Translation: One who is skilled at establishing cannot be uprooted; one who is skilled at holding fast cannot lose what is held; thus descendants carry on the ancestral sacrifices without interruption.
Analysis: When one establishes an endeavor upon the Tao (道), one possesses an unshakable foundation; when one holds fast to Virtue/Te (德) through the Tao, it will never be lost. In this way, the family line endures, and descendants continue the ancestral sacrifices in reverence without cease. Wang Bi commented: "固其根而后营其末，故不拔也" ("Secure the root first and then attend to the branches; thus it cannot be uprooted").
Similar views: Wang Bi: "固其根而后营其末，故不拔也。不贪于多，齐其所能，故不脱也" ("Secure the root first and then attend to the branches; thus it cannot be uprooted. Do not be greedy for excess, but align with what one is capable of; thus it will not slip away").
Translation: One who skillfully establishes a foundation in the Tao cannot be uprooted; one who skillfully embraces the great Tao cannot lose hold of it; descendants will never cease the ancestral sacrifices.
Analysis: Heshanggong commented: "善建道德者，不可拔引而移也。善抱道德者，终不转脱也" ("One who skillfully establishes Tao and Virtue cannot be pulled up and displaced. One who skillfully embraces Tao and Virtue will never turn away and lose hold"). What is established upon the Tao is the most solid; what is held through the Tao is the most secure. This interpretation grounds both "establishing" (建) and "embracing" (抱) in the cultivation of Tao and Virtue.
Similar views: Heshanggong: "善建道德者，不可拔引而移也。善抱道德者，终不转脱也" ("One who skillfully establishes Tao and Virtue cannot be pulled up and displaced. One who skillfully embraces Tao and Virtue will never turn away and lose hold").
Translation: Cultivate the Tao in oneself, and one's Virtue becomes authentic and pure; cultivate it in the family, and Virtue becomes abundant and ample; cultivate it in the community, and Virtue grows and endures; cultivate it in the state, and Virtue becomes rich and flourishing; cultivate it throughout all under heaven, and Virtue becomes universal and vast.
Analysis: A progressively expanding path of cultivating the Tao: self → family → community → state → all under heaven, with the effect of Virtue amplifying at each stage: authentic → abundant → enduring → flourishing → universal. This is one of Laozi's rare positive, affirmative statements proceeding "from near to far" — beginning with personal self-cultivation and ultimately influencing the entire world.
Similar views: Heshanggong provided detailed commentary on all five levels of cultivation, such as: "修道于身，爱气养神，清净无欲，则其德乃真" ("Cultivate the Tao in oneself, cherish one's Qi (气) and nourish the spirit, maintain purity and freedom from desire, and one's Virtue will be authentic").
Translation: Cultivate the Tao in oneself and one's innate nature is restored; in the family, Virtue becomes abundant; in the community, Virtue endures through time; in the state, Virtue becomes bountiful; throughout all under heaven, Virtue becomes universal.
Analysis: Here "authentic" (真) takes the meaning of "returning to one's original nature." The first effect of personal cultivation is not gaining something new, but recovering one's inherently complete nature. Extending outward from this, Virtue progresses from authenticity to abundance to endurance to richness to universality — a process of transformation from the qualitative to the quantitative.
Similar views: Similar in logical structure to the Confucian classic the Great Learning (《大学》): "Cultivate the self, regulate the family, govern the state, and bring peace to all under heaven."
Translation: Therefore, use the (Tao-cultivating) self to observe the (non-cultivating) self; use the (Tao-cultivating) family to observe the (non-cultivating) family… and so on up to all under heaven.
Analysis: Heshanggong explicitly states: "以修道之身，观不修道之身，孰亡孰存也" ("Use the self that cultivates the Tao to observe the self that does not cultivate the Tao, and see which perishes and which endures"). This is a comparative epistemology — verifying the efficacy of the Tao through the contrast between cultivation and non-cultivation. Rather than empty theorizing, it uses actual results to demonstrate the necessity of cultivating the Tao.
Similar views: Heshanggong: "以修道之身，观不修道之身，孰亡孰存也" ("Use the self that cultivates the Tao to observe the self that does not cultivate the Tao, and see which perishes and which endures").
Translation: Use one's own self to compare and understand others; use one's own family to compare and understand other families… and from this, infer the state of all under heaven.
Analysis: An alternative interpretation: reasoning from oneself to others — using the experience of one's own cultivation to understand the condition of others. This is an experiential mode of cognition, consistent with the methodology of "by this" (以此) — using the experience of one's own self to gain knowledge.
Similar views: Echoes the question-and-answer structure of the closing line of Chapter 54: "How do I know the state of all under heaven? By this."
Translation: How do I know the state of all under heaven? By means of this (the method of cultivating the Tao and observing through its lens at every level).
Analysis: This closing mirrors the same "by this" (以此) ending found in Chapter 21. Laozi's knowledge does not come from external reports or theories, but from the inner experience of cultivating the Tao and layer-by-layer contemplative observation. The two words "by this" (以此) bring the entire chapter to a close with concise force.
Similar views: Heshanggong: "吾何知天下修道者昌，背道者亡。以此五事观而知之也" ("How do I know that those in the world who cultivate the Tao prosper, while those who turn from the Tao perish? By observing and knowing through these five levels").
This chapter contains 7 interpretation combinations.
[Core Divergences]
Chapter 54 opens with "what is well established cannot be uprooted; what is well embraced cannot slip away," demonstrating the solidity and permanence of what is grounded in the Tao, then unfolds a five-level system of cultivation extending from the self to all under heaven. This structure is strikingly similar to the Confucian Great Learning's progression of "cultivate the self, regulate the family, govern the state, bring peace to all under heaven," yet differs in substance: Confucianism emphasizes external ethical practice, while Laozi emphasizes inner moral cultivation. The progressive effects across the five levels (authentic → abundant → enduring → flourishing → universal) show that the power of the Tao does not diminish but amplifies — from the individual's "authenticity" to all under heaven's "universality" is a process of expansion from the subtle and refined to the vast and all-encompassing.