Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu, Chapter 25

Dao De Jing, Laozi
Chapter 25

"There was something undefined and complete, coming into existence before Heaven and Earth.
How still it was and formless, standing alone, and undergoing no change, reaching everywhere and in no danger of being exhausted!
It may be regarded as the Mother of all things.
I do not know its name, and I give it the designation of the Tao. 
Making an effort to give it a name, I call it The Great.
Great, it passes on in constant flow.  
Passing on, it becomes remote.
Having become remote, it returns.
Therefore the Tao is great, Heaven is great, Earth is great, and the sage king is also great.
In the universe there are four that are great, and the sage king is one of them.
Man takes his law from the Earth.
Earth takes its law from Heaven.
Heaven takes its law from the Tao.
The law of the Tao is its being what it is."
-  Translated by James Legge, 1891, Chapter 25 

"Something formless yet complete,
existing before heaven and earth.
Silent and limitless,
it stands alone and does not change.
Reaching everywhere, it does not tire.
Perhaps it is the Mother of all things under heaven.
I do not know its name
so I call it "Tao."

When I have to describe it I call it "great."
Being great it flows.
It flows far away.
Having gone far away, it returns.

Therefore, the Tao is great.
Heaven is great.
Earth is great.
People are also great.
Thus, people constitute one of the
four great things of the universe.

People conform to the earth.
The earth conforms to heaven.
Heaven conforms to the Tao.
The Tao conforms to its own nature."
-  Translated by Tolbert McCarroll, 1982, Chapter 25   

 

"There was a Thing, all-holding, all-complete,

Which was before existed Heaven and Earth,

Changeless! Formless! Solitary! Calm!

All-pervading! Unlimited! the birth

Of all the mighty universe concealed

Within the Motherhood not yet revealed.

I do not know its name; the Way; the Course;

The Tao, I call it; if constrained to make

A name, I call it furthermore The Great!

And Great, it passes onward and away,

Tis afar, and from afar returning flows,

The ebb of that great tide which sourceless rose.
Now then the Tao is great, and Heaven is great,

And Earth is great, and greatness is of Kings;

Within the world the greatnesses are four,

And one is he who rules over men and things;

Man takes his law from Earth; from Heaven this:

Heaven from the Tao; the Tao from what it is."
-  Translated by Isaac Winter Heysinger, 1903, Chapter 25 

"Before creation a prescience existed,
Self-contained, complete,
Formless, voiceless, mateless,
Changeless,
Which yet pervaded itself
With unending motherhood.
Though there can be no name for it,
I have called it 'the way of life.'
Perhaps I should have called it 'the fullness of life,'
Since fullness implies widening into space,
Implies still further widening,
Implies widening until the circle is whole.
In this sense
The way of life is fulfilled,
Heaven is fulfilled,
Earth fulfilled
And a fit man also is fulfilled:
These are the four amplitudes of the universe
And a fit man is one of them:
Man rounding the way of earth,
Earth rounding the way of heaven,
Heaven rounding the way of life
Till the circle is full."
-  Translated by Witter Bynner, 1944, Chapter 25  

有物混成.
先天地生.
寂兮.
為兮獨立不改.
周行而不殆.
可以為天下母.
吾不知其名.
字之曰道.
強為之名曰大.
大曰逝.
逝曰遠.
遠曰反.
故道大, 天大, 地大, 王亦大.
域中有四大, 而王居其一焉.
人法地.
地法天天法道.
道法自然.
-  Chinese characters, Tao Te Ching, Chapter 25 

yu wu hun ch'êng.
hsien t'ien ti shêng.
chi hsi.
liao hsi tu li pu kai.
chou hsing erh pu tai.
k'o yi wei t'ien hsia mu.
wu erh chuh ch'i ming.
tzu chih yüeh tao.
ch'iang wei chih ming yüeh ta.
ta yüeh shih.
shih yüeh yüan.
yüan yüeh fan
ku tao ta, t'ien ta, ti ta, wang yi ta.
yü chung yu ssu ta, erh wang chü ch'i yi yen.
jên fa ti.
ti fa t'ien t'ien fa tao.
tao fa tzu jan.
-  Wade-Giles Romanization, Tao Te Ching, Chapter 25 

"There is a thing inherent and natural,
Which existed before heaven and earth.
Motionless and fathomless,
It stands alone and never changes;
It pervades everywhere and never becomes exhausted.
It may be regarded as the Mother of the Universe.
I do not know its name.
If I am forced to give it a name,
I call it Tao, and name it as supreme.
Supreme means going on;
Going on means going far;
Going far means returning.
Therefore Tao is supreme; heaven is supreme; earth is supreme; and man is also supreme.
There are in the universe four things supreme, and man is one of them.
Man follows the laws of earth;
Earth follows the laws of heaven;
Heaven follows the laws of Tao;
Tao follows the laws of its intrinsic nature."
-  Translated by Ch'u Ta-Kao, 1904, Chapter 25 

 

"Antes aún que el cielo y la tierra ya existía un ser inexpresable.
Es un ser vacío y silencioso, libre, inmutable y solitario.
Se encuentra en todas partes y es inagotable.
Puede que sea la Madre del universo.
No sé su nombre, pero lo llamo Tao.
Si me esfuerzo en nombrarlo lo llamo grande.
Es grande porque se extiende.
Su expansión le lleva lejos.
La lejanía le hace retornar.
El Tao, pues, es grande y el cielo es grande.
La tierra es grande y también lo es el hombre.
En el universo hay cuatro cosas grandes, y el hombre del reino es una de ellas.
El hombre sigue la ley de la tierra.
La tierra sigue la ley del cielo.
El cielo sigue la ley del Tao.
El Tao sigue su propia ley."
-  Spanish Version Online at RatMachines, Capitulo 25 

 

"What's behind it all?
There is a thing-kind made up of a mix.
It emerges before the cosmos.
Solitary! Inchoate!
Self grounded and unchanging.
Permeating all processes without extremity.
We can deem it the mother of the social world.
I don't know its name. When put in characters we say dao.
Forced to deem it as named, we say 'great.'
Being great, we say 'comprehensive.'
Being comprehensive, we say 'far reaching.'
Being far reaching, we say 'reverting.'
So our dao is great;
Nature (heaven) is great,
Earth is great,
and kings are also great.
Within a region are four 'greats.'
And the King occupies one of those [lofty] statuses.
Humans treat earth as a standard.
Earth treats constant nature as a standard.
Constant nature treats dao as a standard.
Dao treats being so of itself as a standard."
-  Translated by Chad Hansen, Chapter 25  

Chapter 25 of the Tao Te Ching

Chapter and Thematic Index (Concordance) to the Tao Te Ching

English Language Translators' Index

Ripening Peaches: Taoist Studies and Practices

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 in English, Spanish, and the Wade-Giles Romanization; some commentary, and other resources for the Chapter.