1
The way that becomes a way
is not the Immortal Way
the name that becomes a name
is not the Immortal Name
the maiden of Heaven and Earth has no name
the mother of all things has a name
in passion we see the end
two different names
for one and the same
the one we call dark
the dark beyond dark
the door to all beginnings
The word tao means “road” or “way” and, by extension, “way of doing some thing.” TU ER-WEI says, “Tao originally meant ‘moon.’ The Yiching: 42, 52 stresses the bright moon, while Lao-tzu stresses the dark moon” (pg. ii-iii).
CONFUCIUS says, “The Tao is what we can never leave. If we can leave it, it isn’t the Tao” (Chungyung: x).
HO-SHANG KUNG says, “W hat we call a way is a moral or political code, while the Immortal Way takes care of the spirit without effort and brings peace to the world without struggle. It conceals its light and hides its tracks and can’t be called a way. As for the Immortal Name, it’s like a pearl inside an oyster, a piece of jade inside a rock: shiny on the inside and dull on the outside.”
CH’ENG CHU says, “a sage doesn’t reveal the Way. not because he keeps it secret, but because it can’t be revealed. Hence his words are like footsteps that leave no tracks.”
THE BUDDHA says, “He who says I teach the Dharma maligns me. W ho teaches the Dharma teaches nothing” (Diamond Surra: 21).
LI HSI-CHAI says. “Things change but not the Tao. The Tao is immortal. It arrives without moving and comes without being called.”
SU C H’E says. “The ways of kindness and justice change but not the way of the Tao. No name is its body. Name is its function. The sage embodies the Tao and uses it in the world. But while entering the myriad states of being. he remains In non-being.”
WANG PI says. “From the infinitesimal all things develop. From nothing all things are born. When we are free of desire. we can see the infinitesimal where things begin. When we are subject to desire. we can see where things end. ‘Two’ refers to ‘maiden’ and ·mother…·
TS’ AO TAO-CH’UNG says, ”’Two’ refers to ‘innocence’ and ‘passion: or in other words. stillness and movement. Stillness corresponds to nonexistence. Move ment corresponds to existence. Provisionally different. they are ultimately the same. Both meet in darkness.”
THE SHUOWEN says. “Hsuan:dark means ‘black with a bit of red in it.’”like the darker half of the yin-yang symbol. In Shensi province. where this text was writ ten. doors are still painted black with a thin line of red trim. And every road begins with a door.
TE-CH’ ING says. “Lao-tzu’s philosophy is all here. The remaining five-thousand words only expand on this first verse.”
The punctuation introduced by Ssu-ma Kuang and Wang An-shih in lines five through eight makes their subject yu:being and wu:non-being. But this is not supported by the grammatical particles of the Mawangtui texts. Also. in line five, shih:maiden normally means ·beginning.” but the Shuowen says. “Shih means ‘a virgin…· MA H SU-LUN says shih is a loan word for the nearly identical t·ai. While t’ai normally means “fetus.” the Shuowen says it means “a woman in her third month of pregnancy.” Note. too. that a woman did not receive her public name until after marriage. In line seven. most editions have miao:mysteri ous. But PI YUAN says. “In ancient times there was no miao:mysterious. only miao:smallibeginning, ” which is what we find in the Mawangtui texts.
2
All the world knows beauty
but if that becomes beautiful
this becomes ugly
all the world knows good
but if that becomes good this becomes bad
the coexistence of have and have not
the coproduction of hard and easy
the correlation of long and short
the codependence of high and low
the correspondence of note and noise the coordination of first and last
is endless
thus the sage performs effortless deeds
and teaches wordless lessons
he doesn’t start all the things he begins
he doesn’t presume on what he does
he doesn’t claim what he achieves
and because he makes no claim he suffers no loss
LU HS-SHENG says, “What we call beautiful or ugly depends on our feelings. Nothing is necessarily beautiful or ugly until feelings make it so. But while feelings differ, they all come from our nature, and we all have the same nature. Hence the sage transforms his feelings and returns to his nature and thus becomes one
WU CH’ENG says, “The existence of things, the difficulty of affairs, the size of forms, the magnitude of power, the pitch and clarity of sound, the sequence of position, all involve contrasting pairs. When one is present, both are present. When one is absent, both are absent.”
LU HUI-CH’ING says, “These six pairs all depend on time and occasion. None them is eternal. The sage, however, acts according to the Immortal Tao, hence he acts without effort. And he teaches according to the Immortal Name, hence he teaches without words. Beautiful and ugly. good and bad don’t enter his mind.”
WANG WU-CHIU says, “The sage is not interested in deeds or words. He simply follows the natural pattern of things. Things rise, develop, and reach their end. This is their order.”
WANG AN-SHIH says, “The sage creates but does not possess what he creates. He acts but does not presume on what he does. He succeeds but does not claim I\Iccess. These three all result from selflessness. Because the sage is selfless, he does not lose his self. Because he does not lose his self, he does not lose others.”
IU CH’E says, “Losing something is the result of claiming something. How can a person lose what he doesn’t claim?”
LI HSI-CHAI says, “Lao-tzu’s 5,ooo-word text clarifies what is mysterious as well II what is obvious. It can be used to attain the Tao, to order a country. or to cultivate the body.”
HO-SHANG KUNG titles this verse “Cultivating the Body.”
SUNG CH’ANG-HSING says, “Those who practice the Way put an end to distinctions, get rid of name and form, and make of themselves a home for theWay and Virtue.”
incorporated line thirteen from the Mawangtui texts and have also used their wording of the six preceding lines. In line sixteen, I have relied on the Fuyi edition as well as Mawangtui Text B in reading shih:start in place of tZ’u:sayl I have followed the Mawangtui texts again in omitting the line “he possess what he begets” after line sixteen as an interpolation from
verse 51. Lines seventeen and eighteen also appear in verse 77.