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El Tao te king I
Sesin 24
Versin I*1
1. El Tao que puede ser expresado no es el Tao Absoluto
2. El nombre que puede ser revelado no es el Nombre Absoluto
3. Sin-nombre es el principio del Cielo y la Tierra
4. Con-nombre es la Madre de todas las cosas
5. Quien permanece sin deseos contempla el Misterioso Principio
6. Quien guarda deseos contempla los lmites de las apariencias
7. Ambos son idnticos en su Origen
8. Y distintos sus nombres al hacerse manifiestos
9. Este misterio se llama Infinita Profundidad
10. Profundidad no develada an por el hombre
11. Que es la Puerta de todas las maravillas del Universo
Versin II2
1. El Tao que puede expresarse, no es el Tao verdadero
2. El nombre que puede ser pronunciado no es el nombre verdadero
3. El No-Ser es el origen del Cielo y de la Tierra
4. El Ser es el origen de las cosas
5. El camino del No-Ser lleva a la contemplacin del maravilloso principio
6. El del Ser a la contemplacin de los lmites de la apariencia
7. Originalmente, los dos son uno
8. Pero al manifestarse toman nombres distintos
9. La unidad de ambos es un profundo misterio,
10. Y es tambin la puerta de todas las maravillas del universo
Versin III3
1. El Tao que puede expresarse no es el Tao eterno
2. El Tao que puede nombrarse no es el Tao eterno.
3. Sin nombre es el origen del cielo y la tierra.
4. Con nombre es la Madre de todas las cosas.
5. Los dos Tao son uno.
6. Slo se diferencian en el nombre.
7. Si permaneces sin deseo, podrs observar sus maravillas.
8. Si tienes deseos constantemente, slo vers sus ltimos reflejos.
*
Adems de las versiones al espaol aqu ofrecidas, su puede encontrar decenas de versiones en ingls del
primer captulo del Tao te king en la pgina http://www.bopsecrets.org/gateway/passages/tao-te-ching.htm
1
Lao Tse, Tao te king. Traductor Jos M. Tola, La nave de los locos, Mxico 1978
2
Lao Tse, Tao te king. Traductor David Garca Walker, Editorial Colofn, Mxico 2000
3
Tseng Juo cing, ngel Fernndez de Castro, El Tao te ching de Lao-Tze. El Libro del Tao y la virtud
comentado, Ediciones Tao, Madrid, 2003
Lao Tse, Tao te king. Traductor Gastn Soublette, Editorial Cuatro Vientos, Santiago de Chile, 1990
Lao Tse, Tao Te King. Traductor John C.H. Wu, Editorial Edaf, Madrid, 1993
6
Lao-tzu, Tao Te Ching. Traductor J. Legge, (Sacred Books of the East, Vol 39) [1891]
5
8. Under these two aspects, it is really the same; but as development takes place,
9. it receives the different names.
10. Together we call them the Mystery.
11. Where the Mystery is the deepest is the gate of all that is subtle and wonderful.
Versin VII7
1. The TAO, or Principle of Nature, may be discussed [by all]; it is not the popular or
common Tao.
2. Its Name may be named [i.e., the TAO may receive a designation, though of itself it has
none]; but it is not an ordinary name, [or name in the usual sense of the word, for it is a
presentment or of the Infinite].
3. Its nameless period was that which preceded the birth of the Universe,
4. In being spoken of by name, it is as the Progenitrix of All Things.
5. It is therefore in habitual passionlessness [the Quiescent phase of TAO] that its mystery
may be scanned; and in habitual desire [the Active phase of TAO] that its developments
may be perceived.
6. These two conditions, the Active and the Quiescent, alike proceed [from TAO]; it is
only in name that they differ. Both may be called profundities; and the depth of
profundity is the gate of every mystery.
Versin VIII8
God (the great everlasting infinite First Cause from whom all things in heaven and earth
proceed) can neither be defined nor named.
For the God which can be defined or named is but the Creator, the Great Mother of all those
things of which our senses have cognisance.
Now he who would gain a knowledge of the nature and attributes of the nameless and
undefinable God, must first set himself free from all earthly desires, for unless he can do
this, he will be unable to penetrate the material veil which interposes between him and
those spiritual conditions into which he would obtain an insight.
Yet the spiritual and the material, though known to us under different names, are similar in
origin, and issue from the same source, and the same obscurity belongs to both, for deep
indeed is the darkness which enshrouds the portals through which we have to pass, in order
to gain a knowledge of these mysteries.
Versin IX9
1. If Tao can be Taoed, its not Tao.
2. If its name can be named, its not its name.
3. Has no name: precedes heaven and earth;
4. Has a name: mother of ten thousand things.
5. For it is
6. Always dispassionate: see its inwardness;
7. Always passionate: see its outwardness.
8. The names are different but the source the same.
9. Call the sameness mystery:
10. Mystery of mystery, the door to inwardness.
7