Tao Is Always Nameless
Tao Te Ching: Chapter 32
The problematic nature of names is discussed in the very first chapter of the Tao Te Ching. Here in Chapter 32, Laozi elaborates on this onomastic conundrum. How does one define something that by its very nature eludes definition?
The Translation
Tao is always nameless.
Although it is simple and small,
There is none under Heaven who can rule over it.
If a prince or king could contain it,
Ten Thousand Things would naturally submit.
Heaven and Earth join together
To cause sweet dew to descend.
There is none among the People who commands this,
But it happens naturally without partiality.
In the beginning was the formulation of names,
And names began to multiply.
But one should also know when to stop.
Knowing when to stop, one cannot be in danger.
By analogy, Tao's place under Heaven
Is like streams in the valley flowing into the river and the sea. The Original
Wang Bi’s original prose:
道常無名。樸雖小，天下莫能臣也。侯王若能守之，萬物將自賓。天地相合，以降甘露，民莫之令而自均。始制有名，名亦既有，夫亦將知止，知止所以不殆。譬道之在天下，猶川谷之於江海。
Our poetic reformatting:
道常無名。 樸雖小， 天下莫能臣也。 侯王若能守之， 萬物將自賓。 天地相合， 以降甘露， 民莫之令 而自均。 始制有名， 名亦既有， 夫亦將知止， 知止所以不殆。 譬道之在天下， 猶川谷之於江海。
Terminology
無名 (wúmíng): translated here (and in Chapter 1) as “nameless,” it can also mean “without name” or “no name.”
甘露 (gānlù): here translated as “sweet dew,” it can also mean “honeydew.”
止 (zhǐ): one of several words in the Tao Te Ching meaning “stop,” “end,” “cease.” Previously, we have seen 已 (yǐ) in Chapter 9 and Chapter 30.
The image of “the valley” (谷, gǔ) first appeared in Chapter 6.
Notes
Derek Lin says the phrase “sweet dew” is “a metaphor for good fortune. Raining sweet dew means an abundance of good fortune. When we hold on to the Tao, everything seems to fall into place. Plans progress smoothly, people come to our aid, and things somehow work out in our favor more often than not. It is as if Heaven and Earth are actively helping us by granting us extra luck—thus the rain of sweet dew.”
On the importance of “stopping,” Ursula K. Le Guin notes: “You have to make order, you have to make distinctions, but you also have to know when to stop before you’ve lost the whole in the multiplicity of parts.”
Derek Lin again: “‘Names’ in this context is symbolic of complexity. The more complicated the world is, the more names we need to label everything. Complexity leads to chaos and conflicts. Stopping the increase of names means returning to the simplicity of the Tao.”