasa who was believed as the author of many Hindus scriptures. It was formed by a long period of time from the earliest 10th century BC down to 4th century AD. Like all the scriptures in India, they were formed and developed through long historical periods.