Interreligious dialogue : Classics

A ll things in the world come from being.
And being comes from non-being.

quote 2198 | Lao Tzu
Laozi 40, in Wing-Tsit Chan, Chinese Philosophy, Chapter 7.

T he Tao (Way) that can be told of is not the eternal Tao;
The name that can be named is not the eternal name.
The Nameless is the origin of Heaven and Earth;
The Named is the mother of all things.
Therefore let there always be non-being so we may see their subtlety,(1)
And let there always be being (2) so we may see their outcome.
The two are the same,
But after they are produced, they have different names .(3)
They both may be called deep and profound (hsuan).(4)
Deeper and more profound,
The door of all subtleties!

quote 2172 | Lao Tzu
Laozi 1, in Wing-Tsit Chan, Chinese Philosophy, Chapter 7.

(1) This translation of miao as "subtlety" rather than "mystery" is according to Wang Pi. (2) Ho-shang Kung and Wang Pi punctuated the sentences to mean "have desires” and "have no desires." This interrupts the thought of the chapter. Beginging with Wang An-shib's (1021-1086) Lao Tzu chu (Commentary), some scholars have punctuated the two sentences after wu (no) and yu (to be), thus making them to mean "There is always non-being" and "There is always being." (3) Ch'en Ching-yuan (d. 1229), in his Tao-te ching chu (Commentary), punctuates the sentence after t'ung (the same) instead of t'ung-ch'u (produced from the same). This punctuation preserves the ancient rhyme of the verse. (4) The word hsuan means profound and mysterious.

A ll things are `without a self' (anattaa).

temple_buddhist

quote 2112 | Buddha Sakyamuni
Anguttara Nikaya, III. 134

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Classics > Being & Non Being