Thirty spokes together turn one wheel,
but the wheel turns around a hole.

Clay is lumped to make a pot,
but the pot is where the clay is not.

Chisel a chamber in the cliff,
some bounded nothing in which to live.

Do you see it? Matter, a tool;
the empty space what's use-full.

 

三十輻，共一轂，當其無，有車之用。埏埴以為器，當其無，有器之用。鑿戶牖以為室，當其無，有室之用。故有之以為利，無之以為用。