The way that comes a way
is not the Immortal Way
the name that becomes a name
is not the Immortal Name
the maiden of Heaven and Earth has no name
the mother of all things has a name
thus in innocence we see tie beginning
in passion we see the end
two different names
for one and the same
the one we call dark
the dark beyond dark
the door to all beginnings

Notes on this verse:
The word tao means “road” or “way” and, by extension, “way of doing something.” Tu Er-Wei says, “Tao originally meant ‘moon.’

To give something a name is to make it real. But once a name is given, things change. Hence, reality cannot be known through names.

Confucius says, “The Tao is what we can never leave. If we can leave it, it isn’t the Tao.” [Chungyung: I]

Li Hsi-Chai says, “Things change but not the Tao. The Tao is immortal. It arrives without moving and comes without being called.”

Te-Ch’ing says, “Lao-tzu’s philosophy is all here. The remaining five-thousand verses only expand on this first verse.”

Wang Pi says, “From the infinitesimal all things develop. From nothing all things are born. When we are free of desire, we can see the infinitesimal where things begin. When we are subject to desire, we can see where things end. “Two’ refers to ‘maiden’ and ‘mother.’”

* * *

2.

All the world knows beauty
but if that becomes beautiful
this becomes ugly
all the world knows good
this becomes bad
the coexistence of have and have not
the coproduction of hard and easy
the correlation of long and short
the codependence of high and low
the correspondence of note and noise
the coordination of first and less
is endless
thus the sage performs effortless deeds
and teaches wordless lessons
he doesn’t start all things he begins
he doesn’t presume on what he does
he doesn’t claim what he achieves
and because he makes no claim
he suffers no loss

Notes on this verse:
Wang Wu-Chu says, “The sage is not interested in deeds or words. He simply follows the natural pattern of things. Things rise, develop, and reach their end. This is their order.”

Wang An-Shih says, “The sage creates but does not process what he creates. He acts but does not presume on what he does. He succeeds but does not claim success. These three all result from selflessness. Because the sage is selfless, he does not lose his self. Because he does not lose his self, he does not lose others.”

Sung Ch’ang-Hsing says, “Those who practice the Way put an end to distinctions, get rid of name and form, and make of themselves a home for Way and Virtue.”

Wu Ch’eng says, “The existence of things, the difficult of affairs, the size of forms, the magnitude of power, the pitch and clarity of sound, the sequence of position, all involve contrasting pairs. When one is present, both are present. When one is absent, both are absent.”

* * *

6.

The valley spirit that doesn’t die
we call the dark womb
the dark womb’s mouth
we call the source of creation
as real as gossamer silk
and yet we can’t exhaust it

Notes on this verse:
Lieh-Tzu says, “What creates itself is not itself alive.”

The Shanhaiching says, “The Valley Spirit of Morning Light is a black and yellow, eight-footed, eight-tailed, eight-headed animal with a human face.” The Shanhaiching’s “valley spirit” is the moon, which runs ahead of the sun during the last eight days of its thirty-day cycle, lags behind during the first eight days, and faces the sun during its eight days of glory. For the remaining days of the month, it’s too close to the sun to be visible. Like many other cultures, the ancient Chinese viewed the moon as the embodiment of the female element of creation.

Wang Pi says, “The valley is what is in the middle, what contains nothing, no form, no shadow, no obstruction. It occupies the lowest point, remains motionless, and does not decay. All things depend on it for their development, but no one sees it shape.”

Wu Ch’eng says, “The empty valley is where spirits dwell, where breath isn’t exhausted. Who relaxes their breath increases their vitality. Who strains their breath soon expires.”

Liu Ching says, “It’s like the silk of a silkworm or the web of a spider: hard to distinguish, hard to grab. But then, it isn’t Man that uses it. Only the spirit can use it.”

* * *

10.

Can you hold fast your crescent soul and not let it wander
can you make your breath as soft as a baby’s
can you wipe your dark mirror free of dust
can you serve and govern without effort
can you be the female at Heaven’s Fate
can you light up the world without knowledge
beget things and keep them
but beget without possessing
keep without controlling
this is Dark Virtue

Notes on this verse:
The Chinese say that the hun, or bright, ethereal, yang soul, governs the upper body and the p’o, or dark, earthly, yin soul, concerns itself with the lower body. Here, Lao-Tzu mentions only the darker soul. But the word p’o also refers to the dark of the moon, and the opening phase can be also read as referring to the first day of the new moon. Either way, dark of the soul or dark of the moon, Taoist commentators say the first line refers to the protection of our vital essences: semen and vaginal fluid, sweat and saliva, the depletion of which injures the health and leads to early death.

Su Ch’e says, “What lights up the world is the mind. There is nothing the mind does not know. And yet no one can know the mind. The mind is one. If someone knew it, there would be two. Going from one to two is the origin of all delusion.”

Wang Pi says, “If we do not obstruct their source, things come into existence on their own. If we don’t suppress their nature, things mature by themselves. Virtue is present, but its owner is unknown. It comes from the mysterious depths. Hence we call it dark.”

