Scholarly discussions of the Dao in the

Laozi

have long prioritized Non-being无 as its foundation， while the “Being of Dao”道有 is often subsumed under the being of myriad things or treated merely as a derivative dimension of Non-being. Though this reading accounts for the transcendence of Dao， it struggles to situate the notion of “Being” in the Daoist ontology as seen in passages such as

“having names/having desires” and “Being arises from Non-being”. The concept of the One一 serves as the pivotal notion that accommodates the “Being of Dao”. It carries two layers of meaning. First， Chapters 14 and 21 of the

Laozi

depict the One through the imagery of obscurity （hu-huang， 忽恍）， revealing that though Dao is not a discrete entity， it manifests articulate and maintainable traces amid a state between being and non-being. Second， formulations including “attaining the One” and “Dao generates the One” demonstrate that the One constitutes the totality of determinations for all things. It unifies manifold beings， endows them with order， and enables the mutual transformation of all determinations — this is what the text calls “the thread of Dao” （dao-ji， 道纪） and “observing all primal beginnings”以阅众甫. Accordingly， while Non-being of Dao logically grounds all existents， the Being of Dao acts as an indispensable medium through which Dao connects to myriad things and unfolds diverse determinations. Only by reconstructing the relationship between Being and Non-being via the One can we fully grasp the immanent structure linking Dao and all things in the

Laozi

.