The Tao can be explained, but the words cannot replace the eternal Tao; the name can be said, but it does not correspond to the reality of the Tao. Nothingness, is the principle of Heaven and Earth; being, is the mother of the ten thousand beings of the Universe. When the state of nothingness is obtained the Wonder of the Tao can be observed; when the state of being is obtained the Dominion of the Tao can be observed. The Nothingness and being, come from the same source but they have had different names, the origin of the Nothingness and Being is called Depth. Beyond Depth one will find the door of the Tao that is, all the Wonders of the Universe. ---Lao Tze, Tao Te Ching, Chapter I

"I do not know from whence it comes, but I know that it is before God."
---Lao Tze, Tao Te Ching, Chapter IV

A complete being born before heaven and earth. Is quiet and limitless; unique and immutable; he is doing an untiring and revolving movement; she might have been the Mother of the Universe. I do not know its name, I call it Tao; and for lack of a better word I call it Great. Being Great, it flows like disappearing and having richened far--so far, but it is possible to return. For that reason Tao is great, heaven is great, earth is great and man is also great. Thus man is one of the Four great ones of the Cosmos. Man is govern itself by the law of the Earth; the Earth is govern by the law of Heaven; heaven governs itself by the law of the Tao; the Tao governs itself by the law of Nature. ---Lao Tze, Tao Te Ching, Chapter XXV

Lao Tze, founder of the religious Taoism, lived approximately six centuries before the Christian era. His writing the Tao Te Ching is the main sacred book of Taoism and has been the second most published book in the world after the Bible.

-------------------------Translated by Master Tian, December 2003, during the invitation for the exhibition "ENCOUNTER OF CULTURES " in the city VITORIA-GASTEIZ. First time this Taoist writing was published in this city.