* * *

19.

Get rid of wisdom and reason
and people will live a hundred times better
get rid of kindness and justice
and people once more will love and obey
get rid of cleverness and profit
and thieves will cease to exist
but these three sayings are not enough
hence let this be added
wear the undyed and hold the uncarved
reduce self-interest and limit desires
get rid of learning and problems will vanish

Notes on this verse:
Wang Chen says, “Put an end to wisdom that leaves tracks and reason that deceives, and people will benefit greatly. Put an end to arrogant kindness and treacherous justice, and relatives will unite on their own and will once more love and obey. Put and end to excessive cleverness and personal profit, and armies will no longer appear. And when armies no longer appear, thieves will not exist.

Li Hsi-Chai says, “What passes for learning in the world never ends. For every truth found, two are lost. And while what we find brings job, losses bring sorrow—sorrow that never ends.”

Chiao Hung says, “The ways of the world become daily more artificial. Hence we have names like wisdom and reason, kindness and justice, cleverness and profit. Those who understand the Tao see how artificial they are and how inappropriate they are to rule the world. They aren’t as good as getting people to focus their attention on the undyed and the uncarved. By wearing undyed and holding the uncarved, our self-interest and desires wane. The undyed and the uncarved refer to our original nature.”

* * *

25.

Imagine a nebulous thing
here before Heaven and Earth
silent and elusive
it dwells apart and never varies
it travels everywhere and isn’t harmed
it could be the mother of us all
not knowing its name
I call it the Tao
forced to name it
I name it Great
great means ever-flowing
ever-flowing means returning
the Tao is great
Heaven is Great
Earth is Great
the kind is also great
the realm contains four great things
of these the king is only one
Man imitates Earth
Earth imitates Heaven
Heaven imitates the Tao
The Tao imitates itself.

Notes on this verse:
Su Ch’e says, “The Tao is not pure or muddy, high or low, past or future, good or bad. Its body is a nebulous whole. In Man it becomes his nature. It doesn’t know it exists, and yet it endures forever. Heaven and Earth are created within it.”

Standing beside a stream, Confucius sighed, “To be ever-flowing like this, not stopping day or night.”

Sung Ch’ang-Hsing says, “The Tao does not have a name of its own. We force names on it. But we cannot find anything real in them. We would do better returning to the root from which we all began.”

* * *

27.

Good walking leaves no tracks
good talking reveals no flaws
good counting counts no beads
good closing locks no locks
and yet it can’t be opened
good tying ties no knots
and yet I can’t be undone
thus the sage is good at saving others
and yet abandons no one
nor anything of us
this is called cloaking the light
thus the good instruct the bad
the bad learn from the good
not honoring their teachers
nor cherishing their students
the wise alone are perfectly blind
this is called peering into the distance

Notes on this verse:
Wu Ch’eng says, “The sage’s salvation does not involve salvation. For if someone is saved, someone is abandoned. Hence the sage does not save anyone at all. And because he does not save anyone, he does not abandon anyone. To ‘cloak’ means to use an outer garment to cover and inner garment. If the work of salvation becomes apparent and people see it, it cannot be called god. Only when it is hidden is it good.”

Ch’eng Hsuan-Ying says, “The good always cloak their light.”

Te’Ch’ing says, “The sage moves through the world with an empty self and accepts the way things are. Hence he leaves no tracks. He does not insist that his own ideas are right and accepts the words of others. Hence he reveals no flaws. He does not care about life and death, much less profit and loss. Hence he counts no beads. He does not set traps, and yet nothing escapes him. Hence he uses no locks. He is not kind, and yet everyone flocks to him. Hence he ties no knots.”

Wang Pi says, “These five tell us not to act but to govern things by relying on their nature rather than their form.”

Hsuan-Tsung says, “The good are like water. Free of impurity and without effort on their part, they show people their true likeness. Thus they instruct the bad. But unless the student can forget his teacher, his vision will be obscured.”

* * *

37.

The Tao does nothing
yet there is nothing it doesn’t do
if a ruler could uphold it
the people by themselves would change
and changing if their desires stirred
he could make them still
with simplicity that has no name
stilled by nameless simplicity
they would not desire
and not desiring be at peace
the world would fix itself

Notes on this verse:
Lao-tzu says, “I do nothing / and the people transform themselves.”

Sung Ch’ang-Hsing says, “Other creatures follow their natures without creating chaos or disaster. They change by themselves without seeking change. People, meanwhile, race through the realm of existence and never know a quiet moment. They abandon their original innocence and don’t practice the true Tao of doing nothing. They don’t care about their lives, until one day they offend and retribution arrives.”

* * *

48.

Those who seek learning gain every day
those who seek the Way lose every day
they lose and they lose
until they find nothing to do
nothing to do means nothing not done
who rules the world isn’t busy
if someone is busy
he can’t rule the world

Notes on this verse:
Confucius asked Tzu-king, “Do you think I learn in order to increase my knowledge?” Tzu-kung answered, “Well, don’t you?” Confucius said, “No, I seek the one thing that ties everything together.”

* * *

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