Translation: Those in antiquity who excelled at practicing the Tao (道) did not use it to make the people clever, but rather sought to return them to plainness and sincerity.
Analysis: The most mainstream positive interpretation. "愚" (yú) here does not mean stupidity, but rather plainness and simplicity — removing cunning, scheming, and petty cleverness to return to an original nature of sincerity. Wang Bi's commentary emphasizes: the reason the people are difficult to govern is that they "employ too much cunning and artifice" — the more cunning there is, the more complex society becomes, and the more conflicts arise. The core of "making them simple" is to create conditions where people do not need to resort to petty cleverness in order to live and work in peace.
Similar views: Consistent with Chapter 19: "绝圣弃智，民利百倍；绝巧弃利，盗贼无有" — "Abandon sagacity and discard cleverness, and the people will benefit a hundredfold; abandon skill and discard profit, and thieves and robbers will disappear."
Translation: Those in antiquity who excelled at practicing the Tao did not use it to make the people shrewd in discerning affairs, but rather sought to make them free of cunning and without scheming.
Analysis: Heshanggong's interpretation is more specific: "不以道教民明智巧诈也……将以道德教民，使质朴不诈伪也" — "They did not use the Tao to teach the people to be clever in cunning and deceit... they used the Tao and Virtue (德) to teach the people, making them plain and without fraudulence." This interpretation positions the contrast between "明" (enlightened/shrewd) and "愚" (simple) along the dimension of "cunning and deceit vs. plainness" — the point is not to prevent people from understanding principles, but to prevent them from learning to calculate and speculate. The more society is rife with mutual deception, the more it needs a return to "愚" (simplicity).
Similar views: Heshanggong: "不以道教民明智巧诈也……将以道德教民，使质朴不诈伪也" — "They did not use the Tao to teach the people shrewdness in cunning and deceit... they used the Tao and Virtue to teach the people, making them plain and without fraudulence."
Translation: Those in antiquity who excelled at practicing the Tao did not use it to enlighten the people's minds, but rather sought to keep them ignorant and unaware.
Analysis: This is a later critical interpretation — understanding "愚之" (making them simple/foolish) as a genuine policy of keeping the people ignorant so that rulers can govern them more easily. This reading has been strongly criticized throughout history by Confucian scholars and Enlightenment thinkers, who regarded it as the dark side of Laozi's thought. However, most Daoist scholars reject this meaning, arguing that it misunderstands the original sense of "愚" — Laozi's "愚" is the great wisdom that appears foolish, not genuine foolishness.
Similar views: Later critical readings of Laozi's alleged "keeping-the-people-ignorant" thought.
Translation: The people are difficult to govern because their cunning and artifice are too great.
Analysis: The mainstream interpretation. "智多" (excessive cunning) does not mean the people are too intelligent to be managed well, but rather that the social atmosphere is permeated with scheming minds and cunning hearts — everyone calculates, superiors and subordinates deceive each other, and the more laws and regulations there are, the more ingeniously people circumvent them, creating a vicious cycle of governance and evasion. The root cause lies not in the people, but in the rulers' practice of "governing the state with cleverness" (discussed below), which triggers a chain reaction.
Similar views: Wang Bi (王弼): "明谓多见巧诈……民之难治，以其智多" — "'Enlightened' refers to being well-versed in cunning and deceit... the people are difficult to govern because their cunning is excessive."
Translation: The people are difficult to govern because they know too much.
Analysis: A more straightforward reading — when society has ever more information and people increasingly "understand" the stakes and interests involved, simple and plain modes of governance are no longer effective. This interpretation carries no pejorative connotation; it merely observes an objective phenomenon: the more civilization advances and knowledge increases, the more complex and difficult to govern society becomes. This is a governance dilemma faced by all civilized societies.
Similar views: Echoes Chapter 18: "大道废，有仁义；智慧出，有大伪" — "When the great Tao is abandoned, benevolence and righteousness appear; when cleverness and knowledge emerge, great hypocrisy arises."
Translation: Therefore, governing a state with cunning and artifice is a bane to the state; not governing a state with cunning and artifice is a blessing to the state.
Analysis: The central thesis of the entire chapter. "以智治国" (governing by cleverness) does not mean that intelligent people should not govern — it criticizes the method of governing through schemes and artifice (such as elaborate laws and harsh punishments, using espionage and balancing factions, or luring the people with profit). Such methods appear ingenious on the surface but in reality provoke even more cunning responses, ultimately becoming "国之贼" — a curse upon the state. Not governing with cleverness = governing through non-action (无为), which is the true "blessing to the state."
Similar views: Parallels Chapter 57: "以正治国，以奇用兵，以无事取天下" — "Govern the state with uprightness, deploy the military with surprise, and win the world through non-interference."
Translation: Therefore, those who govern the state with schemes are thieves of the state (usurpers); those who do not govern with schemes are a blessing to the state.
Analysis: Here "贼" takes its meaning of "thief" — those who govern the state through schemes and stratagems are in reality stealing the state's resources for their own use. This interpretation carries a sharper political critique: governing by cleverness = wielding power for private gain; the surface appearance is governance, but the reality is plunder. True rulers do not use cunning to pursue private interests; instead, they practice non-action (无为) and let the state flourish naturally.
Similar views: The critical thought of Zhuangzi: "窃国者为诸侯" — "Those who steal a state become feudal lords."
