Introduction

This verse has often been misread as a justification for tolerance toward the unskilled or a defense of hierarchical order. But Laozi’s language suggests something far more radical. The following commentary corrects these inherited distortions, restoring the verse to its function as an exhortation to directly engage with Dao.

As the Dao De Jing unfolds, it continues to dismantle illusions of control—whether through virtue, ritual, or status. Verse 62 reinforces this by drawing a sharp contrast between performative action and direct engagement with the Dao. Laozi deconstructs one of the most enduring human misconceptions—that status, ceremony, or moral posturing can lead to true transformation. Rituals may confer authority, and words may shape transactions, but neither alters one’s fundamental state. If unskillfulness cannot be discarded by external means, how is it resolved?

Let’s find out. 

Translation

Dao pours into everything.
The Wise maintain it,
  The Unwise are maintained by it.

Beautiful speech enables trade,
  Respectful actions can celebrate people.
How is a person’s unskillfulness discarded?

Thus, raising a Lord,
  installing Three Officials,
Even with ritual offerings
of Jade and horse-drawn chariots,
Aren’t as good as
  sitting and entering “This.”

Since ancient times,
  “This” has been cherished.
Is it not said,
  “Upon attaining it, all wrongs are dissolved?”
Thus, “This” is cherished throughout the World.

Commentary

Dao pours into everything.
The Wise maintain it,
  The Unwise are maintained by it.

“Dao engenders potential, Potential generates movement, Potential and Movement become the Mystery, the Mystery produces All Things.” - verse 42

All Things means All Things. Nothing is separate from the Dao. Those who train, attune themselves to it and through ‘Weaving the Way shape the Dao” (verse 25). Those who do not train or consciously attune to the Way still unfold according to the Dao's principles.

The Dao De Jing describes reality as it is, not as a set of choices or paths in the mundane sense. It disregards normative standards, not as a rejection but as only tangentially relevant to Weaving the Way. Instead, it invites us to contemplate and understand natural law so we may act in accord with it.