Chapter 4 speaks about how the Tao is empty yet inexhaustible in use. It is deep, as if the mother of all things. It blunts sharpness, resolves disputes, harmonizes light, and becomes one with dust. Though it seems to not exist, it endures. We do not know its origin, but it existed before the great ordering.
Key Concepts
道
虚空
本源
Cite This Chapter
Laozi, Tao Te Ching, Chapter 4, "Tao-ip Qinertaa", laotzu.ai: https://www.laotzu.ai/kl/chapters/4/
Classical Chinese, translation, and AI reflection are shown separately; cite this chapter URL for references.
Chapter 4 speaks about how the Tao is empty yet inexhaustible in use. It is deep, as if the mother of all things. It blunts sharpness, resolves disputes, harmonizes light, and becomes one with dust. Though it seems to not exist, it endures. We do not know its origin, but it existed before the great ordering.
Qanoq atugassava?
This speaks to me about the deep source from which all things arise. Like water carving stone, the gentle and empty can overcome the sharp and strong. I am reminded that my true self is like this Tao—empty of ego but full of potential.
Ullumi soorlu isigineqartariaqarpa?
Today I will practice being empty rather than full. I will observe when I am sharp or rigid, and I will soften. I will return to the deep stillness within myself.
The Tao is (like) the emptiness of a vessel; and in our employment of it we must be on our guard against all fulness. How deep and unfathomable it is, as if it were the Honoured Ancestor of all things! We should blunt our sharp points, and unravel the complications of things; we should attemper our brightness, and bring ourselves into agreement with the obscurity of others. How pure and still the Tao is, as if it would ever so continue! I do not know whose son it is. It might appear to have been before God.
