Tao Te Ching Ch. 21: The Source Behind

Lao Tzu

The Source Behind Everything

0:00

0:00 / 0:00

0:00

Summary

Lao Tzu opens with a claim about power: the grandest forms of active force from Tao come, their only source. Who can of Tao the nature tell? Our sight it flies, our touch as well. The chapter begins by pointing to something that cannot be directly grasped, yet is the sole source of everything that moves in the world.

Then Lao Tzu describes what the Tao is like. Eluding sight, eluding touch, the forms of things all in it crouch. Profound it is, dark and obscure; things' essences all there endure. Those essences the truth enfold of what, when seen, shall then be told. What we perceive with eyes and hands are outward semblances. The deeper essences and enduring truth live inside something mysterious we cannot pin down.

Now it is so; 'twas so of old. Its name is what passes not away. So, in their beautiful array, things form and never know decay. Lao Tzu closes with a practical claim: How know I that it is so with all the beauties of existing things? By this nature of the Tao. He does not offer a proof you can hold. He points to a pattern he has watched hold true across time.

In this chapter:Terms Characters Key Quotes Modern Story

Why This Matters

Reading What You Cannot See

The forces that shape outcomes are often the ones you cannot see or touch. Lao Tzu says the grandest forms of active force from Tao come, their only source, yet our sight and touch cannot grasp the Tao that holds things' essences.

Watch what actually drives results beneath the visible surface before you react to the loudest signal.

This chapter

Inside the Mind: The witness who cannot touch

The grandest forms of active force come from the Tao, yet sight and touch fly from it. Essences endure in what is dark and obscure, and things form without knowing decay. He does not prove this by grasping; he says he knows it by this nature of the Tao.

Continue this thoughtThe Name You Can Finish Is Already a Defence

Coming Up in Chapter 22

The partial becomes complete; the crooked, straight; the empty, full. Next Lao Tzu turns weakness upside down and says the sage who stops striving becomes the one no one in the world can strive against.

PreviousPrevious Chapter NextNext Chapter

Original text

118 wordscomplete

Chapter 21

The Source Behind Everything

21.The grandest forms of active force From Tao come, their only source. Who can of Tao the nature tell? Our sight it flies, our touch as well. Eluding sight, eluding touch, The forms of things all in it crouch; Eluding touch, eluding sight, There are their semblances, all right. Profound it is, dark and obscure; Things' essences all there endure. Those essences the truth enfold Of what, when seen, shall then be told. Now it is so; 'twas so of old. Its name—what passes not away; So, in their beautiful array, Things form and never know decay. How know…

Public-domain chapter text, formatted for reading.

Master this chapter. Complete your experience

Purchase the complete book to access all chapters and support classic literature

Buy atAmazon.com

Available in paperback, hardcover, and e-book formats

Siddhartha

Hermann Hesse

Explores personal growth

The Enchiridion

Epictetus

Explores personal growth

On the Shortness of Life

Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Explores personal growth

Thus Spoke Zarathustra

Friedrich Nietzsche

Explores personal growth

Lessons from Tao Te Ching

Theme-by-theme analyses that connect this book to modern life skills.

Deep diving the literary elements.

The Source Behind Everything

Summary

Why This Matters