Chapter 1
The Nameless and the Named
Read the commentary →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。
James Legge · 1891 · Public domain
1. 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.
2. (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.
3.
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.
4. 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.
Key words
- 道dàoWay; the path that cannot be fully named
- 名míngName; the label that points but does not contain
- 玄xuánMystery; dark, deep, and generative
Reflectiondraft
Laozi opens by splitting what can be pointed to from what simply is. The chapter is less a denial of language than a reminder that every name is a provisional map—useful for walking, never identical with the land.