Verse 1

The Tao that can be spoken of is not the eternal Tao.
The name that can be named is not the eternal name.

The nameless is the beginning of heaven and earth.
The name is the mother of the ten thousand things.

Send your desires away and you will see the mystery.
Be filled with desire and you will see only the manifestation.

As these two come forth they differ in name.
Yet at their source they are the same.
This source is called a mystery.  

Verse 2

All under heaven see beauty as beauty only because they also see ugliness.
All announce that good is good only because they also denounce what is bad.
Therefore, something and nothing give birth to one another.

Difficult and easy complete one another.
Long and short fashion one another.
High and low arise from one another.
Notes and tones harmonise with one another.
Front and back follow one another.
Thus, the True Person acts without striving and teaches without words.

Deny nothing to the ten thousand things.
Nourish them without claiming authority,
Benefit them without demanding gratitude,
Do the work, then move on.
And, the fruits of your labour will last forever.

Verse 3

Not exalting the talented prevents rivalry.
Not valuing goods that are hard to obtain prevents stealing.
Not displaying desirable things prevents confusion of the heart.

Therefore, the True Person governs by emptying the heart of desire
and filling the belly with food, weakening ambitions and strengthening bones.

If the people are simple and free from desire, then the clever ones never dare to interfere.
Practise action without striving and all will be in order.      

Verse 4

The Tao is like an empty bowl,
yet it may be used without ever needing to be filled.
It is the deep and unfathomable source of the ten thousand things.

Blunt the sharpness.
Untie the knot.
Soften the glare.
Settle with the dust.

It is hidden deep yet ever present.
I do not know whose child it is.
It existed before the common ancestor.