Line by Line - Verse 51, Line 9

nourishes them,
~ James Legge translation, from The Sacred Books of the East, 1891 ~

By Virtue they are nourished,
~ Gia-fu Feng and Jane English translation, published by Vintage Books, 1989 ~

Virtue raises them
~ Derek Lin translation, from Tao Te Ching: Annotated & Explained, published by SkyLight Paths, 2006 ~

and its power watches out for them,
~ Ron Hogan rendition, from Beatrice.com, 2004 ~

It is this mysterious process that undergirds anything and everything that exists. Without it, there would be nothing beyond nothing.

So, as I see it, it is the mysterious process -- what some call Tao -- that nurtures existence into being.

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