Tao Te Ching, 40

Reversion is the action of Tao. Weakness is the function of Tao.
All things in the world come from being. And being comes from non-being. (Tao Te Ching,40)

Today I would try to interpret the above text from the book of Wing-Tsit Chan, A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy.

From the above text, it can be understood that the Tao will always go back to its natural form. The ways of the Tao will always lead to its origin which is the nature of Tao. The action of the Tao is never in conflict to its nature.

The weakness that the text is saying is being humble. Being humble or letting the person learn the value of being humble is the function of the Tao. It is through humility that the person do not forget where he began. Since the Tao is always going back to its original nature, the person who has learned and encountered the Tao learns how to humble his self and learns to acknowledge the past. Acknowledging the past means that he will not forget his true self based on the past.

All of the things comes from nothing and when one has known to be humble, he'll learn to accept that he too, as a thing in the world, will go back from being nothing. He started from being nothing and to nothing he will return. The humility will teach the person to not be boastful as he will still go back to his origin as being nothing.

The Tao works in a way that no one is really certain. I take this text as a hypothesis of what the Tao does. In this text, it is said that the Tao will always go back to its original nature and this will be the same case to the person who has learned and encountered it. Knowing that the Tao works in returning to its natural state, the person will also learn to accept that he too will go back to his origin which is nothingness.


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Reference:
Chan, Wing-Tsit. A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1963.