4

"Tao is a whirling emptiness (ch'ung), Yet (erh) in use (yung) is inexhaustible (ying). Fathomless (yuan), It seems to be the ancestor (tsung) of ten thousand beings. It blunts the sharp, Unties the entangled, Harmonizes the bright, Mixes the dust. Dark (chan), It seems perhaps to exist (ts'un). I do not know whose child it is, It is an image (hsiang) of what precedes God (Ti)."