Chapter 25 — The Way of Nature

Classical text

有物混成，先天地生。寂兮寥兮，独立而不改，周行而不殆，可以为天下母。吾不知其名，字之曰道，强为之名曰大。大曰逝，逝曰远，远曰反。故道大，天大，地大，人亦大。域中有四大，而人居其一焉。人法地，地法天，天法道，道法自然。

Original rendering

There is something undivided and complete, born before heaven and earth. Silent and spacious, standing alone without alteration, moving everywhere without exhaustion, it may be regarded as the mother of the world. I do not know its name; I style it Tao and, forced to name it, call it great. Great means going forth; going forth means far-reaching; far-reaching means returning. Thus the Tao is great, heaven is great, earth is great, and human beings are also great. Within the realm are four greatnesses, and humanity is one. Human beings model themselves on earth; earth on heaven; heaven on the Tao; the Tao models itself on what is naturally so.

Beginner’s guide

“Natural” here does not mean whatever feels spontaneous to an individual. It means self-arising reality, the way things unfold from their own conditions. Human greatness is affirmed, but it is greatness within relationship and limit, not permission to dominate the other three.

Key ideas

• Names point toward the source without containing it.

• Going outward and returning form one movement.

• Human dignity belongs within ecological and cosmic relationship.

Reading it in modern life

Before imposing a plan on land, a body, or a community, study the conditions already operating there. Design with cycles of use and renewal. Remember that long-distance expansion must eventually address return, maintenance, waste, and consequence.

A question to carry

What larger pattern does my plan belong to, and what would it mean to follow rather than fight that pattern?

Continue reading the complete Tao Te Ching overview, Chapter 24 or continue to Chapter 26.