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The Old Philosopher's Canon of Reason and Virtue: 25. Imaging the Mysterious

The Canon of Reason and Virtue (Tao te Ching) ยท 1 passage

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1. There is a Being wondrous and complete. Before heaven and earth, it was. How calm it is! How spiritual! 2. Alone it standeth, and it changeth not; around it moveth, and it suffereth not; yet therefore can it be the world's mother. 3. Its name I know not, but its nature I call Reason. 4. Constrained to give a name, I call it the great. The great I call the departing, and the departing I call the beyond. The beyond I call home. 5. The saying goes: "Reason is great, heaven is great, earth is great, and royalty also is great. [There are four things p. 91 in the world that are great, and royalty is one of them.] 6. Man's standard is the earth. The earth's standard is heaven. Heaven's standard is Reason. Reason's standard is intrinsic.

Source: Internet Sacred Text Archive, file tao/crv/crv031.htm.

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