After the laws of Daojing were formed in his consciousness, Li Yuan felt something even more fundamental begin to crystallize—no longer about how understanding works, but about the very nature of the search itself. It was about the relationship between the seeker and the sought, between the one who understands and the understood.
A deep silence enveloped him, and in that silence, a simple yet revolutionary truth began to be revealed.
Li Yuan—or the consciousness that once knew itself by that name—had never created anything.
"I..." he whispered in the spiritual dimension that had no sound, "never created the Dao. The Dao existed long before I was born, long before this world had a name."
The realization flowed like water finding its true level, bringing with it an enlightenment that changed his entire perspective on the over four-century journey he had traveled.
The Dao is the foundation of reality. The Dao is the basis that allows everything to exist, move, change, and return. The Dao was not created by anyone because the Dao is... the very condition that makes creation possible.
"But..." he continued with an increasingly deep understanding, "I might have been the first to discover, to realize, or to give form to that Dao within human consciousness."
Li Yuan saw his entire journey in a new light. Every understanding he had "achieved"—Water, Silence, Existence, all the way to the Oldest Breath—he had never created them. Those understandings already existed, were already operating in the world, had been a part of the cosmic order from the beginning of time.
All he did was... become aware of them. He became quiet enough to hear the whisper that had always been there but was unheard. He became open enough to feel the vibration that had always been flowing but was unfelt.
The Dao waits.
The understanding came with startling clarity. The Dao doesn't force anyone to find it. The Dao doesn't scream or demand attention. The Dao simply... waits, with infinite patience, until there is a soul quiet enough to become aware of it.
"Someday," Li Yuan spoke to a future possibility with a voice full of wisdom, "perhaps someone will find the traces of my understandings. They will feel a resonance with the Dao of Water, the Dao of Silence, the Dao of Existence. And they will say..."
He could imagine the words: "Li Yuan created a new Dao, something that never existed before."
But that would only be because no one had been able to explain it before. In the eyes of a world that doesn't yet know something, a new discovery will look like a new creation. Like a person who first maps an unknown continent—the continent had existed for millions of years, but to the world that just discovered it, it's as if the continent was just "created" by the explorer.
"The Dao is never lost," Li Yuan continued with a profound conviction. "The Dao is always there. I merely 'felt' and 'realized' the Dao that has been silent in the world since the beginning."
This perspective changed Li Yuan's entire understanding of his spiritual achievements. He was not the creator of the Daojing system. He was... the discoverer. He was the first eye to see, the first ear to hear, the first soul to resonate with a harmony that has existed from the very beginning.
"In the Daojing," he formulated the first fundamental rule, "nothing is created. Only discovered."
This rule is fundamental because it changes the relationship between the practitioner and the Dao. It's not a relationship of creator and creation, but a relationship of discoverer and discovered. It's not a relationship of domination or mastery, but a relationship of recognition and resonance.
"I did not create the Dao of Water, the Dao of Silence, the Dao of Existence," he continued with deep humility. "I merely became the first to realize and resonate with them."
The second rule crystallized: "Resonance precedes mastery."
Before a person can "use" or "apply" a Dao understanding, they must first resonate with it. Like a tuning fork that vibrates when another tuning fork is played at the same frequency, the human soul must attune its frequency to the frequency of the aspect of the Dao it wants to understand.
Li Yuan imagined a future where someone finds the traces of his spiritual path and feels the power flowing from his understandings. That person might say: "Li Yuan created this new Dao!"
"But I never created anything," he whispered with a smile that needed no lips. "That Dao existed before I was born, before the world had a name. I just... heard its whisper before them."
The third rule was formed: "True power is not about creating something from nothing, but realizing what is already eternal."
This changed the entire paradigm of spiritual cultivation. It's not about building power or accumulating energy, but about developing the sensitivity to become aware of the power that already exists. Like a person who learns to see the stars that have always been in the night sky, but an untrained eye cannot see them.
"The Dao itself already exists," Li Yuan formulated the fundamental truth. "The Dao is never born, never lost. What changes is: is there anyone willing to listen to it?"
In this formulation, the fourth rule was contained: "The Dao does not choose anyone. The Dao simply waits for who chooses to listen."
There was nothing special about Li Yuan that made him "chosen" to find the Dao. The only difference was... he chose to stop, to be silent, to listen. He chose to pay attention to the questions others ignored, to investigate the mysteries that others considered unimportant.
"The Dao is not something created by a cultivator," he continued with increasingly clear understanding. "The Dao is the invisible rule that existed before the universe, and will continue to exist after the universe is destroyed."
The fifth rule: "The Dao precedes and transcends all manifestations, yet can be experienced through any manifestation."
The Dao does not depend on the physical world, on life, or even on consciousness to exist.
But the Dao can be known, felt, and experienced through all of them.
Like an invisible wind,
it can be felt through the movement of leaves, the ripples in water, or the sound of a bamboo flute.
The wind itself is not the leaves, not the water, not the flute—
but through them, we can understand the existence of the wind.
"But the Dao will not force anyone to follow it," Li Yuan acknowledged with awe for the non-coercive cosmic wisdom. "The Dao simply waits until there is a soul quiet enough to become aware of it."
And in that admission, three philosophical principles crystallized with perfect clarity:
"The Dao does not call you. The Dao does not reject you. The Dao simply waits."
"I am not the one who masters the Dao. I am just quiet enough to hear it."
"Others chase power. I only chase understanding. Because the Dao always is, even without me."
These principles changed the entire spiritual orientation from external searching to internal realization, from mastery to harmony, from ambition to humility.
With the formation of these fundamental rules, the philosophical foundation of the Daojing became complete. It was no longer just a system of understanding, but a way of life that recognizes that the deepest truth is not created or conquered, but discovered and harmonized.
Li Yuan felt a profound peace—the peace of a discoverer who has found a treasure, but realizes that the treasure is not his. He is only its temporary keeper, until it is time to hand it over to the next seekers.
The fundamental rules have been revealed.
Not as a restrictive dogma, but as a guiding compass.
Not as a final truth, but as an invitation to listen more deeply.
The journey of understanding... has found its eternal foundation.