Chapter V, Taoism, The Three Meanings of Tao, Summary and Analysis

Even in the opening line of the Tao Te Ching, it is proclaimed that mere words are insufficient to explain it. The Tao, or the ultimate reality, is that which is "above all, behind all, and beneath all", or the Womb from which everything springs and to which everything eventually returns. The Tao continually praises this concept, which taunts its readers with the epigram that "Those who know don't say. Those who say don't know" (p. 198). The second meaning of Tao is the idea of the way of the universe. It pictures this aspect as the norm or driving power of all nature. The spiritual concept is that the ultimate assumption of flesh draws its power from the spirit and the more it flows, the more it...