| 1 |
孔德之容，惟道是從。道之為物，惟恍惟惚。惚兮恍兮，其中有象﹔恍兮
惚兮，其中有物。窈兮冥兮，其中有精﹔
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The grandest forms of active force
From Dao come, their only source.
Who can of Dao the nature tell?
Our sight it flies, our touch as well.
Eluding sight, eluding touch,
The forms of things all in it crouch;
Eluding touch, eluding sight,
There are their semblances, all right.
Profound it is, dark and obscure;
Things' essences all there endure.
Those essences the truth enfold
Of what, when seen, shall then be told.
Now it is so; 'twas so of old.
Its name--what passes not away;
So, in their beautiful array,
Things form and never know decay.
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"Vast virtue's form
Follows Reason's norm. "And
Reason's nature
Is vague and eluding "How
eluding and vague
All types including!
How vague and eluding,
All beings including!
How deep and how obscure.
It harbors the spirit pure,
Whose truth is ever sure,
whose faith abides for aye
from of yore until to-day. "Its
name is never vanishing,
It heeds the good of everything." |
All the innumerable forms of de [teh] correspond to the norm of Dao, but the nature
of the Dao's activity is infinitely abstract and illusive.
Illusive and obscure, indeed, but at its heart are
forms and types. Vague and illusive, indeed,
but at its heart is all being. Unfathomable and obscure,
indeed, but at its heart is all spirit, and spirit
is reality. At its heart is truth. |
| 2 |
其精甚真，其中有信。自今及古
，其名不去，以閱眾甫。吾何以知眾甫之狀哉？以此。 |
How know I that it is so with all the beauties of existing things? By this (nature
of the Dao).
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Through what do I know that "it heeds the good of everything"? In this way, verily: Through IT.
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From of old its expression is unceasing, it has been present at all beginnings.
How do I know that its nature is thus? By this same Dao.
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