Poems

Tao Te Ching Chapter 1 by Lao Tzu

A watercolor painting of a temple amidst the mountains. The words "The Tao" appear at the bottom.

Art by @awe.and.devotion

The tao that can be told
is not the eternal tao
The name that can be named
is not the eternal Name.
The unnamable is the eternally real.
Naming is the origin
of all particular things.
Free from desire, you realize the mystery.
Caught in desire, you see only the manifestations.
Yet mystery and manifestations
arise from the same source.
This source is called darkness.
Darkness within darkness.
The gateway to all understanding.

-By Tzu, Lao in Tao Te Ching: A New English Version. Translated by Stephen Mitchell.

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