EXEGESIS

Daodejing 42·Classical Chinese

Dao gives birth to one

The wording is a cosmogony: Dao, one, two, three, the ten thousand things. Forty-two is the chapter’s seat in the received book, not a number-word in the sentence. The numbers that are in the sentence are , , , and .

Keyed words are underlined. Touch one to open the form.

Daodejing 42, opening (Wang Bi chapter)