De (德) — Virtue, Power, Inherent Nature

De (德) is the Dao made particular — the innate power or virtue through which each thing expresses its own nature when unobstructed. The Dao De Jing pairs Dao and De in its very title, signaling their inseparability: where the Dao is the universal pattern, De is its individuated manifestation. Laozi (Chapter 51) states: 'The Dao gives birth to them, De rears them, nurtures them, shelters them.' A tree's De is to grow upward; water's De is to seek the low ground — each fulfills its nature without striving, and this unselfconscious expression of inherent power is what Daoism calls true virtue.