Chapter 21

The infinite, unknowable aspect of the divine prior to and beyond all emanation; the hidden root from which the Sephirot unfold.

The description of the Tao as infinite, unknowable, and the hidden root of existence parallels the concept of Ein Sof.

Describing the divine only by negation—God transcends all positive categories and concepts; the via negativa.

[auto] The passage centrally describes the Tao by negation, stating it eludes sight and touch and is profound and obscure.

The supreme God's radical concealment beyond ordinary knowledge or perception; the Hidden Father.

[auto] The text emphasizes the radical concealment of the Tao's nature, describing it as dark, obscure, and beyond sensory perception.

The doctrine that God has no parts, divisions, or composite attributes; pure undivided being.

[auto] The Tao is described as having a name that passes not away, suggesting an undivided, eternal essence without composite attributes.

Salvation through direct experiential knowledge of the divine nature, not through faith, ritual, or moral works alone.

[auto] The speaker claims knowledge of the Tao's nature through direct experience ('By this') rather than external instruction.

The absolutely simple, undivided first principle from which all multiplicity and existence flows.

[auto] The Tao is presented as the single, undivided source from which all active forces and forms originate.

The dissolution of binary oppositions (male/female, inner/outer, above/below) as a mark of spiritual completion.

[auto] The Tao transcends binary sensory categories like sight and touch, existing beyond such dualistic distinctions.

Using apparent contradiction, reversal, or riddle to destabilise ordinary understanding and induce insight.

[auto] The text uses apparent contradictions, such as the Tao eluding senses yet containing the semblances of all things.

The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim.

[auto] The passage asserts that the essences of all things endure within the Tao, implying a fundamental non-dual reality.