有yǒu
means “have” or “exist”
we said that
之zhī means “of”
but makes the sentence go backwards
天tiān 地dì 之zhī 始shǐ
sky – earth – of – start
start – of – sky – earth
the beginning of the sky and the earth
so this line is saying:
“namelessness” (無名wúmíng)
is the beginning of
the sky and the earth
means there are no distinctions
there is nothing but a oneness
nothing that you can name
it’s just a chaotic stuff
or we could understand this as:
“nothingness” (無 wú)
gives name to (名míng)
and all the things within
become distinct nameable things
from nothingness
let’s forget about the daodejing now
and just have a chat
you and me
have you ever thought
how strange it is
that things exist?
why is there something?
and not nothing?
doesn’t this seem like a pretty modern
existentialist thought?
a thought that we start pondering
in cafes
now that we’ve got very intelligent
but guess what?
these lads 2,000+ years ago
were thinking
“weird! there’s stuff.”