Chapter 70

The supreme God's radical concealment beyond ordinary knowledge or perception; the Hidden Father.

[auto] The text emphasizes that men do not know the speaker and describes the sage as wearing poor garb while hiding jade in his bosom, symbolizing concealed value.

Salvation through direct experiential knowledge of the divine nature, not through faith, ritual, or moral works alone.

Salvation or understanding is framed around the ability to 'know' the originating principle and the sage directly.

Esoteric teachings reserved for those ready to receive them; outer meaning conceals an inner liberating truth.

[auto] It suggests esoteric depth beneath apparent simplicity and inner value concealed by outer poverty.

The divine spark or luminous quality residing within the human person, potentially recognisable through introspection.

The metaphor of carrying jade in the bosom while wearing poor garb signifies an inner spiritual value or wisdom hidden within.

The absolutely simple, undivided first principle from which all multiplicity and existence flows.

The 'originating... principle' hints at a simple first source from which things flow.

Using apparent contradiction, reversal, or riddle to destabilise ordinary understanding and induce insight.

[auto] The passage centrally employs the contradiction that words are easy yet unpractised to challenge ordinary understanding.

The spiritual danger of attachment to material possessions; wealth as a spiritual obstacle.

The sage's choice to wear poor garb suggests a detachment from material display and status.

The recognition of one's own true divine nature as the primary path to liberation; 'know thyself' as soteriology.

The imperative to 'know me' implies that understanding the sage/Dao is intrinsically linked to self-realization.

The felt condition of exile from one's divine origin — Rumi's reed flute torn from its bed, Plotinus's 'we have forgotten,' the Gnostic forgetfulness; the affective wound that complements return_to_source and gives the return its motive.

The statement that men do not know the speaker implies a state of ignorance or exile from the divine principle.

The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim.

Reference to an 'originating and all-comprehending principle' suggests a singular source underlying all existence.

Effortless action aligned with the spontaneous flow of the Dao; non-coercive, non-striving conduct that yields results without forcing — the sage acts without acting.

The description of the words as 'very easy to practise' aligns with the Taoist concept of effortless action aligned with the Dao.