Introduction.
Hello everyone, I’m glad to be here again and have something to share. I’ve wanted to do this translation for a long time because Tao has always felt special to me personally. And I felt that there was hidden potential in it that had been, one might say, distorted, lost. Today I want to try to put an end to at least a small percentage of lies that have been given to this material.
I want to start by saying how unpleasant it is for me to see translators adding things to material that are not there. This is unpleasant. For the simple reason that the translator’s thoughts begin to mix with what you are spending your time and reading for (you did not want to read the translator’s thoughts). And I am horrified by how much nonsense there is around, only a couple of translations seemed correct to me at that time. Then I realized, after I had already finished translating 1 piece out of 81, that already at the very beginning something was added to the translation that simply was not in the original. So all that was left for me to feel was misunderstanding and loneliness.
How I create my translation
To start translating, you need to find the original source. That’s what I did. There is a website like this:
In my opinion, everything that exists on this topic of Tao is collected there. There were original materials listed and links to their digitized versions. I chose these two:
The reason I chose them is simple. They are the oldest and most complete. I read the “newer” versions and didn’t like it. So here it is. These two materials contain literally the same text, but:
- In some places, some hieroglyphs have been replaced by others with similar meanings (no need to worry).
- Some of the hieroglyphs are lost, but fortunately we have two materials, and what I did to remove the gaps was to compare what was written in both and restore the text symbol by symbol. My goal: I only needed to translate the first part out of 81.
Let’s move on to the third part, which is why I wrote this post.
3. What is actually hidden in the Original?
To give something to compare with, for contrast I will provide a translation of this passage by a person whom I consider to be the most accurate translator on this topic in principle. Why? His translation makes the most sense of all the others. That’s what I see.
Ma-wang-tui version
Translated by Robert G. Henricks, 19891
- As for the Way, the Way that can be spoken of is not the constant Way;
- As for names, the name that can be named is not the constant name.
- The nameless is the beginning of the ten thousand things;
- The named is the mother of the ten thousand things.
- Therefore, those constantly without desires, by this means will perceive its subtlety.
- Those constantly with desires, by this means will see only that which they yearn for and seek.
- These two together emerge;
- They have different names yet they’re called the same;
- That which is even more profound that the profound—
- The gateway of all subtleties.
Let’s say, I haven’t found a better translation than this one. All the others translate in a similar way, as if copying each other. I’d like to ask you to pay attention to how the last lines 8-10 were translated. We will return to this below.
So, having two texts, A and B, I was able to restore the original sequence of characters. It is not difficult, and you can repeat it yourself if you want. When I restored the original, I focused on text A, since it contains a special symbol:
∠
In essence, this symbol, as I noticed later, means something like a “pause”, as if this text were being read out loud to someone. The point is that these “stopping points” make translation much easier, since you know approximately where the word ends. There is one more auxiliary detail for this, but more on that below. I replaced “∠” with “///” for my convenience (that is, I will transfer to a new line when these symbols appear.). As a result, we have the following text:
3: 名 可 名 也 非 恆 名 也 無 名 萬 物 之 始 也 ///
In this form it already looks good and is divided into semantic blocks, but the specificity of Chinese hieroglyphs is such that there is one special symbol:
This symbol is placed at the end of a complete sentence to emphasize once again the truth and importance of what was said. It’s something like “Truly!” I will remove this hieroglyph and ///, and now we have an understanding of where the new semantic blocks are. This is what we have now:
1: [1] 道 可 道
2: [2] 非 恆 道
3: [3] 名 可 名 [4] 非 恆 名 [5] 無 名 萬 物 之 始
That is, we have a number, and to the right of it the text that relates to it. In general, there are 5 groups, as you can see, and within them there are also semantic divisions. Our task now is to take the first line 1, then the first group [1].
- We have: [1] 道 可 道
- 道 here as a noun, means “Way”, 可 means “be able to”, 道 here as a verb, means “to speak/to say”.
- Translation: Way be able to say
- [2] 非 恆 道
- 非 means “not”, 恆 means “lasting”, 道 means “Way”
- Translation: not lasting Way
“Way be able to say → not lasting Way”.
It is clear that the grammar will suffer. But it is worth saying that what is being said here is precisely the ability of the Path to talk to you itself. And not about you discussing the Path with someone. Simply put, it is clear to me that the original meaning was that when a person meets his true path, path will remain silent to his master, because true path is a mystery (mystery of God), and there are no answers to it. The path where you start to think you have found all the answers is not your real path. It will be just another path, somewhere far from the original source and its secret. The secret of your origin.
- [3] 名 可 名
- 名 means “name”, 可 means “be able to”, 名 here as a verb, means “to be named”
- Translation: Name be able to be named
- [4] 非 恆 名
- 非 – “not”, 恆 – “lasting”, 名 – “name”
- Translation: not lasting name
“Name be able to be named → not lasting name”.
