Classical Chinese/Lesson 4

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道德经 1 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，眾妙之門.

道德经 12 章: 五色令人目盲；五音令人耳聾；五味令人口爽；馳騁畋獵，令人心發狂；難得之貨，令人行妨. 是以聖人為腹不為目，故去彼取此.

— 老子 (Laozi).

Vocabulary & Translation

 * 道可道，非常道. 名可名，非常名: The way that can be spoken of is not the constant way. The name that can be named is not the constant name.
 * 道 (dao4) - The first & third: noun the dao, the way, the path; the second: verb to say
 * 可 (ke3) - can, that can be
 * 非 (fei1) - is not
 * 常 (chang2) - eternal(ly), common, constant(ly)
 * 名 (ming2) - The first & third: noun the name; the second: verb to name
 * 無名天地之始；有名萬物之母: Without a name [it is] the beginning of heaven [and] earth. Having a name [it is] the mother of thousands of things.
 * 無 (wu2) - without
 * 天 (tian1) - heaven, the heavens
 * 地 (di4) - land, earth
 * 之 (zhi1) - possessive marker like English 's
 * 始 (shi3) - start, beginning
 * 有 (you3) - to have
 * 萬 (wan4) - 10,000
 * 物 (wu4) - things,
 * 萬物 (wan4 wu4) - the myriad things
 * 母 (mu3) - mother
 * 故常無，欲以觀其妙: Therefore constantly [be] without desire in order to see its mystery.
 * 故 (gu4) - reason, cause, therefore
 * 欲 (yu4) - desire
 * 以 (yi3) - in order to
 * 觀 (guan1)- to see
 * 其 (qi2)- his, her, its, their
 * 妙 (miao4) - mystery
 * 常有, 欲以觀其徼: [But] constantly have desire in order to see its frontier.
 * 徼 (jiao4) - frontier, border