Chapter 42 · One, Two, Three, and All Things

Tao Te Ching (Legge, 1891) · chapter title added by Learn the Dao

The Tao produced One; One produced Two; Two produced Three; Three produced All things. All things leave behind them the Obscurity (out of which they have come), and go forward to embrace the Brightness (into which they have emerged), while they are harmonised by the Breath of Vacancy. What men dislike is to be orphans, to have little virtue, to be as carriages without naves; and yet these are the designations which kings and princes use for themselves. So it is that some things are increased by being diminished, and others are diminished by being increased. What other men (thus) teach, I also teach. The violent and strong do not die their natural death. I will make this the basis of my teaching.

Losing and Gaining

Dao De Kooi — an original rendering by David Kooi

The Dao makes one. One makes two. Two makes three. Three makes the whole catalog. Everything carries a dark side on its back and an open side to the sun, and the mix of the two is what keeps it humming. People hate being called orphan or nobody, yet the ones in charge use those names for themselves - because sometimes you gain by losing and lose by grabbing. What others teach, I'll teach too: the people who live by force don't tend to die quietly. That's the one I keep coming back to.

Learn the Dao is a quiet practice for learning the thing that can’t be known — committing the Tao Te Ching to memory, one line at a time.

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The Tao — missed produced One

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