# LXII explained — Tao Te Ching

> Chapter companion for Tao Te Ching by Laozi.

## What happens

This chapter extols the Tao as the most honored and valuable thing in the world, surpassing material treasures and conventional offerings. It states that the Tao benefits both good and bad people, and that even the guilty can find redemption through it. The ancients prized the Tao because it could be sought and obtained, and it offered escape from guilt.

## Themes in this chapter

### The Tao as the Ultimate Principle

The Tao is described as having 'of all things the most honoured place' and being the most valuable thing under heaven, surpassing all material offerings.

### Critique of Conventional Virtue

The chapter contrasts the value of the Tao with conventional offerings like a round symbol-of-rank and a team of horses, implying that such material gifts are inferior to a lesson of the Tao.

### Paradox and Reversal

The Tao is said to guard bad men and efface their ill, and the guilty can escape by it, reversing conventional notions of worth and redemption.

## Key lines

> Tao has of all things the most honoured place. No treasures give good men so rich a grace; Bad men it guards, and doth their ill efface.

The Tao is the most honored of all things. It enriches good men and protects bad men, removing their faults.

_This opening establishes the supreme value and universal benefit of the Tao._

> Even men who are not good are not abandoned by it.

The Tao does not reject even those who are not good.

_Highlights the inclusive and redemptive nature of the Tao._

> Why was it that the ancients prized this Tao so much? Was it not because it could be got by seeking for it, and the guilty could escape (from the stain of their guilt) by it?

The ancients valued the Tao because it could be obtained through seeking, and it allowed the guilty to be cleansed of their guilt.

_Explains the practical and moral appeal of the Tao in ancient times._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/tao_te_ching_se/chapters/part-ii-lxii
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/tao_te_ching_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/tao_te_ching_se/chapters