Comments and Alternative Readings: Chapter 56

The quotation is the same as in Chapter 4, only here it is attributed to the sage, in the former place to the Tao. The sage identifies himself with the mortal coil he is heir to, with ch'an, his dust or the troubles of his bodily life, and this is called here "a profound identification." Even in the lowliness of his condition p. 179 the sage feels his own dignity as a man of the Tao. This same idea has produced the conception of the god-man in Christianity as well as in pagan religions.