Heaven is infinite, Earth is deathless. Heaven and Earth are infinite

韜光 · Tāo Guāng

Classical Chinese Text

天长，地久。天地之所以能长且久者，以其不自生也，故能长生。
是以圣人后其身而身先，外其身而身存，非以其无私邪？故能成其私。

Translation & Meaning

Heaven is infinite, Earth is deathless. Heaven and Earth are infinite and deathless, because they do not yearn for life, making them everlasting.

Linguistic & Character Analysis

  • 天 (tiān): heaven / nature / cosmos
  • 长 (cháng): long / enduring / grow
  • 地 (dì): classical character (dì)
  • 久 (jiǔ): classical character (jiǔ)
  • 之 (zhī): particle: of / possessive / it
  • 所 (suǒ): place / frontier / that which
  • 以 (yǐ): in order to / by means of
  • 能 (néng): fruitful / capacity / ability
  • 且 (qiě): classical character (qiě)
  • 者 (zhě): aspects / those who / things
  • 其 (qí): its / their / his / her
  • 不 (bù): not / un- / without
  • 自 (zì): classical character (zì)
  • 生 (shēng): give birth to / arise
  • 也 (yě): [modal particle of assertion]
  • 故 (gù): therefore / thus / consequence
  • 是 (shì): this / therefore
  • 圣 (shèng): sage / enlightened one
  • 人 (rén): person / human
  • 后 (hòu): after / behind
  • 身 (shēn): classical character (shēn)
  • 而 (ér): yet / and / but
  • 先 (xiān): before / front
  • 外 (wài): classical character (wài)
  • 存 (cún): exist / remain / dwell
  • 非 (fēi): is not / false / not equal to
  • 无 (wú): formless void / non-being / without
  • 私 (sī): classical character (sī)
  • 邪 (xié): classical character (xié)
  • 成 (chéng): complete / fulfill