| |
Original |
Legge's
Translation |
Susuki's
Translation |
Goddard's
Translation |
| 1 |
有物混成，先天地生。寂兮寥兮，獨立而不改， |
There was something undefined and complete, coming into
existence before Heaven and Earth.
|
There is a Being wondrous and complete. Before heaven and earth, it was. How
calm it is! How spiritual! |
There is Being that is all-inclusive and that existed before Heaven and Earth.
Calm, indeed, and incorporeal! It is alone and changeless! |
| 2 |
周行而不殆，可以為天地
母。吾不知其名，強字之曰道，強為之名曰大。 |
How still it was and formless,
standing alone, and undergoing no change, reaching everywhere and in no danger
(of being exhausted)! It may be regarded as the Mother of all things. |
Alone it standeth, and it changeth not; around it moveth, and it suffereth
not; yet therefore can it be the world's mother.
|
Everywhere it functions unhindered. It thereby becomes the world's mother. I
do not know its nature; if I try to characterize
it, I will call it Dao.
|
| 3 |
大曰逝，逝曰遠，遠曰反
。 |
I do not know its name, and I give it the designation of the Dao
(the Way or Course). Making an effort (further) to give it a name I
call it The Great.
|
Its name I know not, but its nature I call Reason. Constrained to
give a name, I call it the great. The great I call
the departing, and the departing I call the beyond.
The beyond I call home.
|
If forced to give it a name, I will call it the Great. The Great is evasive,
the evasive is the distant, the distant is ever coming
near.
|
| 4 |
故道大，天大，地大，人亦大。域中有四大， |
Great, it passes on (in constant flow). Passing on, it becomes
remote. Having become remote, it returns. Therefore the Dao is
great; Heaven is great; Earth is great; and the (sage) king is also
great. In the universe there are four that are great, and the (sage)
king is one of them.
|
The saying goes: "Reason is great, heaven is great, earth is great, and royalty also is great.
[There are four things in the world that are
great, and royalty is one of them.]
|
Tao is Great. So is Heaven great, and so is Earth and so also is the representative
of Heaven and Earth.
|
| 5 |
而人居其一焉。人法地，
地法天，天法道，道法自然。 |
Man takes his law from the Earth; the Earth takes its law from Heaven; Heaven
takes its law from the Dao. The law of the Dao is its
being what it is. |
Man's standard is the earth. The earth's standard is heaven. Heaven's standard
is Reason. Reason's standard is intrinsic. |
Man is derived from nature, nature is derived from Heaven, Heaven is derived
from Dao. Dao is self-derived. |