Here is implied a hint about the infinity of the God, because He who cannot be named or counted is infinite. We can also say this: no name can describe the diversity of the vibration of the God, because there is no end to it (vibration).
- [5] 無 名 萬 物 之 始
- 無 – “not having”, 名 – “name”, 萬 – “10 thousand things = infinity = unity”, 物 – “things”, 之 – “this is”, 始 – “beginning”
- Translation: Not having name infinity things → this is beginning
It says here that the original infinity has no name, and it is the beginning of everything that can be, because initially there was infinity. I put an arrow so that it could be read with the correct emphasis.
- [6] 有 名 萬 物 之 母
- 有 – “to have”, 名 – “name”, 萬 – “infinity”, 物 – “things”, 之 – “this is”, 始 – “mother”
- Translation: To have name infinity things → this is mother
What is meant is that those entities that already have names are considered to be born into being, but all such entities will be considered to be part of the “mother” from which they “disconnected” into being. The point here is to remind ourselves that we are all part of God even when we are not near Him.
- [7] 故 恆 無 欲
- 故 – “old”, 名 – “lasting”, 無 – “not having”, 欲 – “wish”
- Translation: Old lasting → not having wish
“Old” about God/mother, “lasting” means eternal. The absence of any desire means the absence of any attachment, which actually makes God invulnerable.
- [8] 以 觀 其 眇
- 以 – “with”, 觀 – “observing”, 其 – “his/her”, 眇 – “blind in one eye”
- Translation: With observing his/her blind in one eye
That is, when you look at God without noticing the Truth
- [9] 恆 有 欲
- 恆 – “lasting”, 有 – “to have”, 欲 – “wish”
- Translation: lasting to have wish
“With observing his/her blind in one eye → lasting to have wish”
That is, it explains why you do not notice the Truth. Because you are full of wishes And here, as a rule, material desires are implied, many many thoughts are filled with the “transient”. And where then is the time to think about the Higher?
The final tenth passage, as you will see, is completely different.
- [10] 以 觀 其 所 噭 兩 者 同 出 異 名 同 胃 玄 之 有 玄 眾 眇 之 門
- 以 – “with”, 觀 – “observing”, 其 – “his/her”, 所 – “that which / what is”, 噭 – “cry of bird, to cry as bird”, 兩 – “two”, 者 – “they/this”, 同 – “same”, 出 – “come out”, 異 – “different”, 名 – “name”, 同 – “same”, 胃 – “stomach”, 玄 – “deep”, 之 – “this is”, 有 – “to have”, 玄 – “deep”, 眾 – “masses”, 眇 – “blind in one eye”, 之 – “this is”, 門 – “gate”.
- Translation: With observing his/her that which cry as bird → two they same → come out different name → same stomach. Deep this is → to have deep masses blind in one eye. This is gate.
The first part, as you may have guessed, speaks of God in the form of a bird, and watching for bird (nature, God) you come to the conclusion that the two things are the same in essence, but different in name. But they have one “stomach”.
The second part has never appeared anywhere, no matter what translation I watched. But here it is, right before eyes. I don’t know how to translate this exactly, but one way or another it says that there are certain people who should be kept in ignorance. I would be interested to read your opinions. I’d be glad if you wrote if you want a continuation (potentially part 2).
4. Conclusion
Let’s compare the translations.
Ma-wang-tui version
Translated by Robert G. Henricks, 19891
- As for the Way, the Way that can be spoken of is not the constant Way;
- As for names, the name that can be named is not the constant name.
- The nameless is the beginning of the ten thousand things;
- The named is the mother of the ten thousand things.
- Therefore, those constantly without desires, by this means will perceive its subtlety.
- Those constantly with desires, by this means will see only that which they yearn for and seek.
- These two together emerge;
- They have different names yet they’re called the same;
- That which is even more profound that the profound—
- The gateway of all subtleties.
Mine.
- Way be able to say → not lasting Way
- Name be able to be named → not lasting name
- Not having name infinity things → this is beginning
- To have name infinity things → this is mother
- Old lasting → not having wish
- With observing his/her blind in one eye → lasting to have wish
- With observing his/her that which cry as bird → two they same
- Come out different name → same stomach.
- Deep this is → to have deep masses blind in one eye.
- This is gate.
Websites I used to understand the meanings of hieroglyphs:
- 道 - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (just at the top where says “en wiktionary org” click and insert the desired symbol directly into the link).
- the same for this website 道 meaning and pronunciation - translate 道 in English | HSK Academy
- https://www.blackbox.ai free ai with chatgpt 4-o without registration (check what model you chose, top left corner).
