Ursula K. Le Guin

Taoing

The way you can go

isn’t the real way.

The name you can say

isn’t the real name.

Heaven and earth

began in the unnamed:

name’s the mother

of the ten thousand things.

So the unwanting soul

sees what’s hidden,

and the ever-wanting soul

sees only what it wants.

Two things, one origin,

but different in name,

whose identity is mystery,

Mystery of all mysteries!

The door to the hidden.

Witter Bynner

Existence is beyond the power of words

To define:

Terms may be used

But are none of them absolute.

In the beginning of heaven and earth there were no words,

Words came out of the womb of matter;

And whether a man dispassionately

Sees to the core of life

Or passionately

Sees the surface,

The core and the surface

Are essentially the same,

Words making them seem different

Only to express appearance.

If name be needed, wonder names them both:

From wonder into wonder

Existence opens.

Frank J. MacHovec

The Tao described in words is not the real Tao.  Words cannot describe it.  Nameless it is the source of creation; named it is the mother of all things.

To see Tao the observer must be motiveless.  Those with selfish motives see only the surface, not the innermost depths.  These two kinds of observers look alike but differ in the insight of their observations.

They look alike because they are both human; within humanity is the key to the door of creation.

Raymond B. Blakney

There are ways but the Way is uncharted;

There are names but not nature in words:

Nameless indeed is the source of creation

But things have a mother and she has a name.

The secret waits for the insight

Of eyes unclouded by longing;

Those who are bound by desire

See only the outward container.

These two come paired but distinct

By their names.

Of all things profound,

Say that their pairing is deepest,

The gate to the root of the world

Raghavan Iyer

The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao;

The name that can be named is not the eternal Name.

The Nameless is the Source of Heaven and Earth;

The named is the Mother of Ten Thousand Things.

Desireless, one may behold the mystery;

Desiring, one may see the manifestations.

Though one in origin,

They emerge with distinct names.

Both are mysteries –

Depth within depth –

The threshold of all secrets.

Jonathan Star

A way that can be walked

            is not The Way

A name that can be named

            is not The Name

Tao is both Named and Nameless

As Nameless, it is the origin of all things

As Named, it is the mother of all things

A mind free of thought,

            merged within itself,

            beholds the essence of Tao

A mind filled with thought,

            identified with its own perceptions,

            beholds the mere forms of this world

Tao and this world seem different

            but in truth they are one and the same

The only difference is in what we call them

How deep and mysterious is this unity

            How profound, how great!

It is the truth beyond the truth,

            the hidden within the hidden

It is the path to all wonder,

            the gate to the essence of everything!

John C. H. Wu

Tao can be talked about, but not the Eternal Tao.

Names can be named, but not the Eternal Name.

As the origin of heaven-and-earth, it is nameless:

As “the Mother” of all things, it is namable.

So, as ever hidden, we should look at its inner essence:

As always manifest, we should look at its outer aspects.

These two flow from the same source, though differently named:

And both are called mysteries.

The Mystery of mysteries is the Door of all essence.