WORDS & IDEAS
Fan 反
Return / reversal. Things return to their roots; movement changes direction. Returning is one of the text’s ways of describing how the Way works.
Returning to the root
致虚极，守静笃。
The (state of) vacancy should be brought to the utmost degree, and that of stillness guarded with unwearying vigour. All things alike go through their…
Read chapterFollowing what is natural
有物混成，先天地生。
There was something undefined and complete, coming into existence before Heaven and Earth. How still it was and formless, standing alone, and undergoing…
Read chapterReturn and reversal
反者道之动，弱者道之用。
40. The movement of the Tao By contraries proceeds; And weakness marks the course Of Tao's mighty deeds. All things under heaven sprang from It as…
Read chapterReturning to the source
天下有始，以为天下母。
(The Tao) which originated all under the sky is to be considered as the mother of them all. When the mother is found, we know what her children should be.…
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