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February 26, 2025 9 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Tao in its transcendental aspect and in its physical manifestation
by Laotsu, translated from the Chinese by Lionel Guiles. This
is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the
public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit

(00:22):
LibriVox dot org. The Tao which can be expressed in
words is not the eternal Tao. The name which can
be uttered is not its eternal name without a name.
It is the beginning of heaven and earth with a name.
It is the mother of all things. Only one who
is ever free from desire can apprehend its spiritual essence.

(00:46):
He who is ever a slave to desire can see
no more than its outer fringe. These two things, the
spiritual and the material, though we call them by different
names in their origin, are one and the same. This
sameness is a mystery, the mystery of mysteries. It is
the gait of all wonders. How unfathomable is Tao. It

(01:10):
seems to be the ancestral progenitor of all things. How
pure and clear is Tao, it would seem to be everlasting.
I know not of whom it is the offspring. It
appears to bend anterior to any sovereign power. Tao eludes
the sense of sight, and is therefore called colorless. It

(01:33):
eludes the sense of hearing, and is therefore called soundless.
It eludes the sense of touch, and is therefore called incorporeal.
These three qualities cannot be apprehended, and hence they may
be blended into unity. Its upper part is not bright,
and its lower part is not obscure, ceaseless. In action,

(01:56):
it cannot be named, but returns again to nothingness. We
may call it the form of the formless, the image
of the imageless, the fleeting, and the indeterminable. Which you
go before it, you cannot see its face, whilch you
go behind it, you cannot see its back. The mightiest
manifestations of active force flow solely from Tao. Tao in

(02:21):
itself is vague, impalpable, how impalpable, how vague. Yet within
it there is form, how vague, how impalpable. Yet within
it there is substance, how profound, how obscure. Yet within
it there is a vital principle. This principle is the

(02:44):
quintessence of reality, and out of it comes truth. From
of old until now its name, has never passed away.
It watches over the beginning of all things. How do
I know this about the beginning of things? Through Tao?
There is something chaotic yet complete, which existed before heaven
and Earth. Oh how still it is and formless, standing alone,

(03:09):
without changing, reaching everywhere, without suffering harm. It must be
regarded as the mother of the universe. Its name I
know not to designate it. I call it Tao, endeavoring
to describe it, I call it great, being great, it
passes on, passing on, it becomes remote. Having become remote,

(03:33):
it returns. Therefore, Tao is great, Heaven is great, Earth
is great, and the sovereign also is great. In the universe,
there are four powers, of which the sovereign is one.
Man takes his law from the Earth. The Earth takes
its law from Heaven. Heaven takes its law from Tao.

(03:55):
But the law of Tao is its own. Spontaneity. Tao,
in its unchanging aspect, has no name. Small though it
be in its primordial simplicity, mankind dare not claim its service.
Could princes and kings hold and keep it? All Creation
would spontaneously pay homage, Heaven in Earth would unite in

(04:18):
sending down sweet dew, and the people would be righteous,
unbidden and of their own accord. As soon as Tao
creates order, it becomes nameable. When it once has a name,
men will know how to rest in it. Knowing how
to rest in it, they will run no risk of harm.
Tao as it exists in the world is like the

(04:39):
great rivers and seas, which receive the streams from the valleys.
All pervading. Is the great Tao. It can be at
once in the right hand and on the left. All
things depend on it for life, and it rejects them.
Not its task accomplished. It takes no credit. It loves
in nourishes all things, but does not act as master.

(05:03):
It is ever free from desire. We may call it small.
All things return to it, yet it does not act
as master. We may call it great. The whole world
will flock to him who holds the mighty form of Tao.
They will come and receive no hurt, but find rests
peace and tranquility, with music and dainties. We may detain

(05:28):
the passing guest, but if we open our mouths to
speak of Tao, he finds it tasteless and insipid, not
visible to the site, not audible to the ear. In
its use, it is inexhaustible. Retrogression is the movement of Tao.
Weakness is the character of Tao. All things under heaven

(05:49):
are products of being, but being itself is the product
of not being. Tao is a great square with no angles,
a great vessel which takes long to come complete, a
great sound which cannot be heard, a great image with
no form. Tao lies hid and cannot be named. Yet

(06:10):
it has the power of transmuting and perfecting all things.
Tao produced unity. Unity produce duality, Duality produce trinity, and
trinity produced all existing objects. These myriad objects leave darkness
behind them and embrace the light, being harmonized by contact

(06:30):
with a vital force. Tao produces all things, its virtue
nourishes them. Each is formed according to its nature, Each
is perfected according to its strength. Hence, there is not
a single thing but pays homage to Tao and extols
its virtue. Be homage paid to Tao. The sixstolling of

(06:51):
its virtue is due to no command, but is always spontaneous.
Thus it is that Tao engendering all things nourishes them,
develops them and fosters them, perfects them, ripens them, tends them,
and protects them. Production without possession, action without self assertion,

(07:14):
development without domination. This is its mysterious operation. The world
has a first cause, which may be regarded as the
mother of the world. When one has found the mother,
one can know the child. Knowing the child, and still
keeping the mother to the end of his days, he
shall suffer no harm. It is the way of Heaven

(07:36):
not to strive, and yet it knows how to overcome.
Not to speak, and yet it knows how to obtain
a response. It calls not and things come of themselves.
It is slow to move, but excellent in its designs.
Heaven's net is vast, though its meshes are wide. It
lets nothing slip through. The way of Heaven is like

(08:00):
the drawing of a beau. It brings down what is
high and raises what is low. It is the way
of Heaven to take from those who have too much
and give to those who have too little. But the
way of man is not so. He takes away from
those who have too little to add to his own superabundance.
What man is there that can take of his own

(08:21):
superabundance and give it to mankind only he who possesses Tao.
The Tao of Heaven has no favorites. It gives to
all good men without distinction. Things wax strong and then decay.
This is the contrary of Tao. What is contrary to
Tao soon perishes, and of Tao in its transcendental aspect

(08:47):
and in its physical manifestation. By Lautsu, translated from the
Chinese by Lionel Guiles, read by Nemo
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