The Uncarved Block — Pu
Uses the image of unworked wood to describe a state of native simplicity that precedes — and is more capable than — anything shaped by social convention or ambition.
Pu, usually translated "uncarved block" or "unworked wood," recurs across the Tao Te Ching as the text's central image for original nature. Chapter 15 describes the ancient masters as "simple like uncarved wood," unforced and hard to categorize. Chapter 28 makes the political point explicit: "when the uncarved block is cut up, it is made into vessels" — useful tools come from carving, but the sage, unlike the craftsman, uses the block whole, without reducing people or things to a single function. Chapter 32 adds that the Tao itself is "eternally nameless" like the uncarved block — small and plain, yet nothing under heaven can master or contain it once it is worked. Chapter 19 tells the reader directly to "manifest plainness, embrace simplicity" as a corrective to cleverness and excessive desire; the block isn't praised for being unfinished, but for holding every possible shape without yet being locked into one.
When the uncarved block is cut up, it is made into vessels.
Tao Te Ching