Return and Use
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反者道之動，弱者道之用。天下萬物生於有，有生於無。
Turning back is the Way’s motion; softness is the Way’s use. The ten thousand things under heaven are born from being; being is born from non-being.
Two of Laozi's most compressed lines: how the Way moves (by reversing), and how it works (by yielding).
Everything that moves eventually reverses course, and the Way's real strength shows itself as softness. Heshang Gong reads it as root over branch: turning back to the root is how the Way moves, and softness is what it always uses, which is why it lasts. The last line answers chapter 1's opening riddle about the nameless and the named, working backward one more step to what comes before either.
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