"Reflections on the Realm of Words: Four Chapters"

Author: Tu Youxiang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-12-01
Features: All questions of thought and art can ultimately be reduced to linguistic issues. The thoughts and discourses of the Pre-Qin philosophers and their influence on later generations illustrate this point. The opening proposition of the Tao Te Ching—“The Way that can be spoken is not the eternal Way” (，)—immediately highlights the relationship between the Way and language. Different understandings of this relationship pertain to the status and nature of language. Wang Bi’s commentary states, “The Way that can be spoken and the name that can be named refer to things and shapes; they are not the eternal Way, hence they cannot be spoken or named.” This interpretation has been widely accepted. However, when we read the following passage from the Mawangdui Tao Te Ching:
“Being and non-being give rise to each other;
Difficulty and ease complement each other;
Long and short define each other;
High and low complete each other;
Sound and silence harmonize with each other;
Before and after follow each other—this is the eternal Way.”
We can realize what constitutes the eternal Way: the interplay between what can and cannot be spoken gives rise to and complements the eternal Way. Simply speaking is not the eternal Way, but excluding what can be spoken from the eternal Way also renders it incomplete. Only by distinguishing between what can and cannot be spoken do we align with Laozi’s concept of the (simplicity) or the Way. In this way, it becomes evident how crucial language is in Laozi’s theory of the Way.
Later artistic criticism and creation frequently address concepts like “artistic resonance” () and “concept” (), which are similarly significant. The reason artistic resonance is what it is lies in the “eternal” quality it conveys, inviting endless contemplation. It harbors various intangible, latent, and yet manifest elements that cannot be fully articulated.