kǒng dé zhī róng， wéi dào shì cóng。
　　 dào zhī wéi wù， wéi huǎng wéi hū。
　　 hū xī huǎng xī， qí zhōng yòu xiàng， huǎng xī hū xī， qí zhōng yòu wù。
　　 yǎo xī míng xī， qí zhōng yòu jīng， qí jīng shèn zhēn， qí zhōng yòu xìn。
　　 zì gǔ jí jīn， qí míng bù qù， yǐ yuè zhòng fǔ。
　　
　　 wú hé yǐ zhī zhòng fǔ zhī zhuàng zāi？ yǐ cǐ。

　　The grandest forms of active force
　　From Tao come, their only source.
　　Who can of Tao the nature tell?
　　Our sight it flies, our touch as well.
　　Eluding sight, eluding touch,
　　The forms of things all in it crouch;
　　Eluding touch, eluding sight,
　　There are their semblances, all right.
　　Profound it is, dark and obscure;
　　Things' essences all there endure.
　　Those essences the truth enfold
　　Of what, when seen, shall then be told.
　　Now it is so; 'twas so of old.
　　Its name--what passes not away;
　　So, in their beautiful array,
　　Things form and never know decay.
　　
　　How know I that it is so with all the beauties of existing things?
　　By this (nature of the Tao).