(4TH CENTURY BCE)
1
TAO defined is not the constant Tao.
No name names its eternal name.
The unnamable is the origin of heaven and earth;
named, it is the mother of the ten thousand things.
Emptied of desire, we see the mystery;
filled with desire, we see the manifestation of things.
Two names emerge from a single origin,
and both are called mysterious,
and the mystery itself is the gateway to perception.
[S.H.]
2
BEAUTY and ugliness have one origin.
Name beauty, and ugliness is.
Recognizing virtue recognizes evil.
Is and is not produce one another.
The difficult is born in the easy,
long is defined by short, the high by the low.
Instrument and voice achieve one harmony.
Before and after have places.
That is why the sage can act without effort
and teach without words,
nurture things without possessing them,
and accomplish things without expecting merit:
only one who makes no attempt to possess it
cannot lose it.
[S.H.]
7
HEAVEN is eternal. The earth endures.
The reason for heaven’s eternity and earth’s endurance
is that they do not live for themselves only,
and therefore may live forever.
The sage steps back but remains in front,
the outsider always within.
Self is realized through selflessness.
[S.H.]