#Click on a sentence 1 2 3 4 5 Chapter 3 Chapter 5 Back to index#

Ch. 04 Sentence 1
Beck The Way is infinite; its use is never exhausted.
Blackney The Way is a void, Used but never filled:
Bynner Existence, by nothing bred, Breeds everything
Byrn The Tao is like an empty container: it can never be emptied and can never be filled.
Chan Tao is empty (like a bowl). It may be used but its capacity is never exhausted
Cleary The Way is unimpeded harmony; its potential may never be fully exploited.
Crowley The Dao resembles the Emptiness of Space; to employ it, we must avoid creating ganglia.
Hansen Guidance pours out but in using it, something is not filled.
LaFargue Tao being Empty, it seems one who uses it will lack solidity.
Legge The Tao is (like) the emptiness of a vessel; and in our employment of it we must be on our guard against all fullness.
Lindauer Tao, like an empty bowl Being used somehow lacks fullness.
LinYutan Tao is a hollow vessel, And its use is inexhaustible!
Mabry The Tao is like an empty pitcher, Poured from but never drained.
McDonald Dao is like an empty vessel that yet can be drawn from without ever needing to be filled.
Merel The Way is a limitless vessel; Used by the self, it is not filled by the world;
Mitchell The Tao is like a well: used but never used up.
Muller The Tao is so vast that when you use it, something is always left. How deep it is!
Red Pine The Tao is so empty those who use it never become full again
Ta-Kao Tao, when put in use for its hollowness, is not likely to be filled.
Walker Tao is a whirling emptiness, yet when used it cannot be exhausted.
Wieger The Principle produces in abundance, but without filling itself up.
World Infinity is an empty vessel enveloping all manifestations, yet it can never be filled.
Wu The Tao is like an empty bowl. Which in being used can never be filled up.

Ch. 04 Sentence 2
Beck It is bottomless, like the fountainhead of all things.
Blackney An abyss it is, From which all things come.
Bynner Parent of the universe,
Byrn Infinitely deep, it is the source of all things.
Chan It is bottomless, perhaps the ancestor of all things.
Cleary It is as deep as the source of all things;
Crowley O Dao, how vast are you, the Abyss of Abysses, you Holy and Secret Father of all Fatherhood of Things!
Hansen Whew! It's like the ancestor of the ten-thousand natural kinds.
LaFargue An abyss, it seems something like the ancestor of the thousands of things.
Legge How deep and unfathomable it is, as if it were the Honoured Ancestor of all things!
Lindauer Such breadth! It seems to be a model for the 10000 things.
LinYutan Fathomless! Like the fountain head of all things,
Mabry Infinitely deep, it is the source of all things.
McDonald It's without bottom; the very breeder of all things in the world.
Merel
Mitchell It is like the eternal void: filled with infinite possibilities.
Muller It seems to be the ancestor of the myriad things.
Red Pine and so deep as if it were the ancestor of us all
Ta-Kao In its profundity it seems to be the origin of all things.
Walker Out of this mysterious well flows everything in existence.
Wieger Empty abyss, it seems to be (is) the ancestor (origin) of all beings.
World It is the potential of all things tangible and intangible.
Wu Fathomless, it seems to be the origin of all things.

