Hoc caput Tao describit ut vas vacuum et indefectum. Omnia creantur ex nihilo, et ad nihilum revertuntur. Tao, cum sit vacuum, omnia continet et vincit. Ante deos ipsum exstitisse.
Key Concepts
道
虚空
本源
Cite This Chapter
Laozi, Tao Te Ching, Chapter 4, "De Tao Vacuo", laotzu.ai: https://www.laotzu.ai/la/chapters/4/
Classical Chinese, translation, and AI reflection are shown separately; cite this chapter URL for references.
Tao vacuum est, et eius usui nihil umquam sufficit. O how profound, velut omnium rerum mater! Acuit edges hebetat, lites solvit, lucem temperat, pulvere ungit. O how still, velut si nihil esset!
Nescio cuius filius sit; existimo ante omne numen fuisse.
Alta Meditatio
De quo agit hoc caput?
Hoc caput Tao describit ut vas vacuum et indefectum. Omnia creantur ex nihilo, et ad nihilum revertuntur. Tao, cum sit vacuum, omnia continet et vincit. Ante deos ipsum exstitisse.
Quomodo ad me pertinet?
Mea vita plena est curarum et occupationum. Tao autem in vacuitate sua potentia invenit. Discam vacuum facere in animo meo, ut veram fortitudinem capiam.
Quid hodie facere debeo?
Hodie, horam unam in silentio sedeo, sine desiderio, sine proposito. Sic Tao vacuitatis sequar.
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
Tao vacuum est, et eius usui nihil umquam sufficit. O how profound, velut omnium rerum mater! Acuit edges hebetat, lites solvit, lucem temperat, pulvere ungit. O how still, velut si nihil esset!
Nescio cuius filius sit; existimo ante omne numen fuisse.
Meditatio Mea
What does this chapter inspire in you? How will you apply it?
