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。無的哲學是以自然為首義，並且主張無為而無不無。無為並非全無動作，乃是無軌的為，或無意必固我的為：惟此無為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約世界．是之謂無為而無不為。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，以重新開啟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。無軌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 be wondering everywhere and things could be used freely, so that world could be filled with love and arts. Subjectively, the olding-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.