The Tao Te Ching opens by warning you about its own words. The Tao that can be spoken is not the eternal Tao; the name that can be named is not the eternal name. Whatever Lao Tzu is pointing at, the pointing will never capture it — nameless, it is the beginning of heaven and earth; named, it is the mother of all things. The book begins, in other words, by disclaiming the authority every other book claims.
The chapter then offers the practice hidden in that paradox: through constant non-desire one observes the Tao's mystery; through desire, only its outer manifestations. What you bring to reality determines which face of it you see. And the two — mystery and manifestation, nameless and named — arise from the same source, differing only in name. Lao Tzu calls that shared depth 'darkness upon darkness, the gateway to all mystery.' The first chapter thus sets the method for the other eighty: hold language lightly, quiet the wanting, and look.
Key verses
The Tao that can be named and spoken of is not the eternal Tao. The name that can be named is not the eternal name. Without name, it is the beginning of heaven and earth; with name, it is the mother of all things. Therefore, through constant non-desire, one observes its mystery; through constant desire, one observes its manifestations. These two arise from the same source yet differ in name — both are called the dark. Darkness upon darkness: the gateway to all mystery.
Read Chapter 1 in full
Every verse with translation, word meanings, and commentary — free.
ਐਪ ਵਿੱਚ ਮੁਫ਼ਤ ਪੜ੍ਹੋਪਰੰਪਰਾਵਾਂ ਤੋਂ ਪੁੱਛੋ
ਇੱਕ ਸਵਾਲ। ਪੰਜ ਪਰੰਪਰਾਵਾਂ ਦੇ ਜਵਾਬ।
ਬਿਨਾਂ ਖਾਤੇ ਦੇ ਹਰ 24 ਘੰਟਿਆਂ ਵਿੱਚ 2 ਸਵਾਲ।