If "Tao" can be expressed in words, then it is a regular "Tao" ("Tao" can be expressed in words, it is not an ordinary "Tao"); if "name" can be expressed in words If the text is not named, then it is a "name" ("name" can also be explained, it is not an ordinary "name").

Extended information:

1. Tao can be Tao, but it is not Tao.

The Tao can be Tao, but it is very (constant) Tao. From the first chapter of Laozi's "Tao Te Ching".

2. Original text.

Tao can be Tao, but it is not permanent Tao. A name can be named, but it is not a permanent name. "Nothing" is called the beginning of heaven and earth; "You" is called the mother of all things. Therefore, if you are always "nothing", you want to observe its wonderfulness; if you are always "present", you want to observe its beauty. These two have the same origin but different names, and they are both called xuan. Mysterious and mysterious, the door to all mysteries.

3. "Laozi" says at the beginning: "The Tao can be Tao, but it is not Tao." When later generations interpreted this sentence, ambiguity arose. Before the Northern Song Dynasty, there were mainly three different interpretations.

1. If the Tao can be spoken, it is not the eternal Tao.

Those who hold this view are the mainstream of commentators on Laozi. From Han Fei at the end of the Warring States Period to Yan Zun in the Western Han Dynasty, He Shanggong in the Eastern Han Dynasty, Wang Bi of Cao Wei, Cheng Xuanying, and Lu Xisheng in the Tang Dynasty, they all advocated that the Tao is ineffable, mainly to embody beauty.

2. The Tao can be expressed, but it is not the common Tao in the world.

Li Rong in the Tang Dynasty said: "The Tao is the ultimate principle... It can be named by reason, and it can be called Tao. Therefore, I don't know its name, so it is called Tao." Those who are not Tao are not the Tao that is common in the world. The Tao that is common in the world is to value etiquette and righteousness, to value pomp and glory, to sacrifice oneself to gain fame, to forget oneself in order to seek profit, and to practice virtue after losing the Tao. Now that we have shed the splendor of benevolence and righteousness, we have gained the reality of morality, we have returned to the source of sincerity and honesty, and we have returned to the eternal love, we call it the extraordinary way. "Li Rong explained "the ordinary way" as "the common way." He believes that Laozi's way is not a common way (Confucianism). Sima Guang's interpretation is close to the second view. Sima Guang said: "Those who talk about Tao in the secular world all think that Tao is subtle and cannot be said in words." Lao Tzu believes that otherwise the so-called Tao can also be referred to as Tao, but it is not what people call Tao. ...What ordinary people call Tao is stuck in things. "Sima Guang, like Li Rong, both hold that Tao can be spoken, and neither interprets "Constant Tao" in an ontological sense. This is where they agree, and it is also where they differ from the vast majority of interpreters of "Laozi" . However, their specific interpretation of "Changdao" refers to the common way in the world, and the other refers to the so-called Tao. Although the literal meaning of the two is similar, the actual connotation of Li Rong is quite different. Judging from his explanation, the "conventional way" he refers to clearly refers to the Confucian ethics of benevolence and righteousness. As an orthodox Confucian scholar, it is impossible for Sima Guang to agree with the Taoist Li Rong's views on Lao Tzu. The difference between Tao and ordinary people's Tao is based on the level of understanding. He criticized ordinary people's so-called Tao as "stagnant in things", which means that ordinary people's knowledge is limited to specific things and can only understand and express "the things in specific things". "Tao", but cannot transcend specific things and understand the completeness of Tao.

3. Tao can be described, but Tao is not an eternal Tao.

Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty said: "Tao The powerful name of the extremely wonderful foundation is training and training. The first word is Biao Zong. Those who can say it, say that this wonderful source leads to the creation of all things, and is the path of all things. It can be called the way, so it is said that it can be said. The Extraordinary Tao is a wonderful origin of life and transformation. It is named with no fixed formula and cannot be cited everywhere. Therefore, it may be great or pass away, may be far away or return. It is not always in the same line, so it is said to be the Extraordinary Tao. "Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty interpreted the "extraordinary Tao" as "the Tao that is not permanent but has no change" and believed that Lao Tzu's Tao was ever-changing.