Tao Te Ching- 1

The tao that can be told
is not the eternal Tao
The name that can be named
is not the eternal Name.

The unnameable is the eternally real.
Naming is the origin
of all particular things.

Free from desire, you realize the unknown.
Caught in desire, you see only the manifestations.

Yet realizations and manifestations
arise from the same source.
This source is called mystery.

Mystery within mystery.
The gateway to all wonderment.

English revised by Chiyan Wang

edited by Robert H. Smitheram