Taoist sense one should start with the concept of the , which
translates to “theway,” is the central concept of Taoism, giving
the tradition its name. The is explained aseternal and nameless.
It is the “mother of the universe,” which is in operation
everywhere anddependent on nothing. Taoist descriptions of the
portray it as an all-pervasive, life-sustaining, and nourishing
force. We must be careful not to take the as something that
cantruly be described with words, however. Lao Tzu, who wrote
the Tao Te Ching , the main doctrineof Taoism along with the
book of Chuang Tzu, tells us “the Tao that can be told is not
the trueTao.” Lao Tzu refers to the as nameless and intangible,
due to its infinite nature. Only finiteobjects can be assigned
to a name in Taoist thought, since giving something a name
serves to tieit to a definite identity. “cannot be told” and has
an infinite and all-pervasivenature it “rejects all names.” Lao
Tzu even tells us that the only reason he refers to the is
because he does “not know it