Dao, being void, cannot be depleted.
Endless depth!
It seems to be parent to the ten thousand things.
Loosen the snare
Soften the thrust 5
Lessen the glare
Blend with the dust
Endless stillness!
It seems to partake in eternity.
I don’t know who could have created it. 10
It seems to predate creation.
***
NOTES
lines 4 and 5: In the original, line 5 precedes line 4. I have taken the liberty of switching them here.
lines 4–7: These lines also appear in poem 56, lines 4–6, although there I have used a different English rendition.
line 11: More literally, “It seems to predate the Creator.” See commentary below.
COMMENTARY
In attempting to speak of Dao in poem 4, Laozi employs a steady flow of images, with shifts in articulation that range from facts (lines 1 and 10) and speculations (lines 3, 9, and 11) to poetic instructions (lines 4–7) and passionate exclamations (lines 2 and 8); he even speaks in the first person in the penultimate line. His final speculation throws down the gauntlet, saying that Dao predates di, which Star defines with such terms as “Lord of Heaven,” “Creator,” “Ancestor.”[1] Legge went right to the point in his translation: “It might appear to have been before God.”[2] My version emphasizes what can be considered the underlying concept of the line, the recognition that Dao, being void, was present before the existence of anything, let alone the creation of something else.
FOOTNOTES
1. Tao Te Ching, The Definitive Edition. Jonathan Star, translation and commentary. New York: Penguin Group, 2001, p. 107.
2. The Texts of Taoism. James Legge, translation and commentary. New York: Julian Press, 1959, p. 98.
Links To:
The Classic of Dao and De by Laozi: Contents
For more on Daoism, see:
Film Dreams: Frank Capra
Music: KALW Radio Show #3, Ancient China in 20th-Century Music
Music: SFCR Radio Show #8, Daoism in Western Music, part 1
Music: SFCR Radio Show #9, Daoism in Western Music, part 2
NICOLE V. GAGNÉ 