Unit 6 · Key Teachings of the Dao

Dao means way, road or path. Confucius used it for the right way to live and govern. The Daodejing uses it for something larger: the source and pattern of everything.

In chapter 25, the Daodejing describes something that existed before heaven and earth. It says: I do not know its name. I call it Dao. If I must describe it, I call it great.

So the book says Dao is not really a name. It is a word to point at something words cannot hold. Readers compare it to a finger pointing at the moon: look at the moon, not the finger.

Chapter 42 of the Daodejing has a short, famous line. The Dao gave birth to one. One gave birth to two. Two gave birth to three. Three gave birth to all things.

The chapter does not explain exactly what one, two and three are. Readers have offered many answers. Many say two means yin and yang, which the same chapter goes on to name.

The big idea is that everything comes from the Dao. The Daodejing calls the Dao the mother of all things in chapter 1 and elsewhere. Things arise, grow and return to it.

Chapter 25 ends with a chain. People follow the earth. The earth follows heaven. Heaven follows the Dao. And the Dao follows ziran. It is one of the book’s best-known lines.

Ziran literally means ’so of itself.’ It is often translated as natural or spontaneous. It describes things happening by their own nature, without being pushed.

Daoist readers often point to nature as a teacher. Seasons change on their own. Rivers find their way downhill. The Daodejing asks readers to notice this kind of ease.

Wu wei literally means ’not doing’ or ’no action.’ But it does not mean being lazy. Scholars explain it as acting without forcing, strain or grabbing.

Chapter 37 says the Dao does nothing, and yet nothing is left undone. Things grow and change without the Dao pushing them. The Daodejing suggests people can act that way too.

Think of an expert. A skilled dancer or basketball player moves smoothly. They do not look like they are forcing it. Many readers use this as a picture of wu wei.

The Zhuangzi, chapter 19, tells of Confucius at a great waterfall. The water fell so far and so fast that no fish or turtle could swim there. Then he saw a man in the water.

Confucius thought the man was in trouble. He sent students to help. But the man came out, singing, and walked along the bank. Confucius asked how he did it.

The man said he went down with the swirls and came up with the currents. He followed the water’s way and did not force his own. Readers see wu wei in this story. Note that the Zhuangzi often places Confucius in its own stories.

Chapter 17 of the Daodejing ranks leaders. The best leader, it says, is one the people barely know is there. The next best is loved and praised. Worse is one who is feared.

When the best leader’s work is done, the chapter says, the people all say: we did this ourselves. The leader has helped without taking over. The leader’s help is real, but it stays in the background.

Readers apply this to many kinds of leading. Coaches, teachers and team captains talk about it. They set things up so others can do their best, without forcing them.

Yin first meant the shady side of a hill. Yang meant the sunny side. Chinese thinkers came to use them for all pairs of opposites: dark and light, cool and warm, rest and motion.

Yin and yang are not good and evil. They need each other and keep changing into each other. Night turns into day, and day into night. Chapter 42 of the Daodejing names them together.

The swirling black-and-white circle is called the taijitu. Early forms of this diagram appear in the Song dynasty, about 1,000 years ago. The familiar swirl took shape later still.

De is the second word in the book’s title. It is often translated as power, virtue or potency. Legge translated it as virtue. It names the power that the Way gives to things.

In the Daodejing, de is the quiet strength that comes from following the Dao. It is not power over others. It is more like the power a seed has to grow.

Chapter 51 says the Dao gives things life and de nourishes them. Confucius also used the word de, for the good character of a ruler or a junzi. The two traditions share the word but stress different things.

Some people read the Daodejing and Zhuangzi as philosophy, a way of thinking about life. Others practice Daoism as a religion. Daoist communities have temples, priests, scriptures and festivals.

Tradition says an organized Daoist movement, the Way of the Celestial Masters, began around 142 CE. Daoist believers honor Laozi as a deity. Priests lead rituals, and many Daoists practice meditation and exercises for health.

Scholars used to split Daoism into ’philosophical’ and ’religious.’ Many now say the line is not so sharp. Daoist priests have read the Daodejing as scripture for many centuries.

