Dao De Jing 14

Dao De Jing 14

Look at it, do not see, give the name beyond form;

Listen to it, do not hear, give the name beyond speech;

Seize it, don’t obtain it, give the name abstruse.

Looked at, it’s not seen & is named formless;

Listened to, it’s not heard & is named beyond speech;

Seized, it’s not grasped & is named abstruse.

These three qualities aren’t possible to investigate, so we mix them together to create the One.

Above it there’s no light & below it there’s no darkness.

Beyond measure, it has no name, & it returns again & again to nothingness.

It is named form without form, image without image, indistinct & dim.

Meeting it, there is no front; following it, there is no rear.

Follow the ancient Way & you can master the present.

To know the ancient beginning is to pick up the thread of the Way.

Laozi, 道德經

Translation by John Hayes

The translation is is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. 

Unlike with my original poetry & poetry translations, I don’t asset a copyright claim on my translation of the Dao De Jing. It may be freely used under the terms of the Creative Commons license.

Image links to its source on Wiki Commons:

Wu Tang Cliffside Temple

Date    photo taken 1994 by Wiki User Fire Star [empty link on Wiki Commons].

This work has been released into the public domain by its author, Fire Star at the English Wikipedia project. This applies worldwide.