Chapter 25第25章

There was something formed from chaos, born before heaven and earth. Silent, solitary, standing alone without changing, moving everywhere without tiring — it can be regarded as the mother of the world. I don't know its name, so I call it 'Tao.' Forced to give it a name, I call it 'Great.' Great means going forth. Going forth means reaching far. Reaching far means returning. So the Tao is great, heaven is great, earth is great, and the king is also great. In the universe there are four greats, and the king is one of them. Humans follow earth. Earth follows heaven. Heaven follows the Tao. The Tao follows its own nature.

There was something undifferentiated and complete, born before heaven and earth. Silent and void, standing alone and unchanging, pervading everywhere without exhaustion — it may be regarded as the mother of all under heaven. I do not know its name; I style it 'the Way.' Forced to name it, I call it 'Great.' Great implies going. Going implies distance. Distance implies return. This is the cosmogonic moment — the description of what preceded the Big Bang, what preceded space-time, what preceded manifestation. And it operates by a principle of eternal return — the great going-forth that inevitably becomes the great return. The Tao is great, heaven is great, earth is great, the king is great. Humanity models itself on earth, earth on heaven, heaven on the Tao, and the Tao on its own nature. This is the great chain of being — but inverted, pointing downward to a ground more fundamental than any deity.

Wang Bi explains: it is blended and undifferentiated, impossible to know distinctly, yet the myriad things are completed through it — hence 'something blended into completion.' One does not know whose child it is. Silent and vast, without form or body, without anything to match it — hence 'standing alone.' Returning through transformation, beginning and ending without losing its constant nature — hence 'not changing.' Moving everywhere without being endangered — hence it can be the mother of all under heaven. Its form is blended, so it cannot be defined — hence 'I do not know its name.' A name defines a form, but this has no form, so one can only 'style' it, zi, as the Way, and force a name: 'great.' 'Great' means 'going forth'; going forth means 'far'; far means 'returning.' It goes everywhere and yet returns. The Way is great, heaven is great, earth is great, and the king is also great, because the king is lord of humanity. Though not individually as vast as the other three, the king joins them as a fourth. Human beings take earth as their model; earth takes heaven; heaven takes the Way; the Way takes naturalness. To take naturalness as model means: in what is square, follow the square; in what is round, follow the round. In naturalness, nothing is violated.

Wang Bi’s commentary here is his most comprehensive cosmological statement. Something 'blended into completion' — hun cheng: undifferentiated, unknowable in its distinctness, yet constitutive of all things. Silent and vast, without form or body, without anything comparable — hence 'standing alone.' Cycling through transformation from beginning to end without losing its constant nature — hence 'not changing.' Reaching everywhere without danger — hence 'mother of all under heaven.' The form is blended, impossible to define — hence unknowable by name. A name, ming, defines a form, xing. Where there is no form, there can be no name — only a style, zi, and a forced designation. 'Great' means going forth; going forth means far; far means returning. Wang Bi is mapping a cosmological trajectory: expansion, extension, and return. The Way, heaven, earth, the king — four 'greats' within the domain, yu. Then the chain of modeling: humans model earth, earth models heaven, heaven models the Way, the Way models naturalness. And what is 'modeling naturalness'? Wang Bi’s definition is stunning in its simplicity: 'in what is square, follow the square; in what is round, follow the round.' Naturalness means non-violation — complete conformity to what is. The Way follows nothing but its own spontaneous nature, and this is the ultimate ground.