how while the monism was established the dualism was retained. It is
this mono-dualistic theory, combining the older and newer philosophy,
which in China, then as now, constitutes the accepted explanation of
the origin of things, of the universe itself and all that it contains.


Lao Tzu's "Tao"

There are other cosmogonies in Chinese philosophy, but they need not
detain us long. Lao Tzu (sixth century B.C.), in his _Tao-tê ching,
The Canon of Reason and Virtue_ (at first entitled simply _Lao Tzu_),
gave to the then existing scattered sporadic conceptions of the
universe a literary form. His _tao_, or 'Way,' is the originator
of Heaven and earth, it is "the mother of all things." His Way,
which was "before God," is but a metaphorical expression for the
manner in which things came at first into being out of the primal
nothingness, and how the phenomena of nature continue to go on,
"in stillness and quietness, without striving or crying." Lao Tzu is
thus so far monistic, but he is also mystical, transcendental, even
pantheistic. The way that can be walked is not the Eternal Way; the
name that can be named is not the Eternal Name. The Unnameable is the
originator of Heaven and earth; manifesting itself as the Nameable,
it is "the mother of all things." "In Eternal Non-Being I see the
Spirituality of Things; in Eternal Being their limitation. Though
different under these two aspects, they are the same in origin;
it is when development takes place that different names have to be
used. It is while they are in the condition of sameness that the
mystery concerning them exists. This mystery is indeed the mystery
of mysteries. It is the door of all spirituality."