The Tao Teh King

3. Always without desire we must be found,
If its deep mystery we would sound;
But if desire always within us be,
Its outer fringe is all that we shall see.
4. Under these two aspects, it is really the same; but as development takes place, it receives the different names. Together we call them the Mystery. Where the Mystery is the deepest is the gate of all that is subtle and wonderful.
[Tao Te Ching, The Tao Teh King or The Tao And Its Characteristics - Lao-Tse or Laozi - 600 BCD - translated by James Legge]

Porträt des Philosophen Laozi

Abreibung von einer Steingravierung aus der Song-Zeit, nach einem verschollenen Bild des Tang-Malers Wu Tao Zi. Mit einer Aufschrift, datiert 1225. – Maße 172 x 87 cm. Die Steinplatte befindet sich in einem Tempel in Suzhou, Provinz Jiangsu.