Ch. 04 Sentence 3
Beck It smoothes its roughness; it unties its tangles. It softens its light; it calms its turmoil.
Blackney It blunts sharpness, Resolves tangles; It tempers light, Subdues turmoil.
Bynner It smooths rough edges, Unties hard knots, Tempers the sharp sun, Lays blowing dust,
Byrn It dulls the sharp, unties the knotted, shades the lighted, and unites all of creation with dust.
Chan It blunts its sharpness. It unties its tangles. It softens its light. It becomes one with the dusty world.
Cleary it blunts the edges, resolves the complications, harmonizes the light, assimilates to the world.
Crowley Let us make our sharpness blunt; let us loosen our complexes; let us tone down our brightness to the general obscurity.
Hansen 'Dull' its 'sharp', 'untie' its 'tie', 'blend' its 'bright', 'together' its 'diffused particles'.
LaFargue It dampens the passion it unties the tangles it makes the flashing things harmonious it makes the dust merge together.
Legge We should blunt our sharp points, and unravel the complications of things; we should atemper our brightness, and bring ourselves into agreement with the obscurity of others.
Lindauer Blunting what is sharp Untying what is tangled Harmonizing what is bright Being together with the dusty earth.
LinYutan Its sharp edges rounded off, Its tangles untied, Its light tempered, Its turmoil submerged,
Mabry It blunts the sharp, Unties the knotted, Shades the bright, Unites with all dust.
McDonald In it all sharpness is blunted, all tangles untied, all glare tempered, all turmoil smoothed.
Merel It cannot be cut, knotted, dimmed or stilled;
Mitchell It is hidden but always present.
Muller It blunts sharpness Untangles knots Softens the glare Unifies with the mundane.
Red Pine dulling our edges untying our tangles softening our light merging our dust
Ta-Kao
Walker Blunting sharp edges, Untangling knots, Softening the glare, It evolves us all and makes the whole world one.
Wieger It is peaceful, simple, modest, amiable.
World It blunts the sharp and hones the blunt, unravels knots and binds all things, dulls the glare and shines the mundane, manifests the dust and clears the air.
Wu It blunts all sharp edges, It unties all tangles, It harmonizes all lights, It unites the world into one whole.

Ch. 04 Sentence 4
Beck Deep and still, ever present.
Blackney A deep pool it is, Never to run dry!
Bynner Its image in the wellspring never fails.
Byrn It is hidden but always present.
Chan Deep and still, it appears to exist forever.
Cleary Profoundly still, it seems to be there:
Crowley Oh Dao, how still you are, how pure, continuous One beyond Heaven!
Hansen Ooo! It's like it partly endures.
LaFargue Deep, it is perhaps like an enduring something.
Legge How pure and still the Tao is, as if it would ever so continue!
Lindauer Such depth! It seems to somehow exist.
LinYutan Yet dark like deep water it seems to remain.
Mabry Dimly seen, yet eternally present,
McDonald It's like a deep pool that never dries.
Merel Its depths are hidden, ubiquitous and eternal;
Mitchell
Muller It is so full! It seems to have remainder.
Red Pine and so clear as if it were present
Ta-Kao In its depth it seems ever to remain.
Walker Something is there, hidden and deep!
Wieger Spilling itself out in waves, it seems to remain (it remains) always the same.
World It is the essence of all things. No one can comprehend its origin.
Wu Hidden in the deeps, Yet it seems to exist forever.

Ch. 04 Sentence 5
Beck I do not know its source. It seems to have existed before the Lord.
Blackney Whose offspring it may be I do not know: It is like a preface to God.
Bynner But how was it conceived? - this image Of no other sire.
Byrn I don't know who gave birth to it. It is older than the concept of God.
Chan I do not know whose son it is. It seems to have existed before the Lord.
Cleary I don't know whose child it is, before the creation of images.
Crowley This Dao has no Father: it is beyond all other conceptions, higher than the highest.
Hansen I don't know whose son it is. It is before the emperor of signs!
LaFargue I don't know of anything whose offspring it might be - it appears to precede God.
Legge I do not know whose son it is. It might appear to have been before God.
Lindauer I have no knowledge whose child it is It appears to precede the emperors.
LinYutan I do not know whose Son it it, An image of what existed before God.
Mabry I do not know who gave birth to it, It is older than any conception of God.
McDonald Was it too the child of something else? We can hardly tell. A substanceless image of all things seemed to exist before the progenitor that we hardly know of.
Merel I don't know where it comes from; It comes before nature.
Mitchell I don't know who gave birth to it. It is older than God.
Muller It is the child of I-don't-know-who. And prior to the primeval Lord-on-high.
Red Pine I wonder whose child it is it seems it was here before the Ti
Ta-Kao I do not know whose offspring it is; But it looks like the predecessor of Nature.
Walker But I do not know whose child it is - It came even before God.
Wieger I do not know of whom it is the son (where it comes from). It seems to have been (it was) before the Sovereign.
World It is older than the concept of God.
Wu I do not know whose child it is; It seems to be the common ancestor of all, the father of things.