The chapter lays out the four-fold parentage of everything: the Tao gives birth to all things; Virtue (te) nourishes them; matter shapes them; circumstance completes them. Existence, character, embodiment, situation — every being is the joint work of all four. Therefore all things honour the Tao and esteem Virtue — and then the line that separates Taoism from every court religion: not by command, but because it is always so of itself. The reverence of nature for its source is spontaneous, unlegislated; the Tao holds no ceremonies and requires none.
The closing hymn describes how the source treats what it sources: it gives birth and nourishes, grows and tends, shelters and matures, feeds and covers all things — and then the refrain from chapters 2 and 10, here at its most complete: it brings forth without possessing, acts without claiming credit, leads without dominating. This is called the Mysterious Virtue. It is the book's model for every power that raises anything — parents, teachers, founders, gods: total care, zero ownership.
Key verses
The Tao gives birth to all things; Virtue nourishes them; matter shapes them; circumstance brings them to completion. Therefore all things honor the Tao and esteem Virtue. The Tao is honored, Virtue is esteemed — not by command, but because it is always so of itself. Thus the Tao gives birth and nourishes; it grows and tends, shelters and matures, feeds and covers all things. It brings forth without possessing, acts without claiming credit, leads without dominating — this is called the Mysterious Virtue.
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ऐप में मुफ़्त पढ़ेंपरंपराओं से पूछें
एक प्रश्न। पाँच परंपराओं के उत्तर।
बिना खाते के हर 24 घंटे में 2 प्रश्न।