Dao De Jing, chapter 14

[lnhammer]

We look but don’t see it, and name it “the Invisible”;
We listen but don’t hear it, and name it “the Inaudible”;
We seize but don’t grasp it, and name it “the Intangible”.^[14-1]
These three things, we cannot investigate
So mix them together and consider them one.
^[14-2] Its ascent is not revealed,
Its descent is not concealed.
It’s a limitless thing we cannot name
That returns again to be without substance:
This we call muddled and murky^[14-3].
We meet it but don’t see its head,
Follow it but don’t see its back.
If we hold the ways of the ancients
And use them to guide the now,
We can know the ancient beginning:
This is called the principle of the Way.

^[14-1] Other texts swap “invisible” and “intangible”
^[14-2] Other texts add here “(This) one thing,”
^[14-3] Other texts have “hazy and distant”

视之不见，名曰夷；
听之不闻，名曰希；
搏之不得，名曰微。
此三者不可致诘，
故混而为一。
其上不皦，
其下不昧。
绳绳不可名，
复归于无物。
是谓无状之状，
无物之象，
是谓惚恍。
迎之不见其首，
随之不见其后。
执古之道，
以御今之有。
能知古始，
是谓道纪。

It’s just as valid to read l.13 as “hold the Way of the ancients.” The root sense of 御 in l.14, here “guide,” is to steer a horse.

---L.