Explaining The Essence Of Tao

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A scholar and a gentleman by name Duke Huan, sat on a balcony reading. Below one of his servants, P'ien was carving out a wooden wheel as in those days the wheels were hand made. He put away his working tools and ascended the steps to talk to his master.

P'ien asked, “Your honor, may I know what you are reading?"

“I am reading the wise words of the sages," said Duke Huan

“Are they alive?" asked P'ien

“They are dead," said the Duke.

“Then what you are reading now is their cold left overs," said P'ien

The Duke retorted, “Why should you, a wheel-maker have to say anything about the books I read. It is good if you give me an explanation, otherwise you only deserve to die!"

The wheelwright said, “Your honour, your servant (referring to himself) will explain from the view pint of his own work of art. When I make a wheel, if I carve gently, the process is easy on me, but the product of my work does not turn out to be good. If I work violently, the product of my work turns out to be crude and the process is hard on me as well. But when I work neither gently nor roughly, the product turns out to be a fine piece of work."

P'ien continued, “Now I cannot teach this to my son or can he adapt it, as there is a knack of doing it which is beyond the process of training or teaching! I am seventy years old now and continue to make wheels this way. The sages who you are reading have gone, taking their knack with them. So what you are reading now is their cold leftovers!"

The point conveyed through this story is that even great books cannot convey the Tao (The essence), which is the mystery of life. Books are made up of a collection of words which carry the truth, which is the result of something else. Nobody can ever reveal in words what that something else is! What we look at is the names and forms, colour and sound etc which are incapable of explaining the inexplicable Tao, the secret of life. Books can only point at the truth, while the truth is still something else!

The essence or the true nature of Tao cannot be conveyed through forms.