Cosmogony: Selections from the Taoist “Book of Lieh-Tzu,” Part 2 of 2

“The genesis of sound lies in the sense of hearing; but that which causes sound is never audible to the ear. The source of color is vision; but that which produces color never manifests itself to the eye. The origin of taste lies in the palate; but that which causes taste is never perceived by that sense. All these phenomena are functions of the principle of Inaction. Wu Wei, Inaction, here stands for the inert, unchanging Tao.

To be at will either bright or obscure, soft or hard, short or long, round or square, alive or dead, hot or cold, buoyant or sinking, treble or bass, present or absent, black or white, sweet or bitter, fetid or fragrant – this it is to be devoid of knowledge, yet all-knowing, destitute of power, yet all-powerful. Such is Tao.”

“On His journey to Wei, the Master Lieh Tzu took a meal by the roadside. His followers espied an old skull, and pulled aside the undergrowth to show it to Him. Turning to His disciple Po Fêng, the Master said: ‘That skull and I both know that there is no such thing as absolute life or death. “If we regard ourselves as passing along the road of evolution, then I am alive and he is dead. But looked at from the standpoint of the Absolute, since there is no such principle as life in itself, it follows that there can be no such thing as death.” This knowledge is better than all your methods of prolonging life, a more potent source of happiness than any other.’ […]”

“That which has life must by the law of its being come to an end; and the end can no more be avoided than the living creature can help having been born. So that he who hopes to perpetuate his life or to shut out death is deceived as to his destiny.

The spiritual element in man is allotted to him by Heaven, his corporeal frame by Earth. The part that belongs to Heaven is ethereal and dispersive, the part that belongs to Earth is dense and tending to conglomeration. When the spirit parts from the body, each of these elements resumes its true nature. That is why disembodied spirits are called kuei, which means ‘returning,’ that is, returning to their true dwelling-place. ‘The region of the Great Void.’ The Yellow Emperor said: ‘If my spirit returns through the gates whence it came, and my bones go back to the source from which they sprang, where does the Ego continue to exist?’

Between his birth and his latter end, man passes through four chief stages-infancy, adolescence, old age and death. In infancy, the vital force is concentrated, the will is undivided, and the general harmony of the system is perfect. External objects produce no injurious impression, and to the moral nature nothing can be added. In adolescence, the animal passions are wildly exuberant, the heart is filled with rising desires and preoccupations. The man is open to attack by the objects of sense, and thus his moral nature becomes enfeebled. In old age, his desires and preoccupations have lost their keenness, and the bodily frame seeks for repose. External objects no longer hold the first place in his regard. In this state, though not attaining to the perfection of infancy, he is already different from what he was in adolescence. In death, he comes to his rest, and returns to the Absolute.”