The Dao Gives Rise to One

Do you only know how to push, or only how to give way?

Original

道生一，一生二，二生三，三生萬物。萬物負陰而抱陽，沖氣以為和。

In plain words

The Dao gives rise to One; One gives rise to Two; Two gives rise to Three; Three gives rise to all things. All things carry yin on their backs and hold yang in their arms; the two energies blend and become harmony.

Key words

生shēngHere “unfolds into,” not “gives birth and lets go.”
負陰抱陽fù yīn bào yángBack to the shade, face to the sun: everything holds both forces.
沖氣chōng qìThe two energies stirring together and blending.

Reading it step by step

Yesterday we read that the Dao is where everything comes from. But how does something that never changes give rise to a world that never stops changing? Chapter 42 offers a short formula.

First: 生 here means “unfolds into,” not “gives birth and walks away.” The Dao does not lay the world like an egg and leave it. “The Dao gives rise to One” means the Dao shows itself as a single whole. The Yijing commentary uses the same word when it says the Supreme Ultimate “gives rise to” yin and yang: an unfolding, not a birth. One is the whole: there can only be one whole, because as soon as there are two, you have parts.

Second: Two is yin and yang; Three is yin, yang and their harmony. Ancient Chinese thinkers spoke of energy as qi. Yang is the active force, yin the receiving force. When they meet, a third thing appears: harmony. Why does Three jump straight to “all things”? Because every thing is yin and yang blended in some particular proportion.

Once the proportion is set, it becomes this flower and not another, just as a plank once made into a table can no longer be a chair. Every flower and every blade of grass is such a blend. For all our technology, nobody can make a single blade of grass from nothing; even cloning has to start from living cells. The steps of One, Two and Three also keep the Dao itself from being tossed about by the coming and going of things.

Daobeyond, unchanging

Onethe whole

Twoyin · yang

Threeyin · yang · harmony

all thingseach its own blend

“Gives rise” means unfolds, step by step.

Third: “carry yin, hold yang, blend into harmony.” Every thing has the shade at its back and the sun in its arms, and lives in the stirring between them. People too. The toughest man has moments when he weeps; the gentlest woman becomes fierce when she has a child to protect. There is no pure yang and no pure yin. Health looks like harmony.

Hold this line up like a mirror. Do you rely on only one force? At work, always pushing and never waiting; or always yielding and never able to say no. At home, one parent plays the strict one and the other the soft one, until both are worn out. Laozi's point is that real steadiness does not come from wiping out one side. It comes from letting both be present and letting them mix.

Today, notice the proportion in yourself: how much yin, how much yang, right now?

One line to carry

Steadiness is not one side winning; it is both sides blending.

Today's question

What situation have you been handling with only force, or only softness? What would you do differently if you added the other?

Quick check

Why does Three give rise to all things?

Next pageReturning Is How the Dao MovesPage 10

II · What the Dao Means — Where all things come from and return to

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