Translation: My words are very easy to understand and very easy to practice. Yet no one in the world can understand them, and no one can practice them.
Analysis: Laozi's own lament. The principles of the Tao (道) are inherently extremely simple—non-action (无为), non-contention, softness, humility—with nothing abstruse or obscure about them. Yet people of the world, "deluded by restless desires" and "lost in glory and profit" (Wang Bi's words), instead regard these simple truths as difficult to understand and practice. The simpler the principle, the harder it is to follow—because human instinct tends toward action, contention, forcefulness, and self-exaltation.
Similar views: Wang Bi's commentary: "可不出户窥牖而知，故曰甚易知也。无为而成，故曰甚易行也。惑于躁欲，故曰莫之能知也。迷于荣利，故曰莫之能行也。" ("One can know it without leaving one's door or peering through one's window, hence it is said to be very easy to understand. It is accomplished through non-action, hence it is said to be very easy to practice. Being deluded by restless desires, hence it is said that none can understand it. Being lost in glory and profit, hence it is said that none can practice it.")
Translation: My words have a guiding principle; my affairs have a governing rule.
Analysis: Laozi says his words are not scattered and disorganized, but have a unified core—the Tao (道). All his specific teachings (non-action, non-contention, softness, etc.) revolve around this central principle of the Tao. People of the world see only the individual teachings but fail to grasp the unifying fundamental principle.
Similar views: Heshanggong's commentary: "我言以道为宗，以德为君。" ("My words take the Tao as their guiding principle and Virtue as their sovereign rule.")
Translation: My words are rooted in the ancestor of all things (the Tao); my affairs are guided by the lord of all things (the Tao).
Analysis: Wang Bi's reading directly equates "宗" (ancestor) and "君" (lord) with the Tao. All of Laozi's words and actions take the Tao as their ultimate basis—"宗" represents the Tao as the origin of all things, while "君" represents the Tao as the sovereign of all things. Precisely because they are rooted in the Tao, they are simple yet incomprehensible.
Similar views: Wang Bi's commentary: "宗，万物之宗也。君，万物之主也。" ("宗 is the ancestor of all things. 君 is the lord of all things.")
Translation: It is precisely because people lack knowledge [of the Tao] that they do not understand me.
Analysis: People do not understand Laozi not because his words are too abstruse, but because they lack a basic awareness of the Tao. Laozi uses "不我知" (an inverted object construction meaning "不知我," "do not understand me") to express a profound sense of loneliness—the proclaimer of truth is always misunderstood.
Similar views: Wang Bi's commentary: "以其言有宗，事有君之故，故有知之人不得不知之也。" ("Because his words have a guiding principle and his affairs have a sovereign rule, one who possesses knowledge cannot but understand them.")
Translation: Those who understand me are rare; those who emulate me are precious.
Analysis: Laozi's lonely self-reflection. Understanding the Tao is already difficult; being able to emulate the Tao in one's life is even more precious. "知" (knowing) pertains to the cognitive level, while "则" (emulating) pertains to the practical level—the leap from knowledge to action is exceedingly difficult.
Similar views: Wang Bi's commentary: "唯深故知者希也，知我益希，我亦无匹，故曰知我者希，则我者贵也。" ("Because it is profound, those who understand are rare. As those who understand me grow ever fewer, I too am without peer; hence it is said, 'Those who understand me are rare; those who emulate me are precious.'")
Translation: Those who understand me are exceedingly few, but those who emulate me are the most noble.
Analysis: This reading interprets "贵" as "noble" or "exalted." Precisely because those who understand and emulate the Tao are so few, these individuals become the most noble in the world. Here lies an implicit paradox: true nobility does not come from worldly rank and power, but from the understanding and practice of the Tao.
Similar views: This resonates with the following line "被褐怀玉" (wearing coarse cloth while harboring jade)—plain on the outside yet noble within.
Translation: Thus the Sage (圣人) wears coarse cloth on the outside but harbors precious jade within.
Analysis: A celebrated phrase through the ages. The Sage "wears coarse cloth" (被褐)—outwardly plain, unassuming, and indistinguishable from ordinary people; "harbors jade" (怀玉)—inwardly treasuring a profound understanding of the Tao and noble virtue. This is the personification of Laozi's concept of "harmonizing with the light and merging with the dust" (和光同尘). A person who truly possesses the Tao needs no outward markers to demonstrate their worth.
Similar views: Wang Bi's commentary: "被褐者，同其尘；怀玉者，宝其真也。圣人之所以难知，以其同尘而不殊，怀玉而不渝。" ("To wear coarse cloth is to merge with the dust; to harbor jade is to treasure what is genuine. The Sage is difficult to recognize because he merges with the dust without distinction and harbors jade without change.") Heshanggong's commentary: "被褐者薄外，怀玉者厚内，匿宝藏德，不以示人也。" ("Wearing coarse cloth makes the outer plain; harboring jade enriches the inner. He conceals his treasures and hides his virtue, never displaying them to others.")
This chapter contains 7 interpretation combinations.
[Core Divergences]
Chapter 70 is one of Laozi's rare chapters of personal self-expression, revealing his profound loneliness over the Tao being misunderstood. The central paradox of the chapter is this: the principles of the Tao are the simplest, yet the least understood; the easiest to practice, yet the least practiced. Wang Bi precisely identifies the reason—people of the world are "deluded by restless desires" and "lost in glory and profit," their perception of simple truths clouded by craving and self-interest. "Wearing coarse cloth while harboring jade" (被褐怀玉) became a classic image in later ages for describing inner cultivation, and it is also the intellectual origin of the Chinese literati ideal of "the great recluse hides in the marketplace" (大隐隐于市).