第十一章 Dao De Jing · Chapter 11
The wheel, the pot and the room are useful because of their empty space.
Text
-
三十辐共一毂，
Thirty spokes join at the axis,
-
当其无，
The empty space in between them,
-
有车之用。
Makes the cart practical.
-
埏埴以为器，
Mold some clay to make a pot,
-
当其无，
Its emptiness within,
-
有器之用。
Makes the pot usable.
-
凿户牖以为室，
Cut a door and windows to create a room,
-
当其无，有室之用。
Its emptiness within, makes the room useful.
-
故有之以为利，
Therefore, presence brings benefits,
-
无之以为用。
Absence brings utility.
Words in this chapter
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 三十 | sān shí | thirty |
| 辐 | fú | spokes |
| 共 | gòng | to share, to join at |
| 一 | yī | one, a single |
| 毂 | gǔ | wheel hub |
| 当 | dāng | right at, where |
| 其 | qí | its, his, their |
| 无 | wú | absence, what is not |
| 有 | yǒu | to have, to possess |
| 车 | chē | cart |
| 之 | zhī | of, 's (linking particle) |
| 用 | yòng | to use |
| 埏 | shān | to knead (clay) |
| 埴 | zhí | clay |
| 以 | yǐ | in order to |
| 为 | wéi | to act, to do, to make |
| 器 | qì | vessel, tool, instrument |
| 凿 | záo | to chisel out |
| 户 | hù | door |
| 牖 | yǒu | window |
| 室 | shì | room |
| 故 | gù | therefore |
| 有 | yǒu | presence, what is |
| 之 | zhī | it, them (object) |
| 以 | yǐ | to take (as) |
| 为 | wéi | to be, to count as |
| 利 | lì | to benefit; profit |
Compare: James Legge (1891)
The thirty spokes unite in the one nave; but it is on the empty space (for the axle), that the use of the wheel depends. Clay is fashioned into vessels; but it is on their empty hollowness, that their use depends. The door and windows are cut out (from the walls) to form an apartment; but it is on the empty space (within), that its use depends. Therefore, what has a (positive) existence serves for profitable adaptation, and what has not that for (actual) usefulness.
Public domain. Source: Wikisource.
Meaning of chapter 11
Chapter 11 shows, with three everyday objects, that what is absent is what makes a thing useful. Thirty spokes meet at one hub, and it is the empty center that lets the cart be used. Clay is shaped into a pot, and the space inside is what holds. Doors and windows are cut into walls, and the empty room is what one lives in.
The final pair states the principle: 有 (presence) brings benefit, 无 (absence) brings use. The walls, the clay and the wheel are needed; the chapter does not say that only emptiness matters. It says the two work together, and that the part people overlook is the part that does the work.
The hub is the hole at the center through which the axle passes. Wang Bi says that the hub can hold thirty spokes together precisely because it is empty. The pairing of presence and absence comes from chapter 2 and returns in chapter 40, where the myriad things are born from presence, and presence from absence.