My Translation
|
The Path
pours in use
without possibly filling
|
道
沖而用
之或不盈
|
|
How deep an abyss!
It seems
the ancestor
of all living things
|
淵兮
似
萬物
之宗
|
|
Blunting the sharpness
|
挫其銳
|
|
Untying the tangles
|
解其紛
|
|
Softening the glare
|
和其光
|
|
At one with the earth
|
同其塵
|
|
|
|
|
How deep an abyss!
It seems
to live with possibility
|
湛兮
似
或存
|
|
I do not know
whose child it is
|
吾不知
誰之子
|
|
Its image precedes
that of god
|
象帝
之先
|
Original Chinese
|
Traditional
|
Simplified
|
Pronunciation
|
|
|
|
|
|
道沖而用之或不盈。
|
道冲而用之或不盈。
|
Dào chōng ér yòng zhī huò bù yíng.
|
|
淵兮似萬物之宗。
|
渊兮似万物之宗。
|
Yuān xī shì wàn wù zhī zōng.
|
|
挫其銳，
|
挫其锐，
|
Cuò qí ruì,
|
|
解其紛，
|
解其纷，
|
Jiě qí fēn,
|
|
和其光，
|
和其光，
|
Huó qí guāng,
|
|
同其塵。
|
同其尘。
|
Tòng qí chén.
|
|
湛兮似或存。
|
湛兮似或存。
|
Zhàn xī shì huò cún.
|
|
吾不知誰之子，
|
吾不知谁之子，
|
Wú bù zhī shuí zhī zǐ,
|
|
象帝之先。
|
象帝之先。
|
Xiàng dì zhī xiān.
|
Literal Translation
|
道沖而用之或不盈。
|
Path pours and uses ’s/it or/might not fill
|
|
淵兮似萬物之宗。
|
Deep/abyss ! seems innumerable things ’s ancestor
[innumerable things = all living things]
|
|
挫其銳，
|
Dampen its sharpness
|
|
解其紛，
|
Unties its tangles
|
|
和其光，
|
Softens its brilliance
|
|
同其塵。
|
Same/alike/together its earth
|
|
湛兮似或存。
|
Deep ! seems perhaps lives/exists/keep
|
|
吾不知誰之子，
|
I not know whose ’s child
|
|
象帝之先。
|
Figure god ’s predecessor
|