Line by Line - Verse 25, Line 11

Passing on, it becomes remote.
~ James Legge translation, from The Sacred Books of the East, 1891 ~

It flows far away.
~ Gia-fu Feng and Jane English translation, published by Vintage Books, 1989 ~

Passing means receding
~ Derek Lin translation, from Tao Te Ching: Annotated & Explained, published by SkyLight Paths, 2006 ~

Something that lasts goes a long way.
~ Ron Hogan rendition, from Beatrice.com, 2004 ~

The Amazon River of South America begins its life as water coming off a cliff "in Arequipa at the Nevado Mismi." It originates as nothing more than a shallow pool of water that begins a long journey of approximately 4,000 miles until it empties into the Atlantic Ocean.

If you stood at its point of origin and beheld this small brook, who could imagine that at points farther down the line this trickle of water would turn into as much of a river nearly 30 miles wide?

Tao is much the same way. Being sprung from nonbeing and look at how far it has gone. What started out as gases and later one-cell organisms has blossomed into the world we know and love.

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