xuán 玄

Xuan (Mystery)

原义为幽深玄妙，用以描述万物的本原状态。老子用它形容“道”“德”的幽深玄妙，称“道”“玄之又玄”，又倡“玄德”。扬雄、葛洪等人则进一步将“玄”描述为天地万物的最高本原或本体。在这个意义上，“玄”是超越一切具体事物、无形无象的某种绝对存在。后世有“玄学”之称，指探讨世界本原或本体的学问。

The term first described the original state of everything, which is profound and mysterious. Laozi used it to describe Dao and virtue as being in a profound and mysterious state, calling Dao "a mystery within a mystery," or "virtue of mystery." Ancient Chinese thinkers like Yang Xiong and Ge Hong went a step further, describing xuan (玄) as being the supreme original source or the primal ontological existence of all things in heaven and on earth. In this sense xuan is a kind of absolute existence, formless and imageless, which transcends all concrete things. Later on, xuanxue (玄学), or learning of the mystery, developed, referring to the quest into the original source or ontological existence of the world.

引例 Citations：

◎此两者同出而异名，同谓之玄，玄之又玄，众妙之门。（扬雄《太玄·玄摛》）

（有与无有共同的出处而名称不同，都是深奥玄妙的，极为深奥玄妙，是一切变化的门径。）

You and wu are from the same origin but have different names. They are all extremely mysterious and profound and lead to all changes. (Yang Xiong: Supreme Mystery)

◎玄者，自然之始祖，而万殊之大宗也。（葛洪《抱朴子·畅玄》）

（“玄”是自然的端始，是各种不同事物的本原。）

Xuan is the origin of nature and the source of all things. (Ge Hong: Baopuzi)

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