Chapter 21第21章

The grandest virtue is to follow the Tao and nothing else. The Tao as a thing is elusive and vague. Vague and elusive — yet within it are forms. Elusive and vague — yet within it are things. Shadowy and dim — yet within it is a vital essence. This essence is very real — within it is something that can be verified. From the ancient times until now, its name has never ceased — through it we can survey the beginning of all things. How do I know what the beginning of all things is like? Through this.

The content of great virtue is nothing but the Tao. The Tao as an entity — how vague, how elusive! Elusive and vague — within it are images. Vague and elusive — within it are things. Profound and dark — within it is an essence. This essence is supremely real — within it is verification. From antiquity to the present, its name has never departed — thereby we survey the origin of all things. How do I know the nature of the origin? Through this. What Lao-tzu is describing is the hyperspatial plenum — that dimension of pure potential that contains all forms in latent state. It's vague and elusive because it hasn't crystallized into specificity. Yet within it are images, things, essences. This is the imaginal realm that one encounters in deep meditation or in the psychedelic state — the place where reality is still molten, still undecided.

Wang Bi says: kong means empty. Only by taking emptiness as one’s virtue can one then move and act in accordance with the Way. The Way as a thing is only vague, only indistinct. Vague and indistinct, yet within it there is image. Indistinct and vague, yet within it there is substance. The myriad things begin with this and come into being, yet no one knows the reason — hence 'vague and indistinct, within it there is image.' Deep and dark, yet within it there is essence; this essence is supremely genuine, and within it there is trustworthiness. Wang Bi reads the 'essence' as the ultimate verification: things can be confirmed as real and genuine, their natures established. From ancient times to the present, its name has never departed. How does one know the condition of the myriad beginnings? Through this — through what has just been described above. The myriad beginnings are the source of things. By means of the nameless, one understands the origin of all things.

Wang Bi’s commentary on this chapter is a masterclass in apophatic metaphysics. Kong — empty. Only by making emptiness your virtue can you move in accordance with the Way. The Way as a thing is only huang, only hu — indistinct, vague. And yet within that indistinctness there is xiang, image. Within that vagueness there is wu, substance. Things begin through this formless process and achieve existence, yet no one can identify the mechanism. The deep and dark contains jing, essence; this essence is supremely genuine, zhen, and within it lies xin, trustworthiness. What Wang Bi is constructing is an ontological hierarchy: the Way is indistinct, yet it contains image; it is vague, yet it contains substance; it is dark, yet it contains essence; the essence is genuine, and within the genuine is trustworthiness. Each layer is more concrete than the last, yet none is fully determinable. From ancient times to the present, its name has never departed — this is the trans-historical thread. And how do we know the condition of the myriad beginnings? Through this account of what is nameless. Wang Bi is saying that cosmogony is accessed through apophasis — through the systematic unsaying of what cannot be said.