Returning to the Root
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至虛極，守靜篤。萬物並作，吾以觀其復。夫物芸芸，各復歸其根。歸根曰靜，是謂復命。復命曰常，知常曰明。不知常，萎作凶。知常容，容乃公，公乃王，王乃天，天乃道，道乃久，沒身不殆。
Reach emptiness to the utmost; hold stillness firmly. The ten thousand things come to life together, and by this I watch them return. Now, things grow lush and thick, and each goes back again to its root. Returning to the root is called stillness; this is called coming back to life. Coming back to life is called the constant; knowing the constant is called clarity. Not knowing the constant, you wither, and your actions bring disaster. Knowing the constant, you embrace all; embracing all brings fairness; fairness brings kingliness; kingliness brings Heaven; Heaven brings the Way; the Way brings endurance; and to the end of your life, there is no danger.
Things return to their root; knowing that constant law is “clarity,” and following the chain far enough leads all the way to the Way itself.
Things rise and multiply, but the constant law is in their return to the root, and knowing that law is what the chapter means by clarity.
The chain's middle link is a real fork between recensions. Heshang Gong's text says fairness brings kingliness, and kingliness brings Heaven; Wang Bi's says fairness brings wholeness, and wholeness brings Heaven. One version climbs toward rulership, the other toward completeness: the same shape of argument pointed at two different summits.
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