The empty space · A wheel, a vessel and a room · Elias Thorn
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The empty space · A wheel, a vessel and a room

Daodejing · complete chapter 11

11 Thirty spokes meet in a single hub; its empty space makes the cart usable. Clay is kneaded to make a vessel; its empty space makes the vessel usable. Doors and windows are cut to make a room; its empty space makes the room usable. Thus what is present provides a benefit; what is absent makes use possible.

Reading notes

A hub, a vessel, and a room serve their purposes through what has been left open in them. The chapter considers emptiness within a formed object: spokes, clay, walls, and openings remain necessary.

The contrast between presence and absence does not require choosing only one. Usefulness arises through their combination. Applying this observation to life or thought is a further interpretation; the chapter argues through concrete objects.

English rendering of the Russian working translation, with the same passage boundaries and uncertainties. Complete chapter 11 of the received Daodejing; adjoining chapters are not included. The Russian text was prepared from Chinese and compared with James Legge (1891). 無 is rendered through “empty space” and “what is absent”; 利 and 用 are distinguished as “benefit” and “use.” This is not a reconstruction of the earliest manuscript. The card title is editorial.

Open source ↗ (https://www.gutenberg.org/files/216/216-h/216-h.htm)

Chinese text · chapter 11 (https://ctext.org/dao-de-jing/11)