Taoism > The Basics
What is Wu (Emptiness)?
One of the most important concepts in Taoism is Wu, usually translated as emptiness. But the meaning of this term is "nonbeing", "nonexistence". In the Taoist literature this term refers to many correlated features:
1. The emptiness opposed to the fullness (you);
The wheel is one of Lao-tzu's preferred symbols to render the meaning of Wu (emptiness). |
2. The void (nonexistance) which is the mother or root of everything in the universe (the "ten-thousand");
3. In the realm of humans, the state without desire that helps one to contemplate the
Tao.4. The open mind without discrimination preached by
Hui Neng in his Sutra.- Emptiness in Tao-te ching
In chapter 11 of
Tao-te ching we read the following description of the emptiness:The thirty spokes unite in the one nave; but it is on the empty space (for the axle), that the use of the wheel depends. Clay is fashioned into vessels; but it is on their empty hollowness, that their use depends. The door and windows are cut out (from the walls) to form an apartment; but it is on the empty space (within), that its use depends. Therefore, what has a (positive) existence serves for profitable adaptation, and what has not that for (actual) usefulness.
(James Legge)The usage of the wheel depends on the empty space (emptiness) of the axle. The same, the vessel's usage depends on the emptiness from inside and the apartment may be used only through the empty space within. Therefore emptiness gives a thing its usefulness. A strange idea fashioned by the thinking of Lao-tzu.
About emptiness as a personal experience we treat mostly in our
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