Laozi's Philosophy within Chinese Science
Chengdu Longtan Hospital · Deng Wanfa
The Daodejing says: "The Way that can be spoken is not the constant Way; the name that can be named is not the constant name. The Nameless is the beginning of Heaven and Earth; the Named is the mother of the ten thousand things. Hence, in constant Non-being, we behold its wonder; in constant Being, we behold its boundary. The two, sharing one source under different names, together are called the mysterious. Mystery on mystery — the gate of every wonder."
This passage is the first of the Daodejing's eighty-one chapters; it can be called the general discourse of the book. Its central topic is the Way. The Way is the law of nature. On the law of nature, two questions stand: one, the Non-being; two, the Being. Non-being is what objectively exists outside our consciousness; Being is what objectively exists and has been recognized by us. The dialectical relation of Non-being and Being — objective and subjective — was, even to Laozi, "mystery on mystery," a doctrine of unfathomable depth. He called it the gate of every wonder: the master gate of the doctrines arising from the laws of change of the ten thousand things between Heaven and Earth. That is, every doctrine in the world may be approached through Being and Non-being.
1. The universality and particularity of Being and Non-being
First it must be clear: Being and Non-being are both human sensations. Our senses can sense only what falls within the capacity our being has. Constant Being is what the ordinary person senses; Constant Non-being is what the ordinary person does not sense. These both refer to the ordinary person — they speak of the universal in things. But further: every person has individual variation; each in constitution, intellect, education, life-experience, and other conditions of sensing the world (time-and-space conditions), is different; so the sensing of objective things differs, and conclusions about Being and Non-being differ. This is the particularity of Being and Non-being. For instance: what once could not be sensed by human organs can now be sensed by Western culture-science (structural science) methods and technologies. Conversely, what neither the present nor future technical conditions of structural-science can supply existence-proof of, Chinese science (relational science) can infer through the laws of mutual relation between things. Here I want to remind: whatever way we use to recognize objective things, our recognition is always limited; the objective existence of things is unlimited. We cannot use limited recognition to deny unlimited existence. This is a great principle in epistemology. So Being and Non-being are a mystery on mystery doctrine.
2. The relativity of Being and Non-being
In Chapter 2 of the Daodejing: "Being and Non-being beget each other; difficult and easy complete each other; long and short shape each other; high and low incline to each other; tones and voices harmonize with each other; before and after follow each other — these are eternal." The Being and Non-being, difficult and easy, long and short, high and low, tones and voices, before and after named here all exist in relation — each depending on the other for its existence; lose the one, the other vanishes.
Because the existence of things is unlimited, instances of Being and Non-being cannot be counted; we can only take a few and infer the principle. Being and Non-being, yin and yang exist in mutual relation; their existence depends on a corresponding condition; remove the corresponding condition, and both vanish. Example: no up — no down; no Heaven — no Earth. Up and down, Heaven and Earth correspond to each other; lose the corresponding condition, and neither exists. The corresponding condition is given by the human. Heaven and Earth, up and down, are bounded by human intention: above the human, Heaven; below the human, Earth. Strip away the human intention as boundary, and Heaven and Earth merge into one — all vanishes. So Heaven and Earth, up and down, yin and yang, Being and Non-being — all and all are human sensations. Only when we recognize a thing do we set down its name. This is the subjective reflection of the objective.
3. Being and Non-being can be known but not known in full
Laozi: "The Way that can be spoken is not the constant Way." The Way means the law of nature's motion and change. It can be known. But the true Way (the law of nature) is not transferred by human will. Our limited recognition cannot wholly reflect the true law of a thing's motion and change. So the true Way is not the constant Way — it is not what our recognition can speak clearly.
A name is the definition the human sets for a thing once recognized. It is the form-of-expression of Being. Generally, a thing's name reflects its basic character. For instance, Laozi — at the name we picture Laozi's basic character (height, build, features, temperament, life-experience, contributions to humanity, and so on). But Laozi's real content surely is not only what we picture by his name. So a thing can be recognized, but not in full; a recognized thing can be named, but the name does not reflect its full content. This is the basic law of Non-being within Being. Hence the name that can be named is not the constant name.
The cosmos is originally one undivided whole, called Taixu. Taixu is Non-being — nothing. Of course there is no naming of Heaven and Earth. Heaven and Earth are named so that humans can recognize the cosmos — humans as center: above the human is Heaven, below the human is Earth. Hence the Nameless is the beginning of Heaven and Earth. The ten thousand things come from this. Non-being is still the root of nature.
When humans sense the existence of things, they give them names. So first comes human recognition, then the names of the ten thousand things. Hence the Named is the mother of the ten thousand things.
To sum: people generally observe and reflect from the empty-cosmos Non-being on the mystery of all things being birthed; and they observe, from the known angle, the laws of mutual relation. Hence in constant Non-being, we behold its wonder; in constant Being, we behold its boundary. Boundary may be taken as seek, know, edge, patrol. In brief: Being is born of Non-being; Non-being comes from Being. Being and Non-being are relative; they beget each other.
Being and Non-being are both human sensations; both elude clear speech. Hence the two, sharing one source under different names, together are called the mysterious. Mystery on mystery — the gate of every wonder.
Since the Way can be known but not known in full, we should not use our limited recognition in place of the objective laws of things. We should follow the natural laws of things' motion and change. Only in following the natural law can we live and grow better. This is a master philosophical principle of Chinese science.
12 April 2002