It literally means: the highest good is like water. Water is good at helping all things without competing with them. It stays where all people dislike it, so it is close to the Way. The person of the highest goodness should live in a humble place like water, keep his heart deep like water, make friends like water, speak sincerely like water, be organized like water, do things omnipotently like water, and act as if he is waiting for an opportunity like water. It is precisely because he is like water and has no quarrel with all things that he has no worries. When it comes to the significance of the ideas covered in this, it would require some more explanation.

Lao Zi said: "The goodness of water, water is good for all things without competition, this is the virtue of humility; therefore, the river and the sea can be for the king of the hundred valleys, to its good under the king of the hundred valleys, then can be the king of the hundred valleys. The world is not soft and weak in the water, and attack the strong can not win, this is the virtue of soft; so soft wins just, weak wins strong hard. Because it has nothing, it can enter between nothing, and from this we can see the benefit of teaching without words and doing nothing."

He believed that a person of superior goodness should be like water. Water benefits and nourishes all things, but does not compete with them for superiority; this is the most humble virtue. The reason why the river and the sea can be the home of all rivers is that he is good at being in the downstream position, so he becomes the king of the hundred valleys.

There is nothing so soft in the world as water, yet it can penetrate the hardest things, and nothing can surpass it, such as a drop of water penetrating a stone, and this is where the virtue of softness lies. This is why it is said that the weak can overcome the strong, and the soft can overcome the hard.

What is not seen can enter what is not seen, and thus we know the teaching of "not speaking" and the benefits of "doing nothing".

Lao Zi also said: "With its non-competition, so the world can not compete with it, this is to follow the virtue of water. Water is a few in the Road; Road is omnipresent, the water is not unfavorable, avoiding the high tends to be down, not to have to go against, good at the ground; empty place Cham static, the depth of the unfathomable. Good for the abyss; loss but not exhaustion, do not seek reward, good for the benevolent also ......

"Tao" is the total source of all things in heaven and earth, is prior to the specific things and the existence of things, but also the basic laws of things and their origin. Therefore, "Tao" is something we should all recognize and understand. The virtue of water is the closest to the "Tao", "Tao" is everywhere, therefore, water has no disadvantage. It avoids heights and tends to go down, so it will not be hindered in any way. It can flow to any place, nourish everything, wash the dirt. It is in a deep pool, clear and calm on the surface, but unfathomable. It flows unceasingly, to benefit all things but does not ask for return. Such virtue, even benevolence to goodness ......