What is the Dao (Tao, 道)?
Literally “Dao” (Tao, 道) means “way” or “path”. However, in the context of Daoism and qigong it stands for the “cosmic principle”. In western terms it may be best translated with the sum of the laws of nature. If man is in harmony with the Dao, he is Dao. He abandons his ego and adopts a wuwei (無為) point of view. As only if he gives up his personal opinion he can see the world as it is – reality. What is also called “enlightenment” is in fact the most natural state of being.
However, Dao is a word for something that cannot be described, it has no name and no substance and as such the word itself is its own contradiction. Laozi (老子) wrote about the Dao:
“If we could show the Way, it would not be an eternal way.
If we could name the name, it would not be an eternal name.
What has no name is the beginning of heaven and earth;
What has a name is the mother of 1000 things.”
(Daodejing, 道德經)
