Daodejing, Laozi
Chapter 42
"The Dao produced One; One produced Two;
Two produced Three; Three produced All things.
All things leave behind them the Obscurity out of which they have come, and go
forward to embrace
the Brightness into which they have emerged, while they are harmonized by the Breath of Vacancy.
What men dislike is to be orphans, to have little virtue, to be as carriages
without naves;
and yet these are the designations which kings and princes use
for themselves.
So it is that some things are increased by being diminished, and others are
diminished by being increased.
What other men thus teach, I also teach.
The violent and strong do not die their natural death.
I will make this the basis of my teaching."
- Translated by
James Legge,
1891, Chapter 42
"Dao sprouted as one.
One sprouted into two.
Two sprouted into three.
Three sprouted into all the living things in the universe.
All living things suffer through darkness and embrace the light.
In the middle, life's energy finds a way to act from the harmony of both.
A person's stance might be to really hate being "alone, isolated and One Without
Grain".
Yet the nobility choose to call themselves by that title.
A living thing may be damaged by increase; or may profit by decrease.
Therefore, if a person realizes that their attitude can teach others,
In the evening they will consider and discuss things, teaching each other.
Therefore those who are aggressive and violent will die incomplete.
I'll take these lessons as though they came from my father."
- Translated by
Nina Correa,
2005, Chapter 42
"The Tao gives birth to the One.
The One gives birth to two.
Two gives birth to three.
And three gives birth to the ten thousand things.
The ten thousand things have their backs in the shadow
while they embrace the light.
Harmony is achieved by blending
the breaths of these two forces.
People dislike the words "alone," "helpless," "worthless,"
yet this is how Princes describe them selves.
So it is that sometimes a thing is increased
by being diminished and
diminished by being increased.
What others teach I also teach:
"A violent person will not die a natural death."
I shall make this the basis of my teaching."
- Translated by
Tolbert McCarroll,
1982, Chapter 42
"The Way begot one,
And the one, two;
Then the two begot three
And three, all else.
All things bear the shade on their backs
And the sun in their arms;
By the blending of breath
From the sun and the shade,
Equilibrium comes to the world.
Orphaned, or needy, or desolate, these
Are conditions much feared and disliked;
Yet in public address, the king
And the nobles account themselves thus.
So a loss sometimes benefits one
Or a benefit proves to be loss.
What others have taught
I also shall teach:
If a violent man does not come
To a violent death,
I shall choose him to teach me."
- Translated by
Raymond B. Blakney,
1955, Chapter 42
道生一.
一生二.
二生三.
三生萬物.
萬物負陰而抱陽.
沖氣以為和.
人之所惡唯孤寡不穀, 而王公以為稱.
故物或損之而益.
或益之而損.
人之所教, 我亦教之.
強梁者不得其死.
吾將以為教父.
- Chinese characters, Tao Te Ching,
Chapter 42
dao sheng yi.
yi sheng er.
er sheng san.
san sheng wan wu.
wan wu fu yin er bao yang.
chong qi yi wei he.
ren zhi suo wu
wei gu gua bu gu,
er wang gong yi wei cheng.
gu wu
huo sun zhi er yi.
huo yi zhi er sun.
ren zhi suo jiao,
wo yi jiao zhi.
qiang liang zhe bu de qi si.
wu jiang yi wei jiao fu.
- Pinyin Romanization, Daodejing, Chapter 42
"Nature first begets one thing.
The one thing begets another.
The two produce a third.
In this way, all things are begotten.
Why? Because all things are impregnated by two alternating tendencies, the
tendency towards completion and the tendency towards initiation, which acting
together, complement each other.
Most men dislike to be considered of no account, lowly, unworthy.
Yet intelligent leaders call themselves thus.
For people are admired for their humility and despised for their pride.
There are many other ways of illustrating what I am teaching: "Extremists reach
untimely ends."
This saying may be taken as a good example."
- Translated by
Archie J. Bahm,
Chapter 42
"The Tao produced One; One produced
Two;
Two produced Three; Three produced
All.
All the myriad things bear the yin
with darkened pall,
They embrace the yang which lights
the coming view,
And between the yin that was, and
the yang that is to be,
The immaterial breath makes
harmony.
Things that men dislike are to be
orphans, lonely men,
Unworthy, incomplete, and yet
these very things
Are taken for their titles by
princes and by kings;
So it is sometimes that losing
gains again,
And sometimes that gaining loses
in its turn.
I am teaching what, by others
taught, I learn;
The violent and aggressive a good
death do not die,
"El Tao engendra al Uno,
El Uno engendra al Dos,
El Dos engendra al Tres.
El Tres engendra a los diez mil seres.
Los diez mil seres llevan el Yin en sus espaldas y el Yang en sus frentes,
Y la armonía de su Chi depende del equilibrio de estas dos fuerzas.
Los hombres aborrecen la soledad, la pobreza, la indignidad,
y estos nombres los usan los soberanos para sus títulos.
Porque unos ganan perdiendo, y otros pierden ganando.
Yo enseño lo que otros han enseñado:
"el hombre que vive violentamente, morirá violentamente".
Esta es la guía de mi enseñanza."
- Translation from
Wikisource, 2013, Capitulo
42
"Tao emaned the One; the one emaned the Two; and the two emaned the Three.
From the Three all things have proceeded.
All things are backed by the Unmanifest and faced by the Manifest.
That which unites them is the immaterial breath.
Orphanage, isolation, and a chariot without wheels are shunned by the
people; but kings and great men appropriate these names to themselves.
For things increase by being deprived; and being added to they are diminished.
That which people teach by their actions I make use of to instruct them.
Those who are violent and headstrong, for example, do not die a natural death.
They teach a good lesson, and so I make use of them."
- Translated by
Walter Gorn Old, 1904, Chapter 42
Chapter and Thematic Index (Concordance) to the Tao Te Ching
Taoism: A Selected Reading List
A typical webpage created by Mike Garofalo on a Chapter of the Tao Te Ching (Daodejing)
by Lao Tzu (Laozi) includes at least 16 different translations or
interpolations of the Chapter in English, two Spanish translations, the
Chinese characters for the Chapter, a Wade-Giles and Hanyu Pinyin
Romanization of the Mandarin Chinese words for the Chapter, recommended
reading lists, a detailed bibliography, indexing by key words and terms
for the Chapter, and other resources for the Chapter.
1998 Index, recommended reading, 288 pages. VSCL. 
By Robert D. Hill, Ph.D.. New York, W.W. Norton and Co., 2008. Index,
references, 63 pages. ISBN: 978-0393705232. VSCL. 
. By Chris Jarmey. North Atlantic Books, 2005. 192 pages. 
,
1998, pp. 235-252. Based on the 1962 essay titled "The Case
Against Religion: A Psychotherapist's View." 
