Saturday, June 5

"The soul, in accord with the Creative Forces, is shown in the manner of how it is applied in spiritual things, mental things, and material things in relationships among one another."   (ECRL 261-15)

名可名，非常名。
道可道，非常道。

無名天地之始；有名萬物之母。
故常無欲，以觀其妙；常有欲，以觀其徼。
此兩者，同出而異名，同謂之玄。
玄之又玄，衆妙之門。

1. The Way that can be followed is not the eternal Way

The Way that can be followed is not the eternal Way.
The name that can be named is not the eternal name.
The nameless is the origin of heaven and earth
While naming is the origin of the myriad things.
Therefore, always desireless, you see the mystery
Ever desiring, you see the manifestations.

These two are the same —
When they appear they are named differently.

This sameness is the mystery,
Mystery within mystery;
The door to all marvels.

Daode jing
Translated by Charles Muller, Toyo Gakuen University, updated 2004
http://www.acmuller.net/con-dao/daodejing.html

A. Charles Muller
武蔵野大学教育学部教授、東洋学園大学教授
Professor, Faculty of Education, Musashino University, Toyo Gakuen University

1
The Way that can be told of is not an Unvarying Way;
The names that can be named are not unvarying names.
It was from the Nameless that Heaven and Earth sprang;
The named is but the mother that rears the ten thousand creatures, each after its kind.
Truly, “Only he that rids himself forever of desire can see the Secret Essences”;
He that has never rid himself of desire can see only the Outcomes.
These two things issued from the same mould, but nevertheless are different in name.
This “same mould” we can but call the Mystery,
Or rather the “Darker than any Mystery”,
The Doorway whence issued all Secret Essences.

Daode jing

English version by Arthur Waley, 1934