shū · 樞 · noun · hinge · still point
Pivot
the door-hinge; the unmoving point on which all turning depends
The hinge is small, fixed and almost invisible, yet the whole door swings on it: 木 for the wood, 區 for the sound — the physical door-pivot, before any metaphor is asked of it. Zhuangzi supplies the metaphor and gives it a name, 道樞, the pivot of the Way: the still centre of the ring, where the endless contention of this-against-that stops because there is nothing left to turn against. The word kept climbing after that. 樞紐 is a hub, 中樞 the central nervous system, and 天樞 is the name given to the first star of the Northern Dipper — the sky’s own hinge. A door that has found its pivot turns without effort; a life that has, the texts imply, does the same.
Sources · 3
- documented Zhuangzi, Qiwulun 齊物論 — 道樞, the pivot of the Way, the still point at the centre of the ring.
- documented The character as 木 (wood) with 區: the physical door-hinge, before any metaphor.
- documented The later extensions: 樞紐 hub, 中樞 central nervous system, and 天樞 as the first star of the Northern Dipper.