A one-minute narration sample. Every book in the library is narrated end to end — hear the rest in the app.
Tao Te Ching · 9 of 81
It is better to leave a vessel unfilled, than to attempt to carry it when it is full. If you keep feeling a point that has been sharpened, the point cannot long preserve its sharpness.
When gold and jade fill the hall, their possessor cannot keep them safe. When wealth and honours lead to arrogancy, this brings its evil on itself. When the work is done, and one’s name is becoming distinguished, to withdraw into obscurity is the way of Heaven.
Asked of Guide
Why does Lao Tzu warn against filling a vessel or sharpening a point too much?
Lao Tzu shows that extremes destroy usefulness: a full vessel cannot be carried and an over-sharpened point loses its edge. He links that pattern to wealth and fame—when gold and honours “fill the hall,” the possessor cannot keep them safe, and arrogance brings its own harm.
The chapter says the remedy is withdrawal after accomplishment; “to withdraw into obscurity is the way of Heaven.” This echoes Chuang Tzu’s ideal of becoming “without a flaw,” where restraint preserves function and freedom.
Guide is the guide inside the Gnosis app, where every book on these shelves is free to read. Guide is the part you pay for — your guide has read all of them, and answers about the passage you’re actually on. Ask your guide your own question.
Echoes elsewhere