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Dao De Jing Introduction Table of content – The Way and Its Power

The naturalist, individualist and politic doctrine of Lao-tse exhibited in 81 poetic and obscure texts. Tr. Waley (en), Lau (en), Julien (fr) and Wilhelm (de).

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Daodejing I. 25.

Section Dao – Chapter XXV

There was something formless yet complete,
That existed before heaven and earth;
Without sound, without substance,
Dependent on nothing, unchanging,
All pervading, unfailing.
One may think of it as the mother of all things under heaven.
Its true name we do not know;
Were I forced to say to what class of things it belongs
I should call it Great (ta)
Now ta also means passing on,
And passing on means going Far Away,
And going far away means returning.
Thus just as Tao has “this greatness” and as earth has it and as heaven has it, so may the ruler also have it.
Thus “within the realm there are four portions of greatness”, and one belongs to the king.
The ways of men are conditioned by those of earth.
The ways of earth, by those of heaven.
The ways of heaven by those of Tao, and the ways of Tao by the Self-so.

Waley 25

有一个混然一体的东西, 在天地还没有形成之前就已经存在了。无声无形, 独立而又永恒, 永无止境地运行着, 它可以说是天地万物的根本。
我不知道它叫什么名字, 所以把它叫做“道”。强勉地描述它是“大”。
它周行无所不至, 故曰“逝”; 周而无所不穷极, 不偏于一个方向, 故曰“远”; 其体独立, 不随于所适, 寂寥虚无, 保持本性, 故曰“返”。所以说:道大, 天大, 地大, 人也大, 宇宙间有四大, 而人居其一。
人以地为法则, 地以天为法则, 天以道为法则, 道以自然为法则。

白话翻译

There is a thing confusedly formed,
Born before heaven and earth.
Silent and void
It stands alone and does not change,
Goes round and does not weary.
It is capable of being the mother of the world.
I know not its name
So I style it 'the way'.

I give it the makeshift name of 'the great'.
Being great, it is further described as receding,
Receding, it is described as far away,
Being far away, it is described as turning back.

Hence the way is great;
Heaven is great;
Earth is great;
The king is also great.
Within the realm there are four things that are great,
And the king counts as one.

Man models himself on earth,
Earth on heaven,
Heaven on the way,
And the way on that which is naturally so.

Lau 25

Il est un être confus qui existait avant le ciel et la terre.
Ô qu'il est calme ! Ô qu'il est immatériel !
Il subsiste seul et ne change point.
Il circule partout et ne périclite point.
Il peut être regardé comme la mère de l'univers.
Moi, je ne sais pas son nom.
Pour lui donner un titre, je l'appelle Voie (Tao).
En m'efforçant de lui faire un nom, je l'appelle grand.
De grand, je l'appelle fugace.
De fugace, je l'appelle éloigné.
D'éloigné, je l'appelle (l'être) qui revient.
C'est pourquoi le Tao est grand, le ciel est grand, la terre est grande, le roi aussi est grand.
Dans le monde, il y a quatre grandes choses, et le roi en est une.
L'homme imite la terre ; la terre imite le ciel, le ciel imite le Tao ; le Tao imite sa nature.

Julien 25

Es gibt ein Ding, das ist unterschiedslos vollendet.
Bevor der Himmel und die Erde waren, ist es schon da,
so still, so einsam.
Allein steht es und ändert sich nicht.
Im Kreis läuft es und gefährdet sich nicht.
Man kann es nennen die Mutter der Welt
Ich weiß nicht seinen Namen.
Ich bezeichne es als SINN.
Mühsam einen Namen ihm gebend,
nenne ich es: groß.
Groß, das heißt immer bewegt.
Immer bewegt, das heißt ferne.
Ferne, das heißt zurückkehrend.
So ist der SINN groß, der Himmel groß, die Erde groß,
und auch des Mensch ist groß.
Vier Große gibt es im Raume,
und der Mensch ist auch darunter.
Der Mensch richtet sich nach der Erde.
Die Erde richtet sich nach dem Himmel.
Der Himmel richtet sich nach dem SINN.
Der SINN richtet sich nach sich selber.

Wilhelm 25

故道大天大地大人亦大 se lit aussi 故道大天大地大王亦大
gbog – 2003/12/06
Dao De Jing I. 25. (25) IntroductionTable of content
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Alias Daode Jing, Dao De Jing, Tao Te Ching, Tao Teh Ching, le Tao-tö-king, Lao-Tzu Te-Tao Ching, the Laozi, Lao Zi, the Lao Tze, le Lao-tseu, The Book of the Way and its Virtue, the Way and its Power.

The Book of Odes, The Analects, Great Learning, Doctrine of the Mean, Three-characters book, The Book of Changes, The Way and its Power, 300 Tang Poems, The Art of War, Thirty-Six Strategies
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