My teachings are easy to understand*
and easy to put into practice.

(1) my (2) words (3) so (4) easy (5) to know (6) so (7) easy (8) to follow

Yet your intellect will never grasp them
and if you try to practice them, you'll fail.

My teachings are older than the world.
How can you grasp their meaning?

If you want to know me,
look inside your heart.

^{---
(*) TS'AO TAO-CH'UNG [Taoist nun] comments:
"Nothing is simpler or easier than the Tao. But because it's so simple, it can't be explained by reasoning. Hence no one can understand it. And because it's so near it can't be reached by stages. Hence no one can put it to use."}

My words are so easy to understand,*
so easy to follow.

And yet nobody in the world
understands or follows them.

Words come from an ancestry
deeds from a mastery:
when these are unknown, so am I.

In my obscurity
is my value.
That's why the wise
wear their jade under common clothes.**

^{---
(*) R. B. BLAKNEY comments:
"'My yoke is easy and my burden light'; yet it is
very hard for people to take it up."
---
(**) EMILY DICKINSON says:
"It's such a common — glory — a fisherman's — degree."}

My words are easy to understand
and easier to put into practice.
Yet no one in the world seems to
understand them,     
and are not able to apply what I teach.

My teachings come from the ancients,
the things I do are done for a reason.

Because you do not know me,
you are not able to understand my teachings.
Because those who know me are few,
my teachings become even more precious.

^---

What I have to say is very easy to understand
And very easy to carry out,
Yet there is no one in the world who is able
      to understand it.
And no one who is able to put it into practice.

Now what is said has a lineage
And what is done has a lord.
It is only because it requires unprincipled
      knowing (wuzhi)
That they do not understand me.

But if those who understand me are rare,
I am to be highly prized.
Thus the sages dress in burlap
Yet conceal jade in their bosom.

^---

Wu yen shen i chih
My words are very easy to understand,
Very easy to put into practice.

No one under heaven can understand them,
No one can practice them.

Words have ancestors,
Deeds have masters,
If people don't understand this,
They don't understand me.

Few understand me.
And this is my value.

Therefore the Sage wears rough clothing
And carries jade inside.

^---

It is easy to understand what I'm saying,
but it seems nobody does.
It is easy to live by my teachings,
but it seems like nobody wants to.

What I say and do is nothing new.
Understand that or you'll never understand me.

Although I am so rarely understood,
It doesn't diminish the value of what I have.
The wise may look poor on the outside,
because they keep their riches in their hearts.

^---

My words are very easy to understand,
and very easy to practice.
Yet no one is able to understand them,
no one is able to practice them.

Behold, my words have an ancestor, my deeds have a lord;
it is because people do not know these
that they do not understand me.

Those persons who understand me
are rare,
those who pattern themselves on me
are a precious few.

It is in the above sense that the wise
'wear haircloth on top, yet clasp jade in their bosom.'

^---