Dao De Jing – Chapter 70

My words are very easy to understand, very easy to practice.
Yet no one under heaven can understand them or put them into practice.

Words have their root; actions have their master.
It is precisely because people lack understanding that they do not know me.

Those who understand me are few;
those who follow me are precious.

Thus, the sage wears coarse cloth on the outside, yet carries jade within.

Note

Chapter 70 from Tao Te Ching – Dao De Jing addresses the paradox of the Dao’s simplicity and humanity’s failure to embody it. Laozi laments that while the Dao is profoundly accessible, people remain distracted by superficial desires and intellectual complexities.

Many people lack sufficient wisdom and therefore dismiss teachings of the sage.

The teachings of the sage are well-founded and can guide our actions to achieve profound results. Yet, sadly, many remain unaware, skeptical, or unwilling to put them into practice.

Few truly comprehend the teachings of the sage, yet those who emulate him and embrace his guidance in practice can attain profound accomplishments.

The chapter underscores the Sage’s quiet wisdom and humility, contrasting it with the world’s obsession with materialism, cleverness, and status. Key ideas include the ease of knowing the Tao versus the difficulty of practicing it and the Sage’s hidden greatness in a misguided world.

Further Reading

• Chapter 20: These two chapters resonate in their emotional tone. Chapter 20 depicts the solitude of “the multitude bustling with life, while I alone am tranquil and still.” Chapter 70 directly expresses the loneliness of “those who understand me are few.” Both portray the predicament of those who have attained the Way—being misunderstood by the secular world.
• Chapters 38 and 66: They share a consistent lineage within the ideological framework of “non-contention” and “excelling at staying low.” Chapter 38 proposes that “superior virtue appears as non-virtue,” Chapter 66 explains why “rivers and seas can be kings of all valleys,” while Chapter 70 further points out that people, due to their pursuit of glory and gain, are “unable to understand and unable to practice” the great Way, leading to its being shelved and obscured.

吾言甚易知，甚易行。天下莫能知，莫能行。言有宗，事有君。夫唯無知，是以不我知。知我者希，則我者貴。是以聖人被褐懷玉。