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Chapter I 1. A
way can be shown: it is not the
constant way. 2. A
name can be named: it is not the constant name.
3. The nameless is the
embryo of
Heaven and
Earth;
4. The named is the mother of the myriad beings. 5. Thus: constantly
desireless, to observe the
subtleties; 6. Constantly desirous, to observe
the
evident. 7. These two come out the
same, but are named differently: 8. Together they are called
dark. 9. The further darkness of darkness: Chinese text of Chapter One (slightly different than the one I use, and punctuated differently). Another Chinese text (with the same problem.) Interpretation: Naming or distinction is motivated by desire or intention. The named world of desire is the external or surface world, whereas the nameless world of non-intention is the subtle world. These are not two different worlds, but two names for one world. Of the two ways of naming this world, the desireless, nameless naming is the subtler of the two, and encompasses the intentional naming. Likewise, the Tao which can be shown is encompassed by Tao which cannot be shown. There is, of course, an infinite regress here; all the nameless names are provisional and expedient.See: Nature. Cross-references: Mother / embryo rhyme: Ch. 52. Door: Chs. 6, 10, 52, 56. "Door" is associated with "dark" in Chs. 6,10, and 56 -- in Lao Tzu the word's symbolic meaning is evident, especially in Ch. 6. A form of chiao "evident" appears as "the bright side" in Ch. 14. Text: MWT repeats “myriad beings” in line 4; most texts read “Heaven and Earth”. Line 3 literally reads "beginning" in all texts, but I think that the cognate "embryo" is in play here; see the gloss. In line 6 I have not translated the unusual MWT reading suo chiao “what is cried for”. Many translations follow texts which punctuate lines 3-4 and 5-6 so as to make wu and yu into the nouns "Being" and "Nothing" rather than the function words in "named", "nameless", "desirous", and "desireless." In lines 5 and 6 this reading is grammatically far-fetched unless the text is emended by removing the particle yi. In lines 3 and 4 the reading is grammatically possible, but I think that "namelessness" is definitely the theme here. Translation: “A way can be shown”: I have read the second appearance of "Tao" as a verb, which grammatically is the only possible reading; this usage is now normally written with a different but closely-related graph 導. "Evident": other translations could be "illuminated side" / "exterior" / "border" / "desired aspect / "manifestations" / "outcomes": see gloss. Bibliography: A very thorough, completely eccentric discussion of the translation problems of this chapter is to be found in Peter Boodberg's Selected Works (California 1979), pp. 460-481: "Philological Notes on Chapter One of the Lao Tzu".
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