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Tao Te Ching
by Lao-tzu
J. Legge, Translator
(Sacred Books of the East, Vol 39) [1891]
1
The Tao that can be trodden is not the enduring and
unchanging Tao. The name that can be named is
not the enduring and
unchanging name.
(Conceived of as) having no name, it is the Originator of heaven
and earth; (conceived of as) having
a name, it is the Mother of all
things.
Always without desire we must be found,
If its deep mystery we would
sound;
But if desire always within us be,
Its outer fringe is all that we shall see.
Under these two aspects, it is really the same; but
as development
takes place, it receives the different names. Together we call them
the Mystery. Where the Mystery is
the deepest is the gate of all that
is subtle and wonderful.
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