A Beginner’s Guide to Taoism: Ten Thousand Things and the Creation of the Universe
Put on Your Thinking Caps for this One!
A Beginner’s Guide to Taoism
Put on Your Thinking Caps for this One!
The Question
If you read any English translation of the Tao Te Ching, the ancient Chinese seminal text of Taoism, you’ve probably read the phrase “10,000 things.” How strange! In fact, you’ll occasionally find the exact phrase in Buddhist texts as well. So, what are these things, and how did we get here?
To answer those questions, we need to understand the Tao. But, you see, you can’t understand the Tao. You aren’t supposed to. The first line of the first chapter of the Tao Te Ching ensures you know that you can’t understand the Tao.
The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao.
This statement means that anything you can say about the Tao is incorrect. Words are incapable of describing it. If you’re lost or confused so far, then you understand perfectly.
Taoism is wrapped in paradoxical and contradictory language because we are attempting to put into words that which cannot be put into words.
So how, then, are we supposed to understand what the 10,000 things are if we can’t talk about Tao or even know what it is?
Luckily, the legendary author, Lao-tzu, has an answer… with words!
Chapter 42
We may not be able to understand what Tao is technically, but we can see the ramifications of its existence- its manifestations. In other words, we can see what has occurred due to Tao in the real world. For example, in his third law of motion, Sir Isaac Newton put it this way.
Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.
If one action occurs, another MUST also arise. We will come back to this phrase later.
Nearly halfway through Tao Te Ching, in chapter 42, Lao-tzu writes the following:
The Tao gives birth to one.
One gives birth to two.
Two gives birth to three.
And three gives birth to the ten thousand things.
The ten thousand things carry yin and embrace yang.
They achieve harmony by combining these forces.
It’s here that we find the answer to the unanswerable question. In it, we find the creation of the universe, Earth, animals, and the human race. How is this possible, you ask? You see, these two stanzas describe the yin and yang.
Everyone is familiar with “the yin yang” symbol. You see it on t-shirts, bumper stickers on cars, tattoos, and necklaces. Yes, I have a yin-yang necklace, but more on that later. Most people think it stands for balance or opposites. The Taoist meaning is more complicated (because, of course, it is, right?). Let me explain.
The Meaning
To understand the true meaning and discover what the 10,000 things are, let’s read chapter 42 one line at a time.
The Tao gives birth to one.
We start with Tao. Many believe Tao is a god, and if that is your interpretation, you’re welcome to it. In my mind, however, it’s not a god or a deity but a force with no shape or form. So if you’re thinking about Star Wars, keep going with that thought because you’re getting there. From nothing, one, the universe, is born.
One gives birth to two.
From the universe, a system of duality appears naturally. Remember, for every action; there is a reaction. For every thing, there is an opposite thing. Two IS Yin and Yang. They are opposing but equal forces in the universe- male and female, strong and weak, beautiful and ugly. You cannot have one without the other, and they coexist perfectly. So they were created at the same time.
It’s crucially important that you understand the parts of two cannot survive without each other, or else it wouldn’t be two. It’s not yin and yang; it’s yin-yang.
Two gives birth to three
When we usually see a Yin yang, it is stationary like the picture above or perhaps a pendant. But in reality, the two halves of yin-yang rotate, forever challenging each other and pushing the other out of the way. This push of yin causes yang to move yin to the side. This spin cannot stop, or it wouldn’t be yin and yang anymore. It would be one.
This constant movement, the dance that never ends, the interaction, is three.
In the animation below, you can clearly see three.
Three gives birth to the 10,000 things
So, remember Sir Isaac Newton’s third law of motion? The cosmic reaction to yin and yang constantly spinning and interacting is the existence of everything.
The ancient Chinese called this concept: 10,000 things.
I found a way to explain it visually when I found this incredible animation in Canva.
Can you see it? The interaction (three) between yin and yang (two) inside the universe (one) creates all-things (10,000 things).
The Final Picture
On April 27th, 2019, I promised never to feel again as lost as I felt that year. Not that I haven’t felt stress, anxiety, or had medical problems afterward, but I dedicated myself to learning as much about the Tao as I could. It wasn’t long before I began to identify openly as a Taoist.
So, each year on April 27th, I take a selfie and attach it to the right side of this collage.
Sometimes, my friends and family ask what my necklace means to me. While I’ve given different answers over the years, my favorite is…
“Everything.”
Thank you so much for reading! If you’d like to read more of my work, please subscribe to my Medium emails or follow me on Mastodon or The Taoist Online Publication on Mastodon, Twitter, Facebook, or Flipboard!
