Chapter 41 of the Tao Te Ching

河上公 Héshàng Gōng : The superior scholars understand what is hidden and what is bright in the Tao; they penetrate beyond the limits of the body. That is why, as soon as they hear of the Tao, they have faith in it and practice it with zeal.

The scholars of the second rank are on the boundary between what is hidden and what is bright (that is, what is inaccessible and accessible to the senses); they are placed between the Tao and matter; therefore, as soon as they hear of it, they remain half in faith and half in doubt. That is why sometimes they preserve (practice) the Tao, sometimes they lose (abandon) it.

The inferior scholars see what is bright (that is, what is accessible to the senses) and do not see what is hidden; they remain wrapped in matter. That is why, as soon as they hear of the Tao, they mock it and slander it.

Now, the Tao is hidden, subtle, deep, inscrutable. The inferior scholars, says 刘歆 Liú Xīn, mock it because they seek it through the senses and cannot reach it. If they could reach it, grasp it in its sublimity through the senses, they would not mock it; but, by becoming accessible to their coarse vision, it would lose all its grandeur and no longer be worthy of the name Tao!

E: The Tao is deep, distant. It is the opposite of material things. When the superior scholars hear of the Tao, they can practice it with zeal, because they understand it clearly and believe in it with strong conviction.

The scholars of the second rank harbor doubts about the Tao, because they are unable to truly know it and believe in it with strong conviction.

As for the inferior scholars, they limit themselves to mocking it. If they did not mock it, the Tao would resemble the ideas and views of the inferior scholars. It would not be worthy of the name Tao.

严君平 Yán Jūnpíng : What the scholars of the second rank hear is not what is most beautiful; what the inferior scholars see is not what is most excellent.

What dazzles the scholars of the second rank, what the inferior scholars mock, is what is most beautiful and most excellent among the most beautiful and excellent things in the world.

河上公 Héshàng Gōng: These twelve phrases are axioms borrowed from the ancients. Commentator E thinks that these axioms go up to the last phrase inclusively.

河上公 Héshàng Gōng: The ordinary person makes use of prudence, boasts of it, and thinks himself capable. The Sage has insights, but he does not let them shine outward; he has prudence, but he does not use it.

E: One who knows the Tao reaches deep understanding. Then he strips away his insights and penetration, and appears like a dull person surrounded by darkness.

E: One who practices the Tao reaches the pinnacle of perfection; but he constantly diminishes his own merit, and he resembles a person who has only walked backward.

河上公 Héshàng Gōng: The ordinary person boasts of himself; he rushes forward with insatiable ardor. The Sage maintains humility, and is guided by the feeling of his lowliness and unworthiness.

河上公 Héshàng Gōng: The ordinary person elevates and exalts himself. The Sage unites his heart with the Tao; he draws near to the dust of the world; he conforms to customs but does not adopt them.

A: The person who possesses the sublime Tao does not distinguish himself from the crowd. This interpreter explains the word 夷 yí in the sense of 大 dà “great”.

苏辙 Sū Zhé: He constantly keeps to the lowest rank. 河上公 Héshàng Gōng: The ordinary person has a narrow mind; it could not contain an atom. The Sage embraces heaven and earth in his heart. There is nothing that his virtue does not contain. It is like the sea, which receives all rivers.

河上公 Héshàng Gōng: The ordinary person is filled internally with vices and stains, and he adorns himself outwardly with deceptive appearances to seem pure and spotless. The Sage is upright and simple; he is pure and white like snow. His virtue has never received an atom of the dust of the world; that is why he can endure shame and bear reproaches. When seen, one would take him for an ordinary person.

河上公 Héshàng Gōng: The ordinary person does not let the smallest of his virtues be forgotten. He takes advantage of the good he does and demands to be repaid. The Sage spreads his virtue and blessings upon all beings, and does not make a merit of it; that is why his great virtue seems insufficient.

E gives the word 偷 tōu the sense of “lazy, lacking zeal”.

E: The simple and true person removes ornaments and eliminates deceptive appearances. He resembles an object that has deteriorated and has nothing new about it.

The word 渝 yú means “change for the worse, deteriorate”, and “dirty, repulsive”. A renders it with the adjective “superficial”.

A, 河上公 Héshàng Gōng, 河上公 Héshàng Gōng, and 尹文子 Yǐn Wénzǐ attribute these four comparisons to the Sage; E attributes them to the Tao. The rest of the chapter presents no difficulty.