Look for it — you cannot see it.
We call it the Invisible.
Listen for it — you cannot hear it.
We call it the Inaudible.
Reach for it — you cannot grasp it.
We call it the Subtle.

These three
cannot be fully described.
So we merge them into one —
The Tao.

Its upper part is not bright.
Its lower part is not dark.
It moves endlessly,
yet cannot be named.
It returns to nothing.

This is the shape of what has no shape,
the image of what cannot be seen —
fleeting, formless, beyond understanding.

Face it, you cannot see the front.
Follow it, you cannot see the back.

Yet, by holding to the Tao of old,
we can guide the present.
To know the beginning
is to hold the thread of the Way.