Tao Te Ching Chapter 25

 

Before the Heaven and Earth existed

There was something nebulous:

Silent, isolated,

Standing alone, changing not,

Eternally revolving without fail,

Worthy to be the Mother of All Things.

I do not know its name

And address it as Tao.

If forced to give it a name, I shall call it 'Great.'

Being great implies reaching out in space,

Reaching out in space implies far-reaching,

Far-reaching implies reversion to the original point.

Therefore:

Tao is Great,

The Heaven is great,

The Earth is great,

The King is also great.

There are the Great Four in the universe,

And the King is one of them.

 

Man models himself after the Earth;

The Earth models itself after Heaven;

The Heaven models itself after Tao;

Tao models itself after nature.