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.
AI Modern
도는 비어 있지만, 쓰더라도 채워지지 않는다. 깊구나, 만물의 종조인 듯하다. 날카로움을 꺾고, 얽힘을 풀며, 빛을 부드럽게 하고, 먼지와 함께한다. 맑구나, 있는 듯 없는 듯하다. 나는 그것이 누구의 자식인지 모르겠으나, 상제보다 앞선 듯하다.
