I have recently embarked on adventure to understand this classic (and I-Ching) to connect it with Chinese Medicine and healing. I discovered not that many people have actually read and understood it. It requires me to search new arenas for this knowledge and it was really fun.
If you know of any great sources, please let me know. Thanks.
Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching
(excerpt from Master Henry Chang's article - Tao Te Ching I- The Introduction) ~ TaoPractice.org
Translations of Chapter 1
The Tao that can be spoken of
Is not the Everlasting Tao
The name that can be named
Is not the Everlasting name
The nameless is the beginning of heaven and earth
The named is the mother of ten thousand things
Therefore, ever desireless
One can observe the hidden mystery;
Ever desiring
One can observe the manifestations.
These two issue from the same origin,
Though named differently.
Both are called the dark.
Dark and even darker,
The door to all hidden mysteries.
The original text in Pinyin Romanization:
dao ke dao, fei chang dao.
ming ke ming, fei chang ming.
wu, ming tian di zhi shi.
you, ming wan wu zhi mu.
gu chang wu, yu yi guan qi miao,
chang you, yu yi guan qi jiao.
ci liang zhe, tong chu er yi ming.
tong wei zhi xuan,
xuan zhi you xuan,
zhong miao zhi men.
The first chapter is an introduction, and its purpose is to describe the concept and structure of Tao. All of the chapters are connected to the first chapter, because it is the foundation of the Tao Te Ching. If you understand chapter one, it will be much easier to understand the remaining chapters. You cannot understand the remaining chapters without understanding chapter one. When you begin reading the other chapters, it will become apparent how well you understand chapter one. Chapter one is inherently difficult to understand since Lao Tzu was trying to explain the unexplainable. Lao Tzu was trying to explain something that was inexpressible with language.
“The Tao that can be spoken of, is not the Everlasting Tao” “Dào kě dào,fēi cháng dào”
We have never seen Tao, but we try to explain it. This line means that there is something out there, but it is unknown so we do not know what to call it. When you study the Tao Te Ching, you have to use your heart to try to imagine what Tao really is. When we try to understand something that does not have a name and then try to name it, its name will not represent its true nature. For example, you can call someone Ted- but “Ted” is a common name and does not refer to a specific “Ted”. This is an example of the fact that when you try to name something, you are attaching your own meaning to it. The name we give something is limited by our knowledge of it. Because Tao is so difficult to understand, we cannot use our own knowledge and opinions to give it a name. What Lao Tzu is saying here is that even though he calls this thing “Tao”, the word “Tao” does not represent the true Tao.
When we say “Tao”, we have to know that we are referring only to the Tao that we understand from our own perspective- our narrow vision- and not the entire, true “Tao”. We do not understand the real Tao- we only understand a piece of it. This is something that is hard to explain and absorb, but you need to try to understand it. Remember that even if you use the name “Tao”, it does not represent Tao itself. Once you open your heart, you will start to absorb many things that come from the source- from Tao itself.
The Indian fable of the elephant is a good example of the fact that no matter what approach we take to explain Tao, we can never explain to the fullest extent what Tao really is.
“In the fable, there are blind men with an elephant, and each is trying to explain to the others what he thinks is the elephant’s essence. One touches the elephant’s side and exclaims "the elephant is like a wall". The other touches his trunk and says "it is like a snake." The other touches his tail and says "no, it is like a rope," while the other touching his leg says "it is really more like a tree." Each one of them is accurate, yet limited, in his own description, but this can only be understood by the one who can see the whole elephant.”
“The name that can be named, Is not the Everlasting name” “Míng kě míng, fēi cháng míng”
When he refers to the nameless Tao, he refers to the original Tao- that which came before everything else. When you give something a name, it does not represent the true thing. Something that has a name is distinct from something without a name. Something without a name is something that existed before all else. The universe originated from the nameless Tao. When you find Tao, you find the source of all life in the universe.
Tao had no name when the universe was first born; it was only given a name when physical life forms emerged. We know that we are very closely related to Tao; everything in this world and this universe is connected to Tao. When you find Tao, you find the source of all life in the universe.
“Wú míng, tiān dì zhī shĭ” refers to the concept of time.
“Yŏu míng, wàn wù zhī mŭ” refers to the concept of space.
This is how the universe was born- it came about through a union of time and space.
In the sentence “cháng yŏu yù”, the third word means “desire”. I will use a metaphor to explain what desire means in this sentence. When we watch television with no purpose, we do not care what is being shown. However, when we watch a particular program with a purpose, we try to analyze it and learn what it is about. Through this analysis, we come to understand the true meaning of the program. Some people act with a purpose (or desire) and others do not; both are acceptable.
I Ching
Why does Lao Tzu say that the eternal Tao cannot be talked about? Because Lao Tzu knows that Tao is an ever-changing thing. The moment you try to describe Tao, it transforms and your description is no longer accurate. This coincides with the philosophy of the I Ching, or the Book of Change. The structure of Tao is visually represented on the I Ching chart. We cannot define Tao, but on the I Ching chart, Tao is symbolized by the Tai Chi (or yin yang) symbol. In this symbolic structure, Tao equals one yin and one yang. Yin and yang change as well. This may seem very vague, but from this sentence we know that Tao is an ever-changing thing. “Ming” means name. When you try to understand something, you are able to label it. For example, when you talk about one of your friends, you mention his name and this means that you know who he is. If you know nothing about something you cannot give it a name. For example, if you do not understand Tao you cannot call it “Tao”. When you refer to something as “Tao” it means that you understand what Tao is. However, Lao Tzu said that whatever you understand as “Tao” is not the true Tao. So, Tao’s current name is not its real name.
At the level of Tai Chi, yin and yang had not begun working- this is the level of the nameless Tao.
When yin and yang separate, they become the nameable Tao.
Other translations of Tao Te Ching Chapter One
The tau (reason) which can be tau-ed (reasoned) is not the Eternal Tau (Reason). The name which can be named is not the Eternal Name.
Non-existence is named the Antecedent of heaven and earth; and Existence is named the Mother of all things. In eternal non-existence, therefore, man seeks to pierce the primordial mystery; and, in eternal existence, to behold the issues of the Universe. But these two are one and the same, and differ only in name.
This sameness (or existence and non-existence) I call the abyss — the abyss of abysses — the gate of all mystery.
Translated by John Chalmers (1868)
The TAO, or Principle of Nature, may be discussed [by all]; it is not the popular or common Tao.
Its Name may be named [i.e., the TAO may receive a designation, though of itself it has none]; but it is not an ordinary name, [or name in the usual sense of the word, for it is a presentment or ειδωλον of the Infinite].
Its nameless period was that which preceded the birth of the Universe,
In being spoken of by name, it is as the Progenitrix of All Things.
It is therefore in habitual passionlessness [the Quiescent phase of TAO] that its mystery may be scanned; and in habitual desire [the Active phase of TAO] that its developments may be perceived.
These two conditions, the Active and the Quiescent, alike proceed [from TAO]; it is only in name that they differ. Both may be called profundities; and the depth of profundity is the gate of every mystery.
Translated by Frederick Henry Balfour (1884)
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.
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.
Translated by James Legge (1891)
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