Water is one of the Daodejing’s favorite images. An image is a picture in words. Chapter 8 says the highest good is like water. It returns to water again and again.

Why water? The chapter says water benefits all things. It does not fight or compete. It settles in low places that people avoid. The chapter says this makes water close to the Dao.

Readers see a lesson about humility here. Water does not rush to the top. It goes low, and yet everything needs it. Many readers see this as a picture of helping without showing off.

Chapter 78 says nothing in the world is softer or weaker than water. Yet for attacking what is hard and strong, nothing can beat it. It is a surprising claim about something so gentle.

Chapter 76 adds another picture. When people are alive, their bodies are soft and bendable. When they die, they become stiff. Green plants are soft and supple; dry ones snap. So the book links softness with life.

Readers use these chapters in many ways. Some see advice about patience. Some see a lesson about gentleness in conflict. Martial arts teachers have often quoted the idea too.

Chapter 11 gives three pictures. Thirty spokes meet at a wheel’s hub. It is the empty space at the center, where the axle goes, that makes the wheel useful.

Next, clay is shaped into a bowl. It is the empty space inside that holds food. Then doors and windows are cut into a room. It is the empty space that makes the room usable.

The chapter ends by saying that what is there gives benefit, but what is not there gives use. Readers see a lesson: emptiness and quiet can matter as much as things.

Another image is pu, the uncarved block. Pu is a piece of wood that has not yet been carved into anything. It is plain, whole and full of possibility.

Chapter 19 advises showing plainness and holding on to the uncarved block. Chapter 28 speaks of returning to the uncarved block. The book links it to having fewer wants.

Readers interpret pu in different ways. Some see it as the simple heart a person has before learning to show off. Others see a picture of the Dao itself, before it is divided into many things.

Chapter 80 describes a small state with few people. They have tools and boats but seldom use them. They enjoy their food, their clothes and their homes.

The neighboring village is so close that people can hear its roosters and dogs. Yet, the chapter says, people grow old and die without ever visiting it. They are content where they are.

Readers argue about this chapter. Some read it as a picture of peace and contentment. Others see it as an ideal that could never fully work. Some compare it to modern calls to slow down.

Several chapters talk about wanting less. Chapter 46 says there is no greater trouble than not knowing when you have enough. It says the person who knows enough is always content.

Chapter 44 asks hard questions. Which matters more, your name or your life? Your life or your things? It says knowing when to stop keeps a person from danger.

Many Daoist readers link this to simplicity and the uncarved block. Other traditions have similar teachings. Readers compare them while noticing each tradition’s own reasons.

The story of Cook Ding is in chapter 3 of the Zhuangzi. The chapter is often titled ’The Secret of Caring for Life.’ Ding cuts an ox so smoothly that it looks like a dance.

Ding says he follows the natural lines and gaps. He does not hack at bone. So his knife stays sharp for 19 years, while other cooks must replace theirs often.

Readers link this story to wu wei. Ding acts with great skill but without forcing. When he reaches a hard spot, he slows down and takes care. The king says he has learned how to care for life.

Chapter 17 of the Zhuangzi, ’Autumn Floods,’ tells of a frog living in a broken-down well. The frog loves its well. It splashes in the water and rests on the edge.

The frog invites a great turtle from the Eastern Sea to come in. But the turtle cannot even fit its leg in. The turtle describes the sea: so huge that floods and droughts barely change it.

The frog is stunned. Readers use this story to talk about limited views. From the bottom of a well, the sky looks small. Today, ’a frog in a well’ is a common Chinese saying for someone with a narrow view.

The Analects often gives direct advice about how to act. The Daodejing and Zhuangzi more often give images: water, a hub, a block of wood, a cook, a frog.

An image does not tell you exactly what to think. It asks you to look and wonder. That is one reason these books have so many interpretations. Different readers notice different things in the same picture.

Zhuangzi’s stories are also often funny. Scholars note that humor can help people let go of fixed ideas. The images stay in readers’ minds long after they finish reading.