The way and its name

'The Way that can be spoken is not the constant Way.' The constant Way has no prescribed way. 'The name that can be named is not the constant name.' The constant name is nameless. 'Nameless: the beginning of heaven and earth.' All names emerge from it; it cannot itself have a name. 'Named: the mother of all things.' Names are established through things, and names in turn generate things. 'Thus constantly in nonbeing, wishing to observe its wonder; constantly in being, wishing to observe its boundary.' This means its limits. 'These two emerge together but have different names.' Their ways of being observed differ, but their constancy is the same. Thus having desire and having no desire do not require dividing the mind to respond. Abide in the center and hold to constancy, and contemplation of wonder and boundary follows of itself. 'Together they are called mysterious. Mystery upon mystery: the gateway of all wonders.'

What is 'possible' is not 'constant'; what is 'constant' has no particular 'possible.' Yet if one clings to 'constancy,' that constancy becomes one more fixed possibility. Therefore do not discard constancy, but fix on no particular possibility. Not discarding constancy lets human responsiveness flow freely; fixing on no possibility unifies heavenly harmony. There is already a 'beginning' and a 'mother,' and I provisionally join in 'observing' them. Such observation rides upon what cannot be otherwise. Observing their 'difference,' being and nonbeing shift countless times. Observing their 'sameness,' being arises later, while nonbeing is not itself the Great Beginning either. Going forth to respond reveals difference; remaining to await reveals sameness.

Thus one nourishes all things without claiming the credit for benevolence, enters the workings of contrivance without confronting their sharp edges, knows the world's feelings without forcing others to serve oneself, and relinquishes one's own excess without clinging to the old and becoming blind to the new. None can name one's achievement, so it is styled 'the many wonders.' To dwell in contentment with the meaning attained, opening the gate and passing through the birth and death of the hundred activities: how deeply at ease this is!