Line by Line - Verse 15, Line 9

unpretentious like wood that has not been fashioned into anything;
~ James Legge translation, from The Sacred Books of the East, 1891 ~

Simple, like uncarved blocks of wood.
~ Gia-fu Feng and Jane English translation, published by Vintage Books, 1989 ~

Genuine, like plain wood
~ Derek Lin translation, from Tao Te Ching: Annotated & Explained, published by SkyLight Paths, 2006 ~

They were as plain as a block of wood.
~ Ron Hogan rendition, from Beatrice.com, 2004 ~

Aah, the uncarved block. One of the chief metaphors of philosophical Taoism.

An uncarved block of wood -- just like an empty bowl yet to be filled -- is akin to a blank canvass. It can be fashioned into all sorts of creations. At the beginning, however, it is nondescript.

As Su Ch'e suggests in Lao-tzu's Taoteching: with Selected Commentaries of the Past 2000 Years,

Uncarved wood reminds us to be an end to human fabrication and return to our original nature.

When we approach life in this way, we allow situations and circumstances to inform the strategy employed or the route taken.

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