Volume II — Te

One Who Embodies Virtue's Fullness

Chapter 55 of the Tao Te Ching

含德之厚，比於赤子。蜂蠆虺蛇不螫，猛獸不據，攫鳥不搏。骨弱筋柔而握固。未知牝牡之合而全作，精之至也。終日號而不嗄，和之至也。知和曰常，知常曰明，益生曰祥。心使氣曰強。物壯則老，謂之不道，不道早已。

One who embodies virtue's fullness is like a newborn child. Wasps and scorpions do not sting it. Fierce beasts do not seize it. Birds of prey do not strike it. Its bones are weak, its sinews soft, yet its grip is firm. Not yet knowing the union of male and female, yet its member stirs— the height of essence. Crying all day without becoming hoarse— the height of harmony. Knowing harmony is called the constant. Knowing the constant is called clarity. Forcing life is called ominous. The mind forcing the vital energy is called rigidity. Things that are strong grow old. This is called not following the way. What does not follow the way comes to an early end.

Commentary

This verse uses the image of the newborn infant to describe the qualities of one who has returned to virtue's fullness. "One who embodies virtue's fullness is like a newborn child"—han de zhi hou, bi yu chi zi (含德之厚，比於赤子). Han (含) is to contain, to hold within; hou (厚) is thick, deep, full. Chi zi (赤子) is the newborn, red-skinned child, fresh from the womb. The comparison is not to childishness but to the qualities that the newborn possesses before experience corrupts them. "Wasps and scorpions do not sting it. Fierce beasts do not seize it. Birds of prey do not strike it"—feng chai hui she bu shi, meng shou bu ju, jue niao bu bo (蜂蠆虺蛇不螫，猛獸不據，攫鳥不搏). The infant is protected not by armor or skill but by something in its nature. This is not literal immunity but a description of harmony: the being that is in complete harmony with existence provokes no attack because it offers no opposition. "Its bones are weak, its sinews soft, yet its grip is firm"—gu ruo jin rou er wo gu (骨弱筋柔而握固). This paradox is central to internal cultivation: weakness that contains strength, softness that produces firmness. The infant cannot perform feats of strength, yet its grip on your finger is surprisingly strong. This strength does not come from muscular development but from something else—from wholeness, from the absence of internal conflict. "Not yet knowing the union of male and female, yet its member stirs—the height of essence"—wei zhi pin mu zhi he er quan zuo, jing zhi zhi ye (未知牝牡之合而全作，精之至也). Quan zuo (全作) means the male organ stands erect. The infant has no sexual knowledge yet displays sexual energy. This indicates that the essence (jing 精) is full, complete, not yet dispersed through activity. Jing zhi zhi (精之至)—the height or culmination of essence.

The full commentary continues with deeper analysis of internal cultivation, classical perspectives, and cross-references. Read the complete chapter →

Key Characters