Tao Te Ching – Verse 1
The tao that can be told
is not the eternal Tao
The name that can be named
is not the eternal Name.
The unnamable is the eternally real.
Naming is the origin
of all particular things.Free from desire, you realize the mystery.
Caught in desire, you see only the manifestations.
Yet mystery and manifestations
arise from the same source.
This source is called darkness.
Darkness within darkness.
The gateway to all understanding.
(translation by Stephen Mitchell, 1995)
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The Tao that can be spoken is not the eternal Tao
The name that can be named is not the eternal name
The nameless is the origin of Heaven and Earth
The named is the mother of myriad things
Thus, constantly without desire, one observes its essence
Constantly with desire, one observes its manifestations
These two emerge together but differ in name
The unity is said to be the mystery
Mystery of mysteries, the door to all wonders
(translation by Derek Lin, 2006)
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Zero is the incomprehensible number of truth: Everywhere and nowhere.
Conceptual Nothingness, though more real than real, is beyond the limits of the human mind.
Zero and Nothingness are full of energy and intelligence, but cannot be described.
From This Nothingness, all of this Creation arose.
The Nothing is Something, but beyond thought.
From this Zero has all we see hear touch smell taste hear ponder come.
Zero is not the zero the seeker thought.
Zero overtakes the one who has dropped the ego.
There are celestial realms, but they are also borne of Nothingness.
The Secret of Nothingness is that it is everything and much more.
Zero.
(translation by Jeremy M. Miller, 2013)
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from I Ching Online
