Sunday, February 11, 2007

Verse 25: "Big" "Way"

有物混成先天地生。
There was something mysterious before the birth of Heaven and Earth.
寂兮寥兮獨立不改,
Lonesome and empty, it is constant and independent.
周行而不殆,
It cycles through everything without harm,
可以為天下母。
and can be treated as the Mother of all things.
吾不知其名,
I do not know what it is called,
強字之曰道。
A probable character for it would be "Way"
強為之名曰大。
A probable name for its behaviour would be "Big"
大曰逝,逝曰遠,遠曰反。
Big seems to be Retreating, Retreating seems to be Distant, Distant seems to be Inverting.
故道大、天大、地大、人亦大。
So, the Way is Big, Heaven is Big, Earth is Big, Man is also Big.
域中有四大,而人居其一焉。
The universe has four Big realms, and Man occupies one of them.
人法地,地法天,
Man mimics Earth, Earth mimics Heaven
天法道,道法自然。
Heaven mimics the Way, the Way is the law of nature.

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