Line by Line - Verse 14, Lines 4-5

With these three qualities, it cannot be made the subject of description; and hence we blend them together and obtain The One.
~ James Legge translation, from The Sacred Books of the East, 1891 ~

These three are indefinable; Therefore they are joined in one.
~ Gia-fu Feng and Jane English translation, published by Vintage Books, 1989 ~

These three cannot be completely unraveled So they are combined into one
~ Derek Lin translation, from Tao Te Ching: Annotated & Explained, published by SkyLight Paths, 2006 ~

But it's there.
~ Ron Hogan rendition, from Beatrice.com, 2004 ~

As Derek Lin sees it,

The Tao cannot be seen, heard, or touched because it is metaphysical in nature. Because it has no physical manifestations, it cannot be detected by any of our physical senses.

Of course, the opposite viewpoint is that, if everything IS a manifestation of Tao, then we can see, hear and touch it with our physical senses.

For me, I accept the paradox that both viewpoints are true!

To view the Index page for this series to see what you may have missed or would like to read again, go here.