This describes the essence and function of Tao. "Nothing" is the noumenon of Tao, which existed before the creation of heaven and earth. Because Tao is best at creating heaven and earth out of nothing, this is "being". With heaven and earth, there is everything, and he is as great as the mother of all things in the world.
This sentence comes from the Tao Te Ching written by Li Er in the Western Zhou Dynasty.
The original text is:
The truth can be known, but it is not necessarily a well-known truth. Names can be named and are very famous. Nothing is the beginning of the world. Yes, the mother of all things. So, there is often nothing, I want to see it. Often, I want to see it. Both of them have the same name, and they are called Xuan, Xuan and Xuan, which belong to many people.
Translation:
The "Tao" that can be expressed in words is not an eternal "Tao"; It can be said in words that it is not an eternal "name". "Nothing" is the foundation of heaven and earth, and "Being" is the root of all things. We should observe the mystery of Tao from "nothing". We often know the clues of Tao from "being". "Nothing" and "You" come from the same source, but have different names. Can be said to be deep; Extremely far and deep, it is the total door of all changes.
Extended data
Tao Te Ching is a work of China before the separation of pre-Qin philosophers in ancient times, and it is an important source of Taoist philosophy. Tao Te Ching is divided into two parts. The first part of the original text is the Tao Te Ching, and the second part is the Tao Te Ching, without chapters. Later, it was changed to the Tao Te Ching in the first 37 chapters, and the Tao Te Ching in the last 38 chapters, divided into 8 1 chapters.
The text of Tao Te Ching takes "morality" in the philosophical sense as the main line, and discusses the ways of self-cultivation, governing the country, using troops and keeping in good health, but most of them aim at politics. It is the so-called "inner sage and outer king" theory, which has profound meaning and wide tolerance and is known as the king of all classics.
It is one of the greatest masterpieces in China's history, and it has a far-reaching influence on traditional philosophy, science, politics and religion. According to the statistics of UNESCO, the Tao Te Ching is the most widely translated and published cultural masterpiece except the Bible.
Laozi was born in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. At that time, the environment was weak in the Zhou Dynasty, and various governors constantly competed for hegemony. The severe turmoil and changes made Lao Zi witness the sufferings of the people, regarded as the Tibetan history of the Zhou Dynasty, and put forward a series of ideas on governing the country and protecting the people. Based on his own life experience, and taking the rise and fall of the dynasty and the safety of the people as a mirror, he traced back to the source and wrote two books, Tao Te Ching, with 5,000 words.
Tao Te Ching mainly discusses "Tao" and "morality": "Tao" is not only the natural way of the universe, but also the method of personal practice. "Virtue" is not the usual morality or virtue, but a monk's special world outlook, methodology and way of dealing with people.
Baidu encyclopedia-Tao Te Ching, the beginning of heaven and earth