What is the Mysterious Abyss in Taoism? 什么是玄冥

Dark Obscurity refers to a state of seclusion, tranquility, and profound depth.

The term originates from Zhuangzi · The Master of the Great Ancestor.

Zhuangzi uses the fictional character Nüyu to expound the purpose of attaining the Dao: All things under heaven undergo formation and decay; a mind unperturbed by them is called “Yingning.” Ying means disturbance; Ning means tranquility.

What is the Mysterious Abyss in Taoism?

By maintaining inner peace amid worldly turmoil, one may realize the Great Dao and attain a state beyond life and death. This is the essence of cultivating the Dao.

Nüyu heard this from Fumo Zhi; Fumo Zhi heard it from Luosong Zhi; Luosong Zhi heard it from Zhanming; Zhanming heard it from Niexu; Niexu heard it from Xuyi; Xuyi heard it from Yu'ou; Yu'ou heard it from Dark Obscurity; Dark Obscurity heard it from Canliao; Canliao heard it from Yishi.

Fumo means writing or characters; Luosong means repeated recitation; Zhanming means clear and penetrating insight; Niexu means whispering; Xuyi means diligent practice without negligence; Yu'ou means chanting and singing; Dark Obscurity means profound, secluded stillness; Canliao means empty, lofty, and distant; Yishi means seeming to have a beginning yet without actual beginning. All are fictional names in Zhuangzi, each representing one stage of Dao cultivation.

Dark Obscurity denotes a dim, undifferentiated, and unified state.

Guo Xiang further developed this concept, endowing it with deeper philosophical meaning, and put forward the philosophical proposition that “all things transform independently within Dark Obscurity,” referring to the noumenon as the ultimate nothingness, mysterious beyond mystery.

Commentary on the Adjustment of Controversies states: “If nothingness is simply nothing, it cannot produce being. Before being comes into being, it cannot produce either. Then who is it that produces all things? They simply self‑produce spontaneously.”

Heaven, earth, and all things are “not transformed from nothingness,” nor is there a “true ruler making them so.” All self‑generate without origin, and self‑exist without reliance. In the realm of existing things, even shadows and penumbras (faint shadows outside shadows) all transform independently within the realm of Dark Obscurity.

All things originate neither from being nor from nothingness, but transform independently within the mysterious Dark Obscurity. Things self‑transform, and their being such rather than otherwise is entirely ordained by “ming” (destiny). Thus for all things, “the nature received is each with its proper portion, which cannot be escaped nor added to.”

Guo Xiang’s ontology provides the theoretical foundation for “freedom through accord with one’s nature.” Later Taoism absorbed such ontological insights into its system of cultivation and realization.