Chapter 14 — Praising the dark贊玄

無狀無象，無聲無響，故能無所不通，無所不往，不得而知，更以我耳目體不知為名，故不可致詰，混而為一也。

It has no look and no shape, no sound and no echo. So there is nowhere it does not reach and nowhere it does not go. It cannot be known, and so it is named by what my ears, eyes, and body fail to know. It cannot be pressed for an answer, and so it says they blend into one.

無色曰夷。言一無采色，不可得視而見之。

Having no color is named yi. This says that the one has no pattern and no color, and so it cannot be seen even when looked at.

無聲曰希。言一無音聲，不可得聽而聞之。

Having no sound is named xi. This says that the one has no sound, and so it cannot be heard even when listened to.

無形曰微。言一無形體，不可摶持而得之。

Having no shape is named wei. This says that the one has no body, and so it cannot be clutched and gotten.

三者，謂夷、希、微也。不可致詰者，夫無色、無聲、無形，口不能言，書不能傳，當受之以靜，求之以神，不可問詰而得之也。

The three means yi, xi, and wei. That they cannot be pressed for an answer means this: they have no color, no sound, and no shape, so they cannot be spoken with the mouth or handed on in writing. One ought to receive them in stillness and seek them with the spirit (神); they cannot be gotten by pressing for an answer.

混，合也。故合於三名之為一。

To blend is to join. And so the three names are joined and called one.

欲言無邪，而物由以成。欲言有邪，而不見其形，故曰，無狀之狀，無物之象也。

Try to call it nothing, and things are made by it. Try to call it something, and its shape is not seen. That is why it says a shape without shape, an image without a thing.

言一在天上，不皦。皦，光明。

This says that even when the one is above heaven, it is not bright. Jiao (皦) is shining and bright.

言一在天下，不昧。昧，有所闇冥。

This says that even when the one is below heaven, it is not dark. Mei (昧) is having somewhere dim and lightless.

繩繩者，動行無窮級也。不可名者，非一色也，不可以青黃白黑別，非一聲也，不可以宮商角徵羽聽，非一形也，不可以長短大小度之也。

To run on and on is for its moving and going to have no end. That it cannot be named means this: it is not one color, so it cannot be sorted out as blue, yellow, white, or black; it is not one sound, so it cannot be heard as gong, shang, jue, zhi, or yu (宮·商·角·徵·羽, the five notes); it is not one shape, so it cannot be measured as long or short, large or small.

物，質也。復當歸之於無質。

A thing is substance. One ought to return again to where there is no substance.

言一無形狀，而能為萬物作形狀也。

This says that the one has no shape and yet can make shapes for the ten thousand things.

一無物質，而為萬物設形象也。

The one has no substance and yet bestows images upon the ten thousand things.

不可得而定也。

It cannot be pinned down and settled.

言一忽忽恍恍者，若存若亡，不可見之也。

This says that the one (一) is hazy and faint, seeming to be there and seeming not to be, and so it cannot be seen.

有，有其事。

You (有) means that there are these affairs.

一無端末，不可預待也。除情去欲，一自歸之也。

The one has no beginning and no end, so it cannot be awaited in advance. Empty the heart and cast off wanting, and the one returns of itself.

言一無影跡，不可得而看。

This says that the one has no shadow and no trace, and so it cannot be looked upon.

聖人執守古道，生一以御物，知今當有一也。能知古始，是謂道紀。人能知上古本始有一，是謂知道綱紀也。

The sage holds fast to the ancient Dao and gives birth to the one so as to govern things, and so he knows that today too there ought to be the one. "So one can know the ancient beginning. This is called the thread of the Dao" means that when a person can know that in the root beginning of remote antiquity there was the one, this is called knowing the thread of the Dao.

無形無名者，萬物之宗也。雖今古不同，時移俗易，故莫不由乎此以成其治者也。故可執古之道，以御今之有。上古雖遠，其道存焉，故雖在今，可以知古始也。

What has no shape and no name is the ancestor of the ten thousand things. Now and antiquity are not the same, times shift and customs change, yet there is nothing that does not achieve its governing by way of this. So one can hold fast to the ancient Dao and govern what there is today. Remote antiquity is far off, yet its Dao remains; so standing in the present one can still know the ancient beginning.