Laozi
有物混成，先天地生。 寂兮寥兮，獨立不改， 周行而不殆，可以為天下母。 吾不知其名，字之曰道， 強為之名曰大。大曰逝， 逝曰遠，遠曰反。 故道大，天大，地大，王亦大。 域中有四大，而王居其一焉。 人法地，地法天，天法道，道法自然。
James Legge
There was something undefined and complete, coming into existence before Heaven and Earth. How still it was and formless, standing alone, and undergoing no change, reaching everywhere and in no danger (of being exhausted)! It may be regarded as the Mother of all things.
I do not know its name, and I give it the designation of the Tao (the Way or Course). Making an effort (further) to give it a name I call it The Great.
Great, it passes on (in constant flow). Passing on, it becomes remote. Having become remote, it returns. Therefore the Tao is great; Heaven is great; Earth is great; and the (sage) king is also great. In the universe there are four that are great, and the (sage) king is one of them.
Man takes his law from the Earth; the Earth takes its law from Heaven; Heaven takes its law from the Tao. The law of the Tao is its being what it is.
Victor H. Mair
There was something featureless yet complete, born before heaven and earth; Silent - amorphous - it stood alone and unchanging. We may regard it as the mother of heaven and earth. Not knowing its name, I style it the “Way.” If forced to give it a name, I would call it “great.” Being great implies flowing ever onward, Flowing ever onward implies far-reaching, Far-reaching implies reversal. The Way is great, Heaven is great, Earth is great, The king, too, is great. Within the realm there are four greats, and the king is one among them. Man patterns himself on earth, Earth patterns itself on heaven, Heaven patterns itself on the Way, The Way patterns itself on nature.
C. Spurgeon Medhurst
There was a completed, amorphous something before the Heaven-Earth was born. [^1] Tranquil! Boundless! Abiding alone and changing not! Extending everywhere without risk. It may be styled ‘the world-mother.’ [^2]
I do not know its name, but characterize it—the Tao. Arbitrarily forcing a name upon it I call it the Great. Great, it may be said to be transitory. Transitory, it becomes remote. Remote, it returns. [^3]
The Tao, then, is great; Heaven is great; Earth is great; a king is also great. [^4] In space there are four that are great, and the king dwells there as one of them.
Man’s standard is the earth. Earth’s standard is the Heaven. Heaven’s standard is the Tao. The Tao’s standard is spontaneity. [^5]
SPONTANEITY, or action which is natural, and effortless,
[paragraph continues] Lao-tzu’s symbol for perfection, has a modern apostle in that master of art critics, John Ruskin. This is what he writes in “Sesame and Lilies”:
“All good work is essentially done that way—without hesitation, without difficulty, without boasting; and in the doers of the best there is an inner and involuntary power which approximates literally to the instinct of an animal. Nay, I am certain that in the most perfect human artists reason does not supersede instinct, but is added to an instinct as much more divine than that of the lower animals as the human body is more beautiful than theirs.” (III ed. p. 149.)
[^1] The Tao is neither clear nor misty, high nor low; neither here nor there, good nor evil; as without shape, yet as having shape, and none know whence It came. Yet It has always existed, and the Heaven-Earth sprang from it.—Su-cheh.
[^2] Lit. “The Mother-of-all-under-heaven.”—Kundalini.
[^3] From Non-existence the Tao comes into Existence, and returns whence It appeared. In other words Manvantara succeeds Pralaya, and Pralaya follows Manvantara throughout Eternity.
[^4] I. Esdras iv, 1-12.
[^5] The monarch is only great as he is worthy of being the visible representative of the Invisible Powers, The Four Great Ones (the Lords of Karma). This courtly phraseology conveys a veiled warning to the reigning sovereign that there were Those higher than he. The warning is repeated and emphasized in less disguised language in the succeeding chapter.
”If man conform to the (requirements of) the earth he obtains all that he needs; if the earth conform to (the laws of) heaven it becomes fertile; if heaven conform to the Tao it becomes able to fulfill Its functions; if the Tao conform to Spontaneity It realizes Itself. Then that which should be square becomes square, and that which should be round becomes round.”—Wang-pi.
Ursula K. Le Guin
There is something that contains everything. Before heaven and earth it is. Oh, it is still, unbodied, all on its own, unchanging.
all-pervading, ever-moving. So it can act as the mother of all things. Not knowing its real name, we only call it the Way.
If it must be named, let its name be Great. Greatness means going on, going on means going far, and going far means turning back.
So they say: “The Way is great, heaven is great, earth is great, and humankind is great; four greatnesses in the world, and humanity is one of them.”
People follow earth, earth follows heaven, heaven follows the Way, the Way follows what is.
Note UKLG: I’d like to call the “something” of the first line a lump — an unshaped, undifferentiated lump, chaos, before the Word, before Form, before Change. Inside it is time, space, everything; in the womb of the Way. The last words of the chapter, tzu jan, I render as “what is.” I was tempted to say, “The Way follows itself,” because the Way is the way things are; but that would reduce the significance of the words. They remind us not to see the Way as a sovereignty or a domination, all creative, all yang. The Way itself is a follower. Though it is before everything, it follows what is.