Giving it a Name, Wondrous and Complete, Heaven and Earth, Imaging the Mysterious, Being What It Is, Law of Tao, Greatness, Undefiled, Describing the Mysterious, Inherent Nature, 象元
"There was something undefined and complete, coming into existence before
Heaven and Earth.
How still it was and formless, standing alone, and undergoing no change,
reaching everywhere and in no danger of being exhausted!
It may be regarded as the Mother of all things.
I do not know its name, and I give it the designation of the Tao.
Making an effort to give it a name, I call it The Great.
Great, it passes on in constant flow.
Passing on, it becomes remote.
Having become remote, it returns.
Therefore the Tao is great, Heaven is great, Earth is great, and the sage king
is also great.
In the universe there are four that are great, and the sage king is one of them.
Man takes his law from the Earth.
Earth takes its law from Heaven.
Heaven takes its law from the Tao.
The law of the Tao is its being what it is."
- Translated by James Legge, 1891,
Chapter 25
"There is a Being wondrous and complete. Before heaven and earth, it was.
How
calm it is! How spiritual!
Alone it standeth, and it changeth not; around it moveth, and it suffereth not;
yet therefore can it be the world's mother.
Its name I know not, but its nature I call Reason.
Constrained to give a name, I call it the great.
The great I call the departing, and the departing I call the beyond.
The beyond I call home.
The saying goes: "Reason is great, heaven is great, earth is great, and royalty
also is great.
There are four things in the world that are great, and royalty is one of them.
Man's standard is the earth.
The earth's standard is heaven.
Heaven's standard is Reason.
Reason's standard is intrinsic."
- Translated by
Daisetsu Teitaro Suzuki and
Paul Carus, 1913, Chapter 25
By Hu Xuzehi
Annotated translation by Victor Mair 
By Ha Poong Kim
By Hans-Georg Moeller 
By Roger T. Ames and David T. Hall
By Wes Burgess
By Arthur Waley
"There was Something formed from chaos, which came into being before Heaven
and Earth.
Silent and boundless it stands alone, and never changes.
It pervades every place, and incurs no danger of being impaired.
It may be called the Mother of the Universe.
I know not its name; but its designation is Tao.
If forced to call it something, I will call it great.
Being great, it moves ever onward; and thus I say that it is remote.
Being remote, I say that it returns.
Therefore Tao is great; Heaven is great; Earth is great; and the King also is
great.
In the Universe there are four things that are great, and the King is one of
them.
Man regulates himself by the Earth; Earth regulates itself by Heaven.
Heaven regulates itself by Tao; and Tao regulates itself by its own inherent
nature—or, spontaneously."
- Translated by
Frederic H. Balfour, 1884, Chapter 25
"Something mysteriously formed,
Born before heaven and Earth.
In the silence and the void,
Standing alone and unchanging,
Ever present and in motion.
Perhaps it is the mother of ten thousand things.
I do not know its name
Call it Tao.
For lack of a better word, I call it great.
Being great, it flows
I flows far away.
Having gone far, it returns.
Therefore,
"Tao is great;
Heaven is great;
Earth is great;
The king is also great."
These are the four great powers of the universe,
And the king is one of them.
Man
follows Earth.
Earth follows heaven.
Heaven follows the Tao.
Tao follows what is natural."
- Translated by
Gia-Fu Feng and Jane
English, 1989, Chapter 25
Translated by Eva Wong 
Translated by Philip Ivahoe
By James Miller
Translated by Stephen Bokencamp
By Alexander and Annellen Simpkins
Translated by Thomas Cleary
By Livia Kohn
"Before
the Heaven and Earth existed
There was something nebulous:
Silent, isolated,
Standing alone, changing not,
Eternally revolving without fail,
Worthy to be the Mother of All Things.
I do not know its name
And address it as Tao.
If forced to give it a name, I shall call it "Great."
Being great implies reaching out in space,
Reaching out in space implies far-reaching,
Far-reaching implies reversion to the original point.
Therefore:
Tao is Great,
The Heaven is great,
The Earth is great,
The King is also great.
