Tao Te Ching of Lao-Tzu Chapter 21

Below is the chapter from two excellent sources along with the original Chinese text. The first source is from a translation by D.T. Suzuki & Paul Carus in 1913 followed by a translation by Stephen Mitchell in 1988.

Chapter 21

1. "Vast virtue's form
Follows Reason's norm.

2. "And Reason's nature
Is vague and eluding.

3. "How eluding and vague
All types including!
How vague and eluding,
All beings including!
How deep and how obscure.
It harbors the spirit pure,
Whose truth is ever sure,
Whose faith abides for aye
From of yore until to-day.

4. "Its name is never vanishing,
It heeds the good of everything."

5. Through what do I know that "it heeds the good of everything"? In this way, verily: Through IT.


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The Master keep her mind
always at one with the Tao;
that is what gives her her radiance.

The Tao is ungraspable.
How can her mind be at one with it?
Because she doesn't cling to ideas.

The Tao is dark and unfathomable.
How can it make her radiant?
Because she lets it.

Since before time and space were,
the Tao is.
It is beyond is and is not.
How do I know this is true?
I look inside myself and see.