道深虚无,自然无为:《西升经》论“道”

On the Nature of Tao in The Scripture of Western Ascension

In The Scripture of Western Ascension,"Tao" were used to pinpoint both the ultimate pursuit for its metaphysical meanings and the practical cultivations where the guidelines leading its followers to the integration with "Tao" itself were highlighted.In line with the nature of simplicity,no action,eternity,becoming,and silence demonstrated in "Tao" of The Book of Tao and its Virtue,The Scripture of Western Ascension expanded the discusses of "Tao" on ideas such as "emptiness","voidness","tranquility" and "universal implications",all of which had been developed from the original discusses of "Tao" in The Book of Tao and its Virtue.The Scripture of Western Ascension both discussed the theories of cultivating "Tao",which were used to highlight the values of "keeping to oneness","purifying one’s mind" and "Taoist classics are the chief for cultivating Tao",etc.,and demonstrated the links between "Tao" and "human beings" with the parallel relationship between "fish" and "water",which not only expanded the discusses of "Tao" in The Book of Tao and its Virtue,but also impacted heavily Taoism in the late periods,and so the same metaphor used to be used in scriptures to deal with the relationship between "human being" and "Tao".