Dao De Jing, chapter 4

[lnhammer]

[There are already too many bad translations of Laozi. There is no good reason to make another. None. Nope.]

The Way surges forth and might never run out.
Deep it is, ah! —as if the ancestor of the ten-thousand things.
[It] blunts their sharpness^[4-1] and loosens their tangles^[4-2],
Harmonizes their brilliance and joins with their dust.
Profound it is, ah! —as if it might [ever] remain.
I don’t know whose child it is,
[For it] appeared before the gods.

^[4-1] Another text has “joy”
^[4-2] Another text has “fragrance”

道冲而用之或不盈。
渊兮似万物之宗。
挫其锐，解其纷，
和其光，同其尘。
湛兮似或存。
吾不知谁之子，
象帝之先。

All pronouns in ll.3-4 are pure guesses, though having a structure parallel to 3.5-6 seems significant.

---L.

Comments

[sartorias]

Intriguing!