Chapter 11

Commentary::

The choice of wheel, vessel, and dwelling relate to forms used by the religion of the Shang and Zhou authors of this text in their ancient processional rites of the ancestors. The thirty-spoke wheel represents the moon cycle. The pot is an offering vessel. The dwelling is a mound that, by the time of this text, had become a kind of womb-shaped tomb, not an architectural home for the living. A poetical subtext is then implied: the endless, spiritual (natural) “procession” of the living¹ and the dead², a reference to time itself. The usual understanding of this chapter focuses on the processional aspects of Form and Emptiness related to Space. Both of these images work and both are implied through symbols.

A wheel is made of thirty spokes and a hub, but gaps make the wheel complete³. The character for “made” here, you, and the character for “gaps” may also be translated as “birth” and “death” or “emptiness,” respectively, in another context. The chapter centers on the characters wu, you, and yung, and makes the point that beings/things are not what they seem.⁵

A pot is made (you) by shaping and firing clay, but openness (wu) gives the vessel its usefulness. A dwelling has (you) walls and a roof, but openings (wu) or windows and doors give the dwelling “benefit” (yung).

The term you refers to what a being/thing “seems to have” or appears to be-its emergent form. The term wu refers to what being/things “seems to lack” -their natural softness, uncertainty or emptiness. When these two appear together, a particular, temporary activity arises called “yung.” This activity appears as a being/thing’s completeness, purpose, usefulness, or benefit.⁶ The true nature of everything is non-dual.⁷ Forms as common as wheels, bowls, and dwellings, upon further examination, display a formless dimension (gaps,⁸ openness, and/or emptiness).⁹

Therefore: What is (you zhi) relies on what is not (wu zhi). Being is completed by non-being. Everything that emerges relies on continuing emptiness as a base or space for its emergence. When we choose (prefer) the vision of emerging form, forgetting the open space, we are deluded. When we choose what appears to be,¹⁰ we are likely to develop the false view that we possess an abiding self, a fixed perspective, and live in a solid and existing world. However, we can also directly experience our being and the beings/things in the world in their completeness by simultaneously recognizing the ephemeral nature of everything (wu zhi). When we see things as they actually are (both wu [emerging] and you [withdrawing]), we also see Dao (process, flow without fixation). The natural unity of wu/you in any being/thing reveals its yung: its natural completeness, its precise usefulness, and its unlimited benefit.

The complete “vision” of wu/you as yung is also a description of the formal state of meditation, a silent recognition of the interconnectedness of things. Though meditation at first may only reveal the form/emptiness¹¹ aspect of beings/things (represented by assuming the formal posture of meditation¹²), the experienced practitioner eventually opens up to a limitless vision of naturally flowing qi: unlimited space, time, environment. Daode.

Footnotes::

1. Chinese: you
2. wu
3. yung
4. Chinese: you
5. wu
6. Ultimately, "useful" in serving the resolution of fate in relationship to all other beings/things. The term yung used here can also refer to de and shen in other contexts: a being/thing's original or true nature and that nature's "utility" in resolving all beings/things spontaneously (true innate compassion).
7. yung
8. Tibetan: bardo
9. Sanskrit: Shunyata
10. what is, you zhi, the coming into being of activity
11. wu zhi
12. embodiment