section_path: Teachings/De
section_name: De
paragraph_text: De
  
  The active expression of Tao is called De (德; dé; also spelled, Te or Teh; often translated with virtue or power), in a sense that De results from an individual living and cultivating the Tao. The term De can be used to refer to ethical virtue in the conventional Confucian sense, as well as to a higher spontaneous kind of sagely virtue or power that comes from following the Tao and practicing wu-wei. Thus, it is a natural expression of the Tao's power and not anything like conventional morality. Louis Komjathy describes De as the manifestation of one's connection to the Tao, which is a beneficial influence of one's cosmological attunement.