Introduction

The Text of Weaving the Way bounces back and forth between articulating the principles of the Dao and how to live according to them. After focusing in verses 11-13 on describing perspectives that accord with the Dao, verse 14 returns to praising its mystery. Even though many of the motifs have already been presented, I find their restatement is no less evocative.

I invite you to allow this lovely homage to life’s essential mystery to flow through and nourish you.

Translation

Vision without sight: “profound.”
Hearing without listening: “silent.”
Holding without gaining: “formless”

Profound, silent, formless.
The senses cannot perceive it,
   for it is ultimately one.

One.
Yang is not clear.
Yin is not confused.

Seeking, seeking!
It cannot be named,
  returning again and again,
      it is empty.

It is called the formless form,
  the empty appearance,
    the boundless.

Following it, you’ll never see its back.
Welcoming it, you’ll never see its face.

Welcome what is now,
   and hold the Way of the moment.
Knowing what led to this,
  is called the Way’s law.

Commentary

Writing a commentary on this verse is like trying to share the scent of a spring morning with you by smelling it with my nose. I will keep my notes here brief to underscore how strongly I believe its true meaning lies within your heart.

One.
Yang is not clear.
Yin is not confused.

The text often speaks in dualistic terms because it is through duality that the Dao functions. Here we are reminded that the dual poles that create the universe’s motion are not distinct and do not have sole possession over the qualities typically attributed to them. This is why the taiji (yin-yang symbol) has a dot of the opposing color embedded on each side.

Seeking, seeking!
It cannot be named,
returning again and again,
it is empty.

The line “it is empty” in this verse translates the characters 無物 (wúwù) meaning “to be nothing, devoid of content, empty.” “Empty” is a sense of formless, transcendent, yet immanent energy that constantly morphs according to its natural laws. It’s like a lump of clay that becomes a statue. The statue has much significance in its form, yet is still only a lump of clay. The quality of “clayness” is not dependent on what form it takes, so it is “empty” of any form even as it retains its essential nature as clay.

Welcome what is now,
And hold the Way of the moment.
Knowing what led to this,
is called the Way’s law.

This section deserves special mention because it elegantly balances the past and present. All that is real is the exact instant that currently exists. Yet there is a measurable delay between receiving raw sensory information and having it available to our consciousness. Any moment is long gone by the time we cognize it adequately to speak about it. Staying with what is now is staying with the Dao; a fundamentally language-less phenomenon.

However, and simultaneously, the Dao operates through a natural interplay of cause and effect. What is now can and should be understood in light of what was. What was is greatly impacted by the narratives we weave around our embodied experience. The confusion that we suffer from is thinking that what was still is.

Yes, we absolutely must remember and learn from the past. No, the past is not repeating itself. Yes, everything that is happening now is built out of our conditioned understanding from our past. No, our conditioned understanding of the past does not accurately convey what is happening now.

This all may seem complex, but it’s frightfully simple.