41

When superior people hear of the Way they follow it with devotion when average people hear of the Way they wonder if it exists when inferior people hear of the Way they laugh out loud if they didn’t laugh it wouldn’t be the Way hence these sayings arose the brightest path seems dark the path leading forward seems backward the smoothest path seems rough the highest virtue low the whitest white pitch-black the greatest virtue wanting the staunchest virtue timid the truest truth uncertain the perfect square without corners the perfect tool without uses the perfect sound hushed the perfect image without form for the Tao is hidden and nameless but because it’s the Tao it knows how to start and how to finish

CONFUCIUS says, “To hear of the Tao in the morning is to die content by nightfall” (Lunyu: 4.8).

LI HSI-CHAI says, “When great people hear of the Tao, even if others laugh at them, they can’t keep them from practicing it. When average people hear of the Tao, even if they don’t disbelieve it, they can’t free themselves of doubts. When inferior people hear of the Tao, even the ancient sages can’t keep them from laughing. Everyone in the world thinks existence is real. Who wouldn’t shake their head and laugh if they were told that existence wasn’t real and that nonexistence was?”

TE-CH’ING says, “The Tao is not what people expect. Hence, the ancients created these twelve sayings, which Lao-tzu quotes to make clear that the Tao has two sides.”

SU CH’E says, “These twelve sayings refer to the Tao as it appears to us. Wherever we look, we see its examples. The Tao as a whole, however, is hidden in namelessness.”

LI JUNG says, “The true Tao is neither fast nor slow, clear nor obscure. It has no appearance, no sound, no form, and no name. But although it has no name, it can take any name.”

LU HUI-CH’ING says, “Name and reality are often at odds. The reality of the Tao remains hidden in no name.”

LU HSI-SHENG says, “Tools are limited to the realm of form. The Tao is beyond the realm of form.”

YEN TSUN says, “The quail runs and flies all day but never far from an overgrown field. The swan flies a thousand miles but never far from a pond. The phoenix, meanwhile, soars into the empyrean vault and thinks it too confining. Where dragons dwell, small fish swim past. Where great birds and beasts live, dogs and chickens don’t go.”

THE CHANKUOTSE says, “Those who know how to start don’t always know how to finish” (31).

In line fourteen, my reading of ju (pitch-black) instead of the usual ju (disgrace) is based on the Fuyi edition. In line sixteen, I have followed Kao Heng in reading t’ou (steal) as a loan for ju (timid). In the last line, I have gone along with Mawangtui B in reading shih (start) instead of the standard, and yet puzzling, tai (bestow). This verse is present in the Kuotien texts, but in those lines where it is readable, it doesn’t introduce any significant variations.