Page 353 - The Encyclopedia of Taoism v1_A-L

THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TAOISM A-L

The void. The Daode jing's notion of the void (see *wu and you) is the first enun-
ciation of an idea that would later evolve and take a major place in Taoism and
Chinese thought. In the Daode jing, the void has two levels of functional and
existential meaning. Concretely, it is the interstice that allows movement, the
receptive hollow in a vessel (sec. H). As such it also has a cosmic significance: it
is the necessary void space that is both the matrix of the world and the place
from which the Original Pneuma (*yuanqi) can spring forth and circulate. On
the human level, the void is mental and affective emptiness, the absence of
prejudices and partialities dictated by the desire or will to attain a goal.
The saint and the sage ruler. The vision of the world introduced in the Daode
jing is the ideal of the Taoist sage who does not choose between one thing and
its opposite, but remains neutral. The saint (*shengren) is serene, withdraws
from the affairs of the world, and rejects the established values (the ordinary
dao or ways) as artificial, in favor of a spontaneous way of life with no virtu-
ous effort toward improvement, and no competition that might introduce
disturbances. He lets the Dao and Nature freely operate in him, claiming that
if one does so both the world and oneself will go along very well on their
own. "Cease all learning," says the sage, the learning that in Confucian terms
means striving for something better: one can reach the Truth only by letting
it operate naturally (*ziran).
The image of the sage ruler in the Daode jing is combined with a "primitiv-
ist" tendency that is not unique to this text but can be found in other trends
of Chinese thought, including later Taoism. In the Great Antiquity (shanggu
--.t r±! , the ideal state of humanity projected into the past), the sage ruler does
not interfere and is not even known to the people. Like the Dao, he has no
name; like the saint, he lets the laws of nature operate spontaneously so that
order is established harmoniously among human beings.

Variety of interpretations. The Daode jing is open to many interpretations and
in fact demands them. The various readings of the commentators have been
sometimes classified into schools. For instance, Heshang gong reads the text
on two levels, one concerned with self-cultivation and the other with ruling
the state; the Xiang' er commentary is an example of its use as a catechism for
the Celestial Masters (*Tianshi dao); and the *Chongxuan (Twofold Mystery)
school of thought gives it a Buddhistic and dialectical interpretation. Legalist,
Buddhist, Confucian, and Taoist physiological or alchemical interpretations
have also been advanced. The Daode jing moreover has been used as a sacred
text that, like all sacred writings, must be recited in conjunction with medita-
tion and ritual practices for exorcist and healing purposes.
Isabelle ROBINET