Diode TVS selection for 36V circuit
Reverse Standoff Voltage is the voltage at which no noticeable current flows, uA or nA scale usually, for the diode you have listed it is 1uA.  This means that below the standoff voltage the diode will not conduct more than 1uA.  

Breakdown Voltage is the voltage at which the diode begins to conduct, at the breakdown voltage for your diode the current is 1mA.  When 1mA is flowing through the diode, the voltage will be 40V-44.2V.

Clamping Voltage is the voltage across the diode where the power limit is reached, which for your diode is 58.V @ 6.9A.  The pulse rating for the diode is 400W and 58.1V * 6.9A = 400.89W

The current flowing through the diode is more of a curve(not discrete steps) and these voltages/currents just help give a better understanding of the current that flows through the diode as the voltage increases.  If your circuit continually operates at 38V you will have between 1uA-1mA of leakage through the diode.  your actual power dissipation at that level will be no greater than 38mW, so this diode should work for your design, depending on your power budget and the spike levels you want to protect against.

You may want to use a circuit like the following:






simulate this circuit &ndash; Schematic created using CircuitLab

The resistor and capacitor filter the repetitive spikes and the diode is for infrequent large or sharp spikes.  The actual values should be determined based on the amount of power going through the filter and acceptable noise.