In the Spring and Autumn Period, the original text of the first chapter of Laozi's Tao Te Ching:

Tao can be Tao, but it is not constant. A name can be named, but it is not a constant name. Nameless, the beginning of everything; Fame is the mother of everything. Therefore, there is no desire to watch; There is always a desire to see what it is. They are the same, but different names are the same. Mysterious and mysterious, many people's doors.

Translation:

If Tao can be expressed in words, it is often Tao (Tao can be expressed in words, but it is not ordinary Tao); If a "name" can be named by words, it is a constant "name" ("name" can also be explained, it is not an ordinary "name")

"Nothing" can be used to describe the situation when the world is in chaos. And "you" is the name of the origin of all things in the universe. Therefore, we should always observe and understand the mystery of Tao from "nothing"; We should always observe and understand the clues of Tao from "being"

Nothing and existence, both of which have the same origin but different names, are profound and mysterious. It is not a general mystery, but profound and profound, and it is the general door of the mysteries of the universe (from the mystery of "name" to the intangible mystery, "Tao" is the door to understand all the changes of mysteries).

Extended data

Laozi first put forward two key terms "Tao" and "Ming" in Tao Te Ching. The ancient "Tao" and "Heaven" are interlinked, and the "Heaven" and "Tao" here are interlinked, generally referring to the laws of natural operation. ?

"Tao" represents abstract laws, rules and practical rules, and it can also be said to be a principled Tao that remains unchanged in theory or theory. "Tao" is a legalist, and it should be done according to the operating law of "Heaven". Non-constant Taoism is not eternal, that is, the relationship between universality and particularity.

The metaphysical and metaphysical problems of "everything in the universe is born out of nothing, and everything is born out of nothing" include the theory of the origin of everything in the universe in religious philosophy and the discussion of idealism, materialism, monism, pluralism and atheism in pure philosophy. Metaphysics is also the basis of cultivating truth and immortality, that is, the small universe of self is the representation of the big universe. Everything really comes from "nothing" and gives birth to all kinds of "things"

"Chang Wu" and "Chang" are based on the Tao of all things. "Natural nothingness" is the origin of heaven and earth, and "wonderful existence" is the name of predecessors or their own lives, so it is the origin of everything from scratch, from 22 to 4, from 4 to 8 to everything.

In this chapter, Laozi expounded an important philosophical thought: the philosophical thought of materialism.

Laozi said: "There is always nothing, and I want to see its strangeness; Often, I want to see it. " Usually, when people don't know anything about something, they often passively observe the superficial phenomena of things, and gradually understand some deep mysteries from the superficial phenomena. Human beings want to describe these mysteries observed, and this is the "name".

Usually, once the exploration of things develops to the stage of "names", human beings will organize these fragmented "names" and systematically summarize them to develop to the stage of "scientific knowledge". When human beings arm their minds with scientific knowledge, they will have a stronger desire to explore deeper nature, and it is this desire that promotes the further development of scientific knowledge.

The existence of matter is the "Tao" before conscious production is the "name", which is the materialistic view put forward by Lao Tzu two thousand years ago. And Marxism: "Material comes first, consciousness comes second." The materialistic view of this book coincides with mine.

Both name and Tao come from the same thing, one is objective existence; One is the understanding of existence. Cognition develops in the process of negation, and the true colors of things will be revealed in constant negation, affirmation, negation and affirmation.

It is similar to what people say today: the process from perceptual knowledge to rational knowledge is the process of negation of negation. This is the profound connotation of "the mysterious is the mysterious, the gate of Wan Qi".

Baidu Encyclopedia-Tao Te Ching