Tao
| Tao | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Chinese name | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chinese | 道 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | way | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Vietnamese name | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Vietnamese alphabet | đạo | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chữ Hán | 道 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Korean name | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hangul | 도 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hanja | 道 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Japanese name | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Kanji | 道 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| English name | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| English | /daʊ/ DOW, /taʊ/ TOW | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Part of a series on |
| Taoism |
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The Tao or Dao (Chinese: 道; pinyin: dào; Jyutping: dou6) is the source and fundamental principle of the universe, primarily as conceived in East Asian philosophy and religions. The concept is represented by the Chinese character 道, which has meanings including 'way', 'path', 'road', and sometimes 'doctrine' or 'principle'.
According to Tao Te Ching, Tao is self-existent, formless, eternal, omnipresent, and is the source of all existence. While all phenomena in the universe change continuously, Tao, as the source of all, remains motionless and changeless intrinsically :
There is something undifferentiated and yet complete.
Which existed before heaven and earth.
Soundless and formless.
It depends on nothing and does not change.
It operates everywhere and is free from danger.
It may be considered the Mother of the universe.
I do not know its name; I call it Tao.
- ━━━ from Chapter 25 of Tao Teh Ching
Tao is also described as invisible, intangible, and beyond intellectual understanding, as it is written in Tao Te Ching :
We look at it, and we do not see it, and we name it 'the Equable.'
We listen to it, and we do not hear it, and we name it 'the Inaudible.'
We try to grasp it, and do not get hold of it, and we name it 'the Subtle.'
With these three qualities, it cannot be made the subject of description;
and hence we blend them together and obtain The One.
- ━━━ from Chapter 14 of Tao Teh Ching
Other chapters of Tao Te Ching, as well as other Taoist scriptures such as Ultra Supreme Elder Lord's Ultra Plainness Scripture, and The Wonderful Scripture on the Constant Purity and Tranquility Spoken by the Ultra Supreme Elder Lord, etc., reiterate that Tao is formless, invisible, omnipresent, and is the source of all.
Based on these descriptions, Tao is considered to be the Absolute Truth independent of any conditions, and the Ultimate Reality behind all phenomena. It is the underlying natural order of the universe whose ultimate essence is difficult to circumscribe because it is non-conceptual yet evident in one's being of aliveness.