Chapter 1: The way and its name

CHINESE ORIGINAL

道可道，非常道，名可名，非常名；无名，天地之始，有名，万物之母。

故常无欲，以观其妙，常有欲，以观其徼；此两者，同出而异名，同谓之玄。

玄之又玄，众妙之门。

ENGLISH · JAMES LEGGE, 1891

The Tao that can be trodden 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.

Legge’s translation uses nineteenth-century English. Parentheses are the translator’s; English chapter headings are editorial reading aids. Sources & method ↗

A CONTEMPORARY READING

Modern English reading

The Way that can be spoken is not the constant Way; the name that can be named is not the constant name. The nameless is the beginning of heaven and earth; the named is the mother of all things. Thus, always without desire, observe its subtle wonder; always with desire, observe its boundaries. These two emerge together but have different names. Together they are called mysterious. Mystery upon mystery: the gateway of all wonders.

Modern English readings and commentary translations are AI-assisted study aids, not a published critical translation. Compare the Chinese source when wording matters.

Modern Chinese reading

可以用语言表述的道，不是永恒不变的道；可以用名称界定的名，不是永恒不变的名。无名是天地的开端，有名是万物的根源。所以，常从无中观察奥妙，常从有中观察端倪。无和有同源而名称不同，都可以说是深奥的。这种深奥又深奥，是一切奥妙的门户。

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Historical commentaries

Sima Guang 司马光

Discourse on the Daode zhenjing

ENGLISH STUDY TRANSLATION

Ordinary discussions of the Way all say that its substance is subtle and cannot be named or spoken. Laozi considers otherwise: the Way can indeed be spoken, but it is not what ordinary people call a Way; a name can provisionally be assigned, but it is not what ordinary people call a name. Their so-called Way becomes rigidly attached to things, while their names are exacting, entangling distinctions.

Heaven and Earth are the greatest things possessing form. Their beginning must depend on nonbeing; therefore the beginning of Heaven and Earth is named Nonbeing. The myriad things generate one another through form, and their birth must depend on being; therefore their Mother is named Being.

Jiao means boundary. Once all things exist, nonbeing might seem useless. Yet sages constantly preserve it without abandoning it, wishing to investigate the subtlety of numinous transformation. Since nonbeing is valuable, being might then seem useless. Yet sages constantly preserve being without abandoning it, wishing to establish the boundaries of all affairs. If one exclusively employs nonbeing and discards being, everything disperses without bounds. This is what is meant by being providing benefit and nonbeing providing use.

The mysterious is neither being nor nonbeing: it is the utmost subtlety.

Chinese commentary

世俗之谈道者，皆曰道体微妙，不可名言。老子以为不然，曰道亦可言道耳，然非常人之所谓道也。名亦可强名耳，然非常人之所谓名也。常人之所谓道者，凝滞于物。所谓名者，苛察缴绕。

天地，有形之大者也，其始必因于无，故名天地之始日无。万物以形相生，其生必因于有，故名万物之母日有。

徼，边际也。万物既有，则彼无者宜若无所用矣。然圣人常存无不去，欲以穷神化之微妙也。无既可贵，则彼有者宜若无所用矣。然圣人常存有不去，欲以立万事之边际也。苟专用无而弃有，则荡然流散，无复边际，所谓有之以为利，无之以为用也。

玄者，非有非无，微妙之极致也。

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Manuscripts and variants

Differences are computed from transcribed Chinese characters, with punctuation excluded. ∅ marks an insertion or omission; highlights do not establish which reading is earlier.

Mawangdui silk manuscript 73% similarity · 19 changed spans