道家思想創發自老子,老子的哲學一言以蔽之就是無的哲學。無的哲學是以自然爲首義,並且主張無爲而無不爲。無爲並非全無動作,乃是無執的爲,或無意此固我的爲;惟此無爲能充分提供萬物自生自長的機會,進而讓天地人我共成一和諧的世界,是之謂無爲而無不爲。老子之無的哲學後世唯莊子最能善述之。莊子主張最高的生命境界,在體現心無不可遊、物無不可乘的陶然忘機,以重新開啓有情的人間與藝術的天地。這種境界亦即是以是非兩行、彼此兩成的開放態度,表現出超俗但不反俗的人生取向,而它所根據的,是藉由「忘」、「外」、「化」等功夫的逐層深化,所成之無執的道心。無執的道心從主觀上說是生命的澄明定靜,此即顯「照體獨立」之妙:從客觀上說,其能應於化而解於物,則有「靈樞長運」之功。莊子哲學能夠充分彰顯老子哲學的本義和深義,兩者之間的不同,不在思想本身的差異,而是表達風格、施教對象和言談方式的各取所需罷了。
Taoism was created by Lao-tse. The philosophy of Lao-tse is the philosophy of Nothing-ness. Nothing-ness means to let things grow by themselves. Nothing-ness is to do things without holding anything. And Chuang-tse was the famous follower of Lao-tse. The supreme life style that Chuang-tse proposed was that-the mind could he wondering everywhere and things could be used freely, so that world could be filled with love and arts. Subjectively, the Holding-nothing-mind of Tao is the clearness-calmness of life. And objectively, the Holding-nothing-mind of Tao could response to everything without obstacles. The philosophy of Chuang-tse can express and translate the philosophy of Lao-tse correspondingly. The differences of the two are not in the thoughts themselves but in the styles of their expressing and the ways of their writing.