There was Something undefined and yet complete in itself,
Born before Heaven-and-Earth.
Silent and boundless,
Standing along without change,
Yet pervading all without fail,
It may be regarded as the Mother of the world.
I do not know its name;
I style it “Tao”;
And, in the absences of a better word, call it “The Great.”
To be great is to go on,
To go on is to be far,
To be far is to return.
Hence, “Tao is great,
Heaven is great,
Earth is great,
King is great.”
Thus, the king is one of the great four in the Universe.
Man follows the ways of Earth.
The Earth follows the ways of Heaven,
Heaven follows the ways of Tao,
Tao follows its own ways.