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Originally Posted by Still_Waters
By including the "image of the emperor" in the last line, you leave the passage open to interpretation ... open ended ... almost koan-like ... and that is good.
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Yes, it is good only if you stop right there at the very instant when the koan invokes an awareness, that feeling of having "grasped it". If you don't, then the selfish, greedy, mind seizes it and make a superstition out of it. Then, what you have is Taoism, founded on a Tao that can be told and expounded on by you, the Taoist master.
The western mind is acquisitive of knowledge, be it practical or spiritual. So is the Chinese mind these days. It is a tool used to gather information for self-preservation. This compulsiveness is the fundamental human problem. And I think this is what the Tao Te Ching was speaking to in those two lines below:
"19 (beginning):
"Give up religiosity and knowledge, and people will benefit a hundredfold.
Discard morality and righteousness, and people will return to natural love."
I could be barking up the wrong tree. What do you see, my friend?