Dao

Dao means “way” or “path”, and by extension a method, a teaching, or to speak. In Chinese thought generally it can mean the right way of life or of government; Confucius spoke of the Way of the former kings. In the Daodejing and the Zhuangzi it becomes the name of the ultimate: the nameless source from which all things come, the pattern they follow, and the reality to which they return.

The Daodejing begins by saying that the Dao that can be spoken of is not the constant Dao, and the name that can be named is not the constant name. The Dao is empty, like a vessel, yet inexhaustible; it is soft and low, like water, yet overcomes the hard; it does nothing, yet nothing is left undone. It gives birth to the one, the one to two, two to three, and three to the ten thousand things.

The Zhuangzi stresses that the Dao is everywhere, even in the lowliest things, and that it cannot be grasped by distinctions and arguments. The sage does not oppose the Dao but follows it, and in doing so becomes free.