Translation: To know that these two (governing with cleverness vs. not governing with cleverness) constitute a standard of measure — to always know this standard of measure — this is called "Mysterious Virtue" (玄德).
Analysis: Knowing the contrast between "governing with cleverness = curse" and "not governing with cleverness = blessing" is itself a criterion by which governance can be tested. One who can constantly apply this as a touchstone possesses "Mysterious Virtue" (玄德) — a virtue that is profound and subtle. The "玄" (mysterious) in "Mysterious Virtue" indicates that this virtue is deep and hidden, neither flaunted nor proclaimed, yet profound and enduring.
Similar views: Echoes Chapter 10: "生而不有，为而不恃，长而不宰，是谓玄德" — "To give birth without possessing, to act without relying on, to lead without dominating — this is called Mysterious Virtue."
Translation: To know these two is also an exemplary model. To always understand this exemplary model — this is called "Fundamental Virtue."
Analysis: Here "稽式" is taken as "exemplary model," and "玄德" is taken as "Fundamental Virtue." This interpretation views the ability to distinguish between "governing with cleverness" and "governing without cleverness" as the most fundamental virtue of a ruler — not a matter of specific policy or technique, but an epistemological awakening: the capacity to discern action from non-action (无为), cunning from simplicity.
Similar views: Parallel to Chapter 51: "生而不有，为而不恃，长而不宰，是谓玄德" — "To give birth without possessing, to act without relying on, to lead without dominating — this is called Mysterious Virtue."
Translation: Mysterious Virtue (玄德) is profound, far-reaching, and runs contrary to the direction of worldly things — and only then does it achieve the Great Harmony with nature.
Analysis: The most brilliant sentence of the chapter. "与物反" — Mysterious Virtue moves in a direction entirely opposite to worldly values: the world extols cleverness, but Mysterious Virtue esteems simplicity; the world strives to get ahead, but Mysterious Virtue upholds humility and yielding; the world seeks to gain more, but Mysterious Virtue embraces non-action (无为). What appears to be going against the current in fact arrives at "大顺" — the highest level of harmony with nature. This dialectic of "opposition → harmony" is the essence of Laozi's philosophy — "Reversal is the movement of the Tao" (反者道之动).
Similar views: Parallels Chapter 40: "反者道之动" — "Reversal is the movement of the Tao," and Chapter 78: "正言若反" — "True words seem paradoxical."
Translation: Mysterious Virtue is profound and far-reaching; it leads all things to return to their original nature, and only then does it arrive at the Great Harmony (ultimate consonance).
Analysis: Here "反" is read as a variant of "返" (to return). The function of Mysterious Virtue is to make all things return to their original nature and revert to authenticity. It moves not toward the future, but back to the source — from complexity back to simplicity, from artifice back to naturalness. The endpoint of this "return-to-the-root" movement is "大顺" — the supreme state of harmony in which everything finds its proper place and rests in its rightful position.
Similar views: Echoes Chapter 16: "万物并作，吾以观复。夫物芸芸，各复归其根" — "The ten thousand things flourish together; I observe their return. All things, however they may proliferate, each returns to its root."
Translation: Mysterious Virtue is profound and far-reaching; it runs counter to worldly methods, and only then does it bring the world to Great Order and Great Harmony.
Analysis: Here "大顺" is taken in its political sense — a well-governed world. This interpretation understands "大顺" within the chapter's overarching discourse on governance: not governing with cleverness → making the people plain and simple → the world naturally achieves Great Harmony. "反" indicates that the governance method is counterintuitive (eschewing shrewdness in favor of "simplicity"), yet the result is precisely a well-governed and harmonious world.
Similar views: Echoes the political ideal of Chapter 57: "以无事取天下" — "Win the world through non-interference."
This chapter contains 12 interpretation combinations.
[Core Divergences]
Chapter 65 is one of the most controversial chapters in Laozi's political philosophy, centering on the contrast between "making the people simple" and "making the people shrewd." The chapter's structure is precisely organized: the first sentence states the thesis (not to enlighten the people, but to return them to simplicity), the second sentence identifies the root cause (the people are difficult to govern because their cunning is excessive), the third sentence provides the formula (governing with cleverness = curse, not governing with cleverness = blessing), the fourth sentence names the paradigm (guiding standard / Mysterious Virtue), and the final sentence offers a transcendent conclusion (running counter to things → Great Harmony). The core divergence lies in the understanding of "愚" — the Daoist tradition defines "愚" as plainness and sincerity, a stripping away of cunning and artifice, a return to the authenticity of human nature rather than a genuine dumbing-down. Yet later critics read it as a political strategy in which rulers deliberately manufacture popular ignorance. The key to understanding this chapter is to grasp Laozi's special meanings of "智" (cleverness) and "愚" (simplicity): "智" is not wisdom but cunning (Chapter 18: "智慧出，有大伪" — "When cleverness and knowledge emerge, great hypocrisy arises"), and "愚" is not stupidity but plainness (Chapter 20: "我愚人之心也哉" — "How foolish is my heart!" — Laozi calls himself a fool). The final sentence, "与物反矣，然后乃至大顺" — "running counter to things, and only then arriving at Great Harmony" — is the soul of the chapter. The surface-level "反" (opposition to the worldly) leads precisely to true "顺" (harmony with nature), embodying the most profound dialectic of Laozi's philosophy.