Chapter 4 第四章

第四章
道衝，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。

Chapter 4
Tao is a depthless vessel;
Used by the Self, it is not filled by the World;
It cannot be cut, knotted, dimmed or stilled;
Its depths are hidden, ubiquitous and eternal;
I don't know where it came from;
It came before Nature.

Retrived From Here

The Tao is (like) the emptiness of a vessel;
and in our employment of it we must be on our guard against all fulness.

How deep and unfathomable it is, as if it were the Honoured Ancestor of
all things!

We should blunt our sharp points, and unravel the complications of things;

we should attemper our brightness, and bring ourselves into agreement with the obscurity of others.

How pure and still the Tao is, as if it would ever so continue!
I do not know whose son it is. It might appear to have been before God.

Retrived From Here