Tao Te Ching Chapter 1
第1章
道可道，非常道，名可名，非常名；無名，天地之始，有名，萬物之母。故常無欲，以觀其妙，常有欲，以觀其徼；此兩者，同出而異名，同謂之玄。玄之又玄，眾妙之門。
The Tao that can be described 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.
English: James Legge (1891), The Tâo Teh King, Sacred Books of the East vol. 39 (1891) — public domain. Chinese: Wang Bi recension (王弼本), commentary removed.
Character glossary
- 道dàomethod, way; path, road
- 可kěmay, can, -able; possibly
- 非fēinot, negative, non-; to oppose
- 常chángcommon, general, normal; always, frequen
- 名míngname; position, rank, title
- 無wúno, not; lacking, -less
- 天tiānsky, heaven; god, celestial
- 地deearth, ground, soil; land, region; struc
- 之zhīmarks preceding phrase as modifier of fo
- 始shǐto begin, to start; beginning
- 有yǒuto have, to own, to possess; to exist
- 萬wànten thousand; innumerable
- 物wùthing, substance, matter; creature
- 母mǔmother; female elders; female
- 故gùreason, cause; happening, instance
- 欲yùdesire, want, longing, intent
- 以yǐaccording to; so as to; because of; then
- 觀guānto observe, to spectate; appearance, vie
- 其qíhis, her, its, their; that
- 妙miàomysterious, subtle; clever, exquisite, w
- 徼jiǎoborder, frontier; to inspect, to patrol
- 此cǐthis, these; in this case, then
- 兩liǎngtwo, both, pair, couple; ounce
- 者zhěthat which; they who; those who
- 同tóngsame, similar; together with, alike
- 出chūto go out, to send out; stand; produce
- 而érand, and then, and yet; but
- 異yìdifferent, strange, unusual; foreign; su
- 謂wèito call, to say, to tell; name, title; m
- 玄xuándeep, profound, abstruse
- 又yòuand, also, again, in addition
- 眾zhòngmultitude, crowd; masses, public
- 門méngate, door, entrance, opening
Similar passages
- Zhuangzi Knowledge travels North
- Zhuangzi The Empire
- Zhuangzi The Great Supreme
- Zhuangzi The Universe
- Zhuangzi The Identity of Contraries
- Zhuangzi The Tao of God
Data: English Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0); Chinese Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.