Tao Te Ching chapter 4

道德經
Tao Te Ching

四章
chapter 4

道沖
The Tao is empty

The Tao is empty but in use its capacity is not exhausted. Deep, very deep, it seems like the root of the ten thousand things. Blunt the sharp points. Untie the tangled knots. Soften the bright light. Merge with the dust of the world. Deep and calm, it seems like it really exists. I do not know which philospher's school it reflects: the Lord of Heaven comes first.

Notes

Translation Table
Index	Chinese	Pinyin	Literal	Idiomatic
1	道	dao	Tao	The Tao
2	沖	chong	empty	is empty
3	而	er	but	but
4	用	yong	use	in use
5	之	zhi	its	its
6	或	huo	capacity	capacity
7	不	bu	not	is not
8	盈	ying	exhausted	exhausted.
9	淵	yuan	deep	Deep,
10	兮	xi	very	very deep,
11	似	si	resembles	it seems like
12	萬	wan	ten thousand	ten thousand
13	物	wu	things	things
14	之	zhi	its	of
15	宗	zong	ancestor, root	the root of the ten thousand things.
16	挫	cuo	blunt	Blunt
17	其	qi	the	the
18	銳	rui	sharp, point	sharp points.
19	解	jie	untie	Untie
20	其	qi	the	the
21	紛	fen	knots, tangles	tangled knots.
22	和	he	soften	Soften
23	其	qi	the	the
24	光	guang	bright, light	bright light.
25	同	tong	becomes one	Merge with
26	其	qi	the	the
27	塵	chen	dust of the world	dust of the world.
28	湛	zhan	deep, calm	Deep and calm,
29	兮	xi	very
30	似	si	seems like	it seems like
31	或	huo	likely	it really
32	存	cun	exist	exists.
33	吾	wu	I	I
34	不	bu	not	do not
35	知	zhi	know	know
36	誰	shui	whose	which
37	之	zhi	its	its
38	字	zi	philosopher	philospher's school
39	象	xiang	reflects	it reflects:
40	帝	di	Lord of Heaven	the Lord of Heaven
41	之	zhi	it, he, she
42	先	xian	precede	comes first.