R. L. Wing


The Beginning of Power

The Tao that can be expressed
            Is not the Tao of the Absolute.
The name that can be named
            Is not the name of the Absolute.

The nameless originated Heaven and Earth.
The named is the Mother of All Things.

Thus, without expectation,
            One will always perceive subtlety;
And, with expectation,
            One will always perceive the boundary.

The source of these two is identical,
Yet their names are different.
Together they are called profound,
Profound and mysterious,
The gateway to the Collective Subtlety.