Line by Line - Verse 32, Line 7

As soon as it proceeds to action, it has a name.
~ James Legge translation, from The Sacred Books of the East, 1891 ~

Once the whole is divided, the parts need names.
~ Gia-fu Feng and Jane English translation, published by Vintage Books, 1989 ~

In the beginning, there were names
~ Derek Lin translation, from Tao Te Ching: Annotated & Explained, published by SkyLight Paths, 2006 ~

Everything that comes from Tao needs a name.
~ Ron Hogan rendition, from Beatrice.com, 2004 ~

Personally, I like the Feng/English phraseology for this line. It makes the point that, if we did not view the self as a separate entity from Tao, there would be no need to make any distinction via the creation of names.

Of course, this essence we identify as the self is part of our biological and emotional make-up. We couldn't run away from it even if we tried!

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