There are the Great Four in the universe,
And the King is one of them.
Man
models himself after the Earth;
The Earth models itself after Heaven;
The Heaven models itself after Tao;
Tao models itself after nature."
- Translated by
Lin Yutang,
1955, Chapter 25
Tao Te Ching
Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching
Translated by Livia Kohn
Dao De Jing: The Book of the Way
"Before the Earth or Sky Began ...
Something there is, whose veiled creation was
Before the earth or sky began to be;
So silent, so aloof and so alone,
It changes not, nor fails, but touches all:
Conceive it as the mother of the world.
I do not know its name:
A name for it is "Way";
Pressed for designation,
I call it Great.
Great means outgoing,
Outgoing, far-reaching,
Far-reaching, return.
The Way is great,
The sky is great,
The earth is great,
The king also is great.
Within the realm
These four are great;
The king but stands
For one of them.
Man conforms to the earth;
The earth conforms to the sky;
The sky conforms to the Way;
The Way conforms to its own nature."
- Translated by
Raymond Blackney, 1955, Chapter 25
By Alexander Simkins. 
By Derek Lin.
By Ming-Dao Deng.
By Benjamin Hoff.
By Ming-Dao Deng.
Translated by Thomas Cleary.
"There was something formless yet complete,
That existed before heaven and earth;
Without sound, without substance,
Dependent on nothing, unchanging,
All pervading, unfailing.
One may think of it as the mother of all things under heaven.
Its true name we do not know;
Were I forced to say to what class of things it belongs
I should call it Great (ta)
Now ta also means passing on,
And passing on means going Far Away,
And going far away means returning.
Thus just as Tao has “this greatness” and as earth has it and as heaven has it,
So may the ruler also have it.
Thus “within the realm there are four portions of greatness”,
And one belongs to the king.
The ways of men are conditioned by those of earth.
The ways of earth, by those of heaven.
The ways of heaven by those of Tao, and the ways of Tao by the Self-so."
- Translated by
Arthur Waley, 1934, Chapter 25
Translation and elucidation by Hua Ching Ni
Translated by Brian Walker
Translated by Arthur Waley
Translated by Lionel and and Herbert Giles
By Eva Wong
"Before Heaven and Earth existed there was in Nature a primordial substance.
It was serene, it was fathomless.
It was self-existent, it was homogeneous.
It was omnipresent, nor suffered any limitation.
It is to be regarded as the universal mother.
I do not know its name, but I call it Tao.
If forced to qualify it, I call it the boundless.
Being boundless, I call it the inconceivable.
Being inscrutable, I call it the inaccessible.
Being inaccessible, I call it the omnipresent.
Tao is supreme, Heaven is supreme, Earth is supreme, the King is supreme.
There are in the universe four kinds of supremacy, and their rulership is one.
Man is ruled by the Earth, the Earth is ruled by Heaven, Heaven is ruled by Tao, and Tao is ruled by itself."
- Translated by
Walter Gorn-Old, 1904, Chapter 25
Walking the Way: 81 Zen Encounters with the Tao Te Ching
The Tao of Zen
Tao Te Ching: Zen Teachings on the Taoist Classic
Buddhism and Taoism Face to Face: Scripture, Ritual, and Iconographic Exchange in Medieval China
"There was a Being already perfect before the existence of Heaven and Earth.
It is calm! It is formless!
It stands alone and changes not!
Reaching everywhere and inexhaustible,
It may be regarded as Mother of the Universe.
I do not know its name.
For a title we call it the Tao.
If forced to give it a name we call it the Great.
Great, we call it the Flowing,
Flowing we call it distant,
Distant, we call it Coming again.
Therefore the Tao is Great, Heaven is Great,
The Earth is Great, the Ruler is also Great.
In the Universe four are Great,
And the Ruler is one of them.
Man finds his law in the Earth.
The Earth finds its law in Heaven,
Heaven finds its law in the Tao,
The Tao finds its law in the affirmation of Self."
- Translated by
Isabella Mears, 1916, Chapter 25
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