Flux and Eternity - The Mutual Interpretation of Heraclitus and Laozi’s Ontological Thought

Abstract

Heraclitus and Lao Tzu were important representatives of Eastern and Western civilisations in the Axial Age, and they had a number of unique insights and fits on the issue of ontology. Both Heraclitus and Laozi noted the irreversible role of laws, the former taking the Logos as the basis for the existence of all things, the latter considering the Tao as the root of all things in the universe; both Heraclitus and Laozi saw that things are always in constant change, the former taking fire as the origin of the world and the cause of all changes, the latter pointing out that the Tao itself is in movement and change along with all human beings; both Heraclitus and Laozi Both Heraclitus and Laozi acknowledge the eternal nature of all things, the former focusing on the living fire and the Logos, the latter on the apprehension of and conformity to the Tao.