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.

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

Across translations and commentaries, the third of these lines is handled as some version of “But why would we want to get rid of those who are inept?” (Ames/Hall). In my work with the text, the sentence structure is “A person’s not good, how discarded?” The issue arises from connecting the previous line’s “Unwise (不善人, búshànrén)” to this line’s “a person’s not good （人之不善, rénzhībúshàn).” In the opening line, “Wise” and “Unwise” refer to types of people, the former being attuned to the Dao and the latter not. In this line, the subtle restructure of the phrase calls out that all people have unattuned aspects that they benefit from addressing. This clarification reveals a very specific and logically coherent setup for the “punchline” at the end of this verse.

The first two statements of this section invite us to consider the benefits of skillfully Weaving the Way. The following rhetorical question is a pivot point that asks us to consider how to set our unskillful qualities aside. The tone is a neutral, practical inquiry into a transformational process that transcends any value judgments of inclusion and exclusion.

This question is answered through the rest of the verse.

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.”

Raising a Lord and Installing Officials with community-based ceremonial rituals was a common practice in the Zhou Dynasty. Lao Zi’s teachings were laid down as the Zhou Dynasty declined and China entered the Warring States period. In this context, invoking these community ritual ceremonies clarifies that rites and rituals do not resolve one’s unskillfulness. No ritual, ceremony, or initiation can confer wisdom, skill, or effective leadership. So, what does?

“Sitting and entering ‘This.’” Again, the textual history of the Dao De Jing comes into play strongly. One of the earliest and most highly revered commentators of the Dao De Jing either found “This” too ambiguous – or sought to obscure its meaning. We’ll never know. In any case, he added the word 道 (dào, Way) to make the text explicit. However, with that one character, he deprived “This” of its established meditative meaning.

“Sitting and Entering ‘This’” is a profound meditation practice that appears in the Zhuang Zi (another central Daoist text) as “sitting and forgetting,” which, at a surface level, may resemble the spontaneous state of losing oneself in the moment. By fully surrendering to the present, one can directly experience reality free from the constraints of physical limitations, preconceived notions, and cognitive structures. By cultivating such a quality of mind, which is ultimately very similar across esoteric traditions, one can begin functioning in life according to the (y)in-action (无为, wúweì) and naturalness (自然, zìrán) ideal of Weaving the Way.

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.

The idea that “Upon attaining it, all wrongs are dissolved” was old in Lao Zi’s time. Nearly 2,000 years after Lao Zi, the influential Zen revivalist Hakuin wrote the Song of Zazen. In it, there is a line that translates like this: “With just one experience of No-Mind, all the wrongs committed in the past completely disappear.” The idea repeats itself regularly through this spiritual lineage.

“Upon attaining it, all wrongs are dissolved” is not an empty phrase; it is a profound realization. But what does it mean?

In the state of “This,” one does not produce effect-causing thoughts, words, or deeds. Similarly, one does not experience the effects caused by previous thoughts, words, or deeds.
Once this mind state is cultivated, fully integrated, and maintained, the practitioner can spontaneously accord with the Way. Such spontaneous (y)in-action (自然无为 zìrán wúweì) allows us to function with absolute skillfulness and freedom.
To act with such skill and freedom is to move through life with ease, peace, and well-being.