Daodejing - Chapter One

The YouTube video above "Trekking Qingyuan Mountain in Quanzhou and saw a magical landscape" shows the surroundings of the stone sculpture of Laozi.

The stone sculpture of Laozi, located north of Quanzhou at the foot of Mount Qingyuan.  Mount Qingyuan (Chinese: 清源山) is a mountain and national park in Fujian Province, located in the eastern region of China, close to the Taiwan Strait.  The statue of Laozi is famed as being the largest stone carving of him made during the Song Dynasty (960 to 1279). It measures 8.01m in length, 6.85m in width, and 5.63m in height, occupying an area of 55 square metres.

Laozi or old master is traditionally believed to be the author of Daodejing (道德經).  The following is the Chinese and English translation of the Chapter one of Daodejing.  Daodejing has 81 chapters. You can find the Chinese and English translation (James Legge version) in ctext.org: https://ctext.org/dao-de-jing 

道德經  - 第一章

道可道，非常道。

名可名，非常名。

無名天地之始；有名萬物之母。

故常無欲，以觀其妙；常有欲，以觀其徼。

此兩者，同出而異名，同謂之玄。 

玄之又玄，衆妙之門。

Daodejing - Chapter One

The Dao that can be told, is not the eternal Dao.

The name that can be named, is not the eternal name.

The unnameable is the eternally real.  

Naming is the origin of all particular things.

Free from desire, you realize the mystery; caught in desire, you see only the manifestations.

Yet mystery and manifestations, arise from the same source. 

This source is called darkness. 

Darkness within darkness, the gateway to all understanding.

Some questions

• Do you agree with the first sentence - "The Dao that can be told, is not the eternal Dao."?
• Does that idea agree with Karl Jaspers' idea of philosophy?
• What is the significance of this sentence - "The name that can be named, is not the eternal name."?
• Is it true that "The unnameable is the eternally real." and  "Naming is the origin of all particular things."?
• Is it true that "Free from desire, you realize the mystery; caught in desire, you see only the manifestations."?

References

1. The above translation is based on the translation by poet, translator, scholar and anthologist, Stephen Mitchell.  His reading of the work can be found on the following YouTube video: Tao Te Ching, The Book Of The Way by Lao Tzu -  https://youtu.be/t109UFLSQhk
2. You can find the complete 81 chapters of Daodejing in Chinese and English (James Legge version) in the ctext.org website: https://ctext.org/dao-de-jing