chapter 4: Aspects of the Way

The Way is like /dev/null —
though you use it, it can never be filled.
Such an abyss —
it is like the beginning of all programs.

The Way manages hazardous conditions,
untangles spaghetti code,
harmonizes the user interface,
integrates the applications.

Cavernously deep,
it seems to go on forever.
I do not know whose child it is;
it seems to be the ancestor of the gods.

glossary: De –> Virtue

Translating this second fundamental term to “Virtue” has worse problems with connotations than “Dao” does, but many translations that avoid translating “Dao” make free use of this term.

Again, the match is still good for my purposes, especially if you consider the full range of definitions of “virtue”, which include peculiar efficacy, power and strength, and generic excellence, in addition to the conventional connotation of moral excellence (and sexual chastity in particular, which is irrelevant here).

Since all these uses (including the last) are somewhat dated, this also helps contribute an archaic gloss to the overall text. I have similarly capitalized “Virtue” when used in the sense of the “higher virtue” of the title.