Chapter 70 Dyer
My teachings are very easy to understand and very easy to practice yet so few in this world understand and so few are able to practice.
My words have an ancestor.
My deeds have a lord.
The people have no knowledge of this.
Therefore they have no knowledge of me.
This is why the sage dresses plainly even though his interior is filled with precious gems.
Chapter 70 Henricks
1. My words are easy to understand,
2. And easy to put into practice.
3. Yet no one in the world can understand them,
4. And no one can put them into practice.
5. Now my words have an ancestor, and my deeds have a lord,
6. And it's simply because [people] have no understanding [of them], that they therefore don't understand me.
7. But when those who understand me are few, then I'm of great value.
8. Therefore the Sage wears coarse woolen cloth, but inside it he holds on to jade.
Chapter 70 Lau
My words are very easy to understand and very easy to put into practice,
Yet no one in the world can understand them or put them into practice.
Words have an ancestor and affairs have a sovereign.
It is because people are ignorant that they fail to understand me.
Those who understand me are few;
Those who harm me are honoured.
Therefore the sage, while clad in homespun, conceals on his person a priceless piece of jade.
Chapter 70 Wu
My words are very easy to understand, and very easy to practise:
But the world cannot understand them, nor practise them.
My words have an Ancestor.
My deeds have a Lord.
The people have no knowledge of this.
Therefore, they have no knowledge of me.
The fewer persons know me,
The nobler are they that follow me.
Therefore, the Sage wears coarse clothes,
While keeping the jade in his bosom.