有生於無
"Being is born from non-being."
Several passages synthesized from the 道德經 by 老子.
Chapter 1
The way that can be spoken is not the way. The name that can be given is not the name. What has no name is the origin of Heaven and Earth. What has a name is the mother of ten thousand things. Free from desire, you see the mystery. Caught in desire, you see only the surface. These two — the mystery and the surface — arise together but differ in name. Together they are called darkness. Darkness within darkness. The gate to all understanding.
Chapter 4
The way is empty, but use it and it is not exhausted. It is deep — the ancestor of all things. It blunts what is sharp. It unties what is tangled. It softens the glare. It settles the dust. It is hidden, but it is always present. I do not know whose child it is. It appears to have been here before God.
Chapter 6
The valley spirit does not die. It is called the mysterious feminine. The gateway of the mysterious feminine is called the root of Heaven and Earth. It is thin, as if it barely exists. Use it — it is never used up.
Chapter 11
Thirty spokes share one hub. It is the emptiness at the centre that makes the wheel work. Shape clay into a vessel. It is the space inside that makes the vessel useful. Cut doors and windows in a room. It is the openings that make the room livable. Benefit comes from what is there. Usefulness comes from what is not there.
Chapter 25
There was something formless and complete before Heaven and Earth were born. It is silent. It is vast. It stands alone and does not change. It moves everywhere and is not endangered. It may be the mother of all things. I do not know its name. I call it the way. Forced to give it a name, I call it great. Great means going. Going means far. Far means returning. The way is great. Heaven is great. Earth is great. The human being is also great. There are four great things in the universe, and the human being is one of them. The human being follows Earth. Earth follows Heaven. Heaven follows the way. The way follows its own nature.
Chapter 40
All things in the world are born from what is. What is, is born from what is not.