What is the Utmost Tao and Mysterious Stillness in Taoism? 什么是至道玄寂
Paul PengWhat is the Utmost Tao and Mysterious Stillness in Taoism?
This is the Dao theory of Li Rong, a thinker of the Twofold Mystery school in Taoism.
Li Rong held that the Dao is inherently empty and mysterious, unable to be limited or described by time and space.
Thus, “quiescence,” “mysterious quiescence,” and “immovability” are essential attributes of the Dao.
“The ultimate Dao is mysterious and quiescent; the true reality is unmoving.”
“Profound and quiescent, clear and unmoving — this is the meaning of the mysterious portal.”
(Commentary on Laozi)
What is the Utmost Tao and Mysterious Stillness in Taoism?The Dao has neither spatial movement nor change in essence:
“Its subtle substance is unchanging, hence it is called true.”
Though the Dao is empty, quiescent, unchanging, and still,
when it responds to things and “Qi moves within emptiness,”
it can generate and transform all things in the universe.
Therefore, the coming into being of all things in the universe is a process of the Dao “moving from quiescence.”
Quiescence is the substance of the Dao; movement is its function.
The myriad beings transformed by the Dao’s movement will eventually “cease movement and return to quiescence,”
returning to the still, unchanging reality of the Dao itself.
