Tao gives birth to one, life to two, life to three, and life to all things, from the forty-second chapter of Laozi's Tao Te Ching.

Original text:

Tao gives birth to one, two, three and everything. Everything is negative and positive, and I rashly think it is peace. People are evil, but loneliness is not a hub (gū), and princes think it is called it. Therefore, things are either profitable or profitable. I also teach what others teach. Strong people will not die, I will regard them as godfathers.

Translation:

What people hate most are "loneliness", "widowhood" and "no valley", but princes use these words to call themselves. So everything, or detract from it, has increased; Or increase, but decrease. I was taught this way, and I will teach others this way. Violent people have nowhere to die.

Extended data:

Tao gives birth to one, life to two, life to three, and life to all things, which comes from the forty-second chapter of Laozi's Tao Te Ching and is Laozi's theory of universe generation. When I say "one", "two" and "three" here, I mean the process of Tao creating everything.

This paper mainly talks about the numbers of one, two and three, and does not regard one, two and three as concrete things and concrete quantities. They just represent a process from less to more, from simple to complex.

Baidu Encyclopedia-Dao De Jing Sheng One, Two, Three, Three Things.