道德經: 《道德經 - Dao De Jing》第四章

道沖而用之或不盈。
淵兮似萬物之宗。
挫其銳，解其紛，和其光，同其塵。
湛兮似或存。
吾不知誰之子，象帝之先。

William Blake, 1794

Dao De Jing Chapter 4 - Muller

4. The Way is so vast...

The Way is so vast that when you use it, something is always left.
How deep it is!
It seems to be the ancestor of myriad things.
It blunts sharpness
Untangles knots
Softens the glare
Unifies with the mundane.
It is so full!
It seems to have a remainder.

It is the child of I-don't-know-who.
And prior to the primaeval Lord-on-high.

4 - Arthur Waley

The Way is like an empty vessel

That yet may be drawn from

Without ever needing to be filled.

It is bottomless; the very progenitor of all things in the world.

In it, all sharpness is blunted,

All tangles untied,

All glare tempered,

All dust soothed.

It is like a deep pool that never dries.

Was it to the child of something else?

We cannot tell.

But as a substanceless image, it existed before the Ancestor.