Even the clever men with their spirit-like

And most exquisite intelligence,

While undergo their self-improvement

Thru what is the dead and alive, kind

And evil, square and round, safe and peril

Do not take into account their origins.

But nevertheless they all, from of old,

Due to Heaven and Earth preserve

Their appropriate subsistence.

Vast as is the space included within

The four cardinal points, it all and all

That it contains lies within this

Twofold root of the universe;

Small as is an autumn hair --

It is indebted to this for completion

Of its primordial formation.

All things beneath the heavens

Now rising now descending,

Now acting now staying in rest --

Ever continuing the same thru this.

Now it seems to be lost in obscurity,

But it actually continues; now it seems

To glide away and have no form,

But it is still vital and spirit-like,

As it has always been so.

The cold of Yin and the heat of Yang,

As well as the four seasons' revolving

And moving by it, each in its due order.

All things are nourished by it, even

Without their knowing. . . This is

What's called the Heaven-and-Earth's root,

By which we may obtain a proper view

Of what we mean by Heaven's will

And our appreciation of its immense power.