1 The Way that can be trodden is not the enduring and unchanging Way. The name that can be named is not the enduring and unchanging name.

2 (Conceived of as) having no name, God is the Originator of heaven and earth; (conceived of as) having names, He is the Sustainer of all things. To Him belong the most beautiful names.

3.

Always without desire we must be found,

If His deep mystery we would sound;

But if desire always within us be,

His outer fringe is all that we shall see.

4 Under these two aspects, it is really the same; but as development takes place, it receives the different names. Together we call them the Mystery. Where the Mystery is the deepest is the gate of all that is subtle and wonderful.