Subtle, elusive
ever flowing, far reaching
Mother of us all
Erdos 2023
Verse 25
Imagine a nebulous thing
here before Heaven and Earth
subtle and elusive
dwelling apart and unconstrained
it could be the mother of us all
not knowing its name
I call it the Tao
forced to describe it
I describe it as great
great means ever-flowing
ever-flowing means far-reaching
far-reaching means returning
the Tao is great
Heaven is great
Earth is great
the ruler is also great
the realm contains Four Greats
of which the ruler is but one
Humankind imitates Earth
Earth imitates Heaven
Heaven imitates the Tao
and the Tao imitates itself
Lao-Tzu Taoteching translated by Red Pine
Something formless, complete in itself
There before Heaven and Earth
Tranquil, vast, standing alone, unchanging
It provides for all things yet cannot be exhausted
It is the mother of the universe
I do not know its name
so I call it “Tao”
Forced to name it further
I call it
“THe greatness of all things”
“The end of all endings”
I call it
“That which is beyond the beyond”
“That to which all things return”
From Tao comes all greatness—
It makes Heaven great
It makes Earth great
It makes man great
Mankind depends on the laws of Earth
Earth depends on the laws of Heaven
Heaven depends on the laws of Tao
But Tao depends on itself alone
Supremely free, self-so, it rests in its own nature
wU CH’ENG says, “`Nebulous’ means complete and indivisible”
SU CH’E says, “The Tao is neither pure nor muddy, high nor low, past nor future, good nor bad. Its body is a nebulous whole. In Humankind it becomes our nature. It doesn’t know it exists, and yet it endures forever. And within it are created Heaven and Earth.’
LI HSI-CHAI says, “It dwells apart but does not dwell apart. It goes everywhere but does not go anywhere. It’s the mother of the world, but it’s not the mother of the world”
SUNG CH’ANG-HSING says, “The Tao does not have a name of its own. We force names upon it. But we cannot find anything real in them. We would do better returning to the root from which we all began”
Standing beside a stream, CONFUCIUS sighed, “To be ever-flowing like this, not stopping day or night!” (Lunyu: qa6).
TS’AO TAO-CH’UNG says, “Although we say it’s far-reaching, it never gets far from itself. Hence, we say it’s returning’
HO-SHANG KUNG says, “The Tao is great because there is nothing it does not encompass. Heaven is great because there is nothing it does not cover. Earth is great because there is nothing it does not support. And the king is great because .there is nothing he does not govern. Humankind should imitate Earth and be peaceful and pliant, plant and harvest its grains, dig and discover its springs, work without exhaustion and succeed without fuss. As for Earth imitating Heaven, Heaven is still and immutable. It gives without seeking a reward. It nourishes all creatures and takes nothing for itself. As for Heaven imitating the Tao, the Tao is silent and does not speak. It directs breath and essence unseen, and thus all things come to be. As for the Tao imitating itself, the nature of the Tao is to be itself. It does not imitate anything else.”
WANG PI says, “If Humankind does not turn its back on Earth, it brings peace to all. Hence it imitates Earth. If Earth does not turn its back on Heaven, it sup-ports all. Hence, it imitates Heaven. If Heaven does not turn its back on the Tao, it covers all. Hence, it imitates the Tao. And if the Tao does not turn its back on itself, it realizes its nature. Hence, it imitates itself.”
At the end of line four, I’ve (Red Pine) followed the Kuotien and Mawangtui texts (and also Huainant= a) in reading kai (border/restriction) in place of kai (change), which is what appears in the Wangpi and Fuyi editions. I’ve (Red Pine) also followed the Kuotien texts and both Mawangtui texts in not including the line that follows line four in the Wangpi and Fuyi editions: chou-hsing-er-pu-tai, “travels everywhere without moving:’ The first five lines once again recall the image of the moon. The character for “ruler” (wang. _ ) shows three horizontal lines (Heaven, Humankind, Earth) connected by a single vertical line. Lao-tzu’s point is that the ruler, being only one of the four great powers of the world, should not be so presumptuous of his greatness, for he depends on the other three.
Chou hsing: “Universal going out” or “everywhere circulating” describes the wayTao operates. This can be interpreted as (a) “Circulating everywhere means that there is nowhere it does not reach” (Wang Pi Commentary), (b) Tao is all-pervasive and completes everything, or (c)Tao moves in a cyclical motion and completes everything by return.
大曰逝
yiieh Call / [further] described as / (means) / (implies)
shih functioning everywhere / far-reaching / ever-flowing / continuing // moving away / receding / pass away / passing / death