Chapter 1 — Embodying the Dao體道

可道之道，可名之名，指事造形，非其常也。故不可道，不可名也。

A Dao that can be spoken and a name that can be named point to affairs and shape forms; they are not what is constant in it. Therefore it can neither be spoken nor named.

謂經術政教之道也。

This speaks of the way of classical learning (經術, study pursued through texts) and of governance and teaching (政教, administration and instruction).

非自然生長之道也。常道當以無為養神，無事安民，含光藏暉，滅跡匿端，不可稱道。

This is not the Dao by which things are born and grow of themselves. The constant Dao nourishes the spirit (神) through non-action and settles the people by undertaking nothing; it wraps in its light and hides its brightness, erases its traces and conceals its ends, and so it cannot be called the Dao.

謂富貴尊榮，高世之名也。

This speaks of wealth and rank, lofty honor, and a name that stands high in the world.

非自然常在之名也。常名當如嬰兒之未言，雞子之未分，明珠在蚌中，美玉處石間，內雖昭昭，外如愚頑。

This is not the name that is of itself and always present. The constant name is like an infant that cannot yet speak, like an egg not yet divided, like a bright pearl within its shell or fine jade set in stone: bright though it is within, outwardly it seems foolish and dull.

凡有皆始於無，故「未形」「無名」之時，則為萬物之始。及其「有形」「有名」之時，則長之、育之、亭之、毒之，為其母也。道以無形無名始成萬物。以始以成而不知其所以然，玄之又玄也。

All that has being begins from nonbeing. Therefore the time when there is as yet no form and no name is the beginning of the ten thousand things. Once there is form and there is name, it rears them and grows them, settles them and ripens them, and so becomes their mother. The Dao begins and completes the ten thousand things as that which has neither form nor name. It begins them and completes them, yet they do not know how this is so: dark, and dark again.

無名者謂道，道無形，故不可名也。始者道本也，吐氣布化，出於虛無，為天地本始也。

The nameless means the Dao. The Dao has no form, and so it cannot be named. The beginning is the root of the Dao. It sends out qi (氣) and spreads it abroad, and coming forth from emptiness it becomes the beginning of heaven and earth.

有名謂天地。天地有形位、有陰陽、有柔剛，是其有名也。萬物母者，天地含氣生萬物，長大成熟，如母之養子也。

The named means heaven and earth. Heaven and earth have form and position, have yin and yang, have the yielding and the firm; this is their being named. "Mother of all things" means that heaven and earth hold qi within them and give birth to all things, raising them to full growth as a mother rears her child.

妙者，微之極也。萬物始於微而後成，始於無而後生。故常無欲空虛，可以觀其始物之妙。

Subtlety (妙) is the utmost of the minute. The ten thousand things take shape from what is minute and come to life from nonbeing. Therefore if one is constantly without desire and keeps oneself empty, one can see the subtlety from which the ten thousand things begin.

妙，要也。人常能無欲，則可以觀道之要，要謂一也。一出布名道，讚敘明是非。

The subtle is what is essential. If a person can always be rid of desire, that person can see what is essential in the Dao, and the essential means the One. When the One comes forth and spreads a name, it becomes the Dao, and by praising and setting things out it makes clear what is right and what is wrong.

徼，歸終也。凡有之為利，必以無為用。欲之所本，適道而後濟。故常有欲，可以觀其終物之徼也。

The end (徼) is where things return and come to a close. Whenever being becomes a benefit, it is always because nonbeing is taken as its use. What desire roots itself in is accomplished only after it accords with the Dao. Therefore if one is constantly with desire, one can see the end to which the ten thousand things come and return.

徼，歸也。常有欲之人，可以觀世俗之所歸趣也。

The bound of return is the place to which things return. A person who always has desire can see the place toward which the common world turns and returns.

兩者，始與母也。同出者，同出於玄也。異名，所施不可同也。在首則謂之始，在終則謂之母。玄者，冥默無有也，始、母之所出也。不可得而名，故不可言同名曰玄。而言謂之玄者，取於不可得而謂之然也。謂之然則不可以定乎一玄而已。若定乎一玄，則是名則失之遠矣。故曰玄之又玄也。眾妙皆從而出，故曰眾妙之門也。

The two are the beginning and the mother. That they come forth from the same place means that both come forth from the dark. That they differ in name means that what they bestow cannot be the same. At the head it is called the beginning; at the end it is called the mother. The dark is what lies remotely submerged and has no being, and it is that from which the beginning and the mother come forth. Since it cannot be grasped and named, their shared name cannot be stated as the dark. Yet the text says that together they are called the dark, and this is taken from the fact that they are so called because they cannot be grasped and named. If they are only so called, then one cannot nail them down to a single dark. To nail them to a single dark would make it a name, and that departs far from the true sense. Hence it says: dark, and dark again. All the subtleties come forth from here, and so it is called the gate of all subtleties.

兩者，謂有欲無欲也。同出者，同出人心也。而異名者，所名各異也。名無欲者長存，名有欲者亡身也。

The two means having desire and being without desire. Coming forth together means that both come forth from the human heart. Differing in name means that what each is named is different. The one named by being without desire endures long; the one named by having desire ruins their own body.

玄，天也。言有欲之人與無欲之人，同受氣於天也。

The dark is heaven. This says that the person who has desire and the person who is without desire alike receive their qi from heaven.

天中復有天也。稟氣有厚薄，得中和滋液，則生賢聖，得錯亂污辱，則生貪淫也。

Within heaven there is heaven again. In the receiving of qi there is the thick and the thin: those who obtain the rich moisture of central harmony (中和) are born wise and holy, while those who obtain what is disordered and defiled are born greedy and licentious.

能知天中復有天，稟氣有厚薄，除情去慾守中和，是謂知道要之門戶也。

If one knows that within heaven there is heaven again, and that in the receiving of qi there is the thick and the thin, and so pares away the passions, puts desire aside, and keeps to central harmony, this is called the gateway to knowing what is essential in the Dao.