Tao Te Ching
The Essential Translation of the Ancient Chinese Book of the Tao
by Lao Tzu
“Have little thought of self and as few desires as possible”
One of the most translated texts in world literature, The Tao Te Ching or Dào Dé Jīng, is an ancient Chinese classic text, and a foundational work of Taoism. Central to both philosophical and religious Taoism, it has been highly influential on Chinese philosophy and religious practice in general.
The Dào Dé Jīng describes the Tao as the source and ideal of all existence: it is unseen, but not transcendent, immensely powerful yet supremely humble, being the root of all things. People have desires and free will (and thus are able to alter their own nature). Many act "unnaturally", upsetting the natural balance of the Tao. The Dào Dé Jīng intends to lead students to a "return" to their natural state, in harmony with Tao. Language and conventional wisdom are critically assessed. Taoism views them as inherently biased and artificial, widely using paradoxes to sharpen the point.
Terminology originating within the text has been reinterpreted and elaborated upon by Legalist thinkers, Confucianists, and particularly Chinese Buddhists, introduced to China significantly after the initial solidification of Taoist thought.
Traditionally credited to the sage Laozi, with several similar early versions recovered, the texts' authorship and dates of composition and compilation are debated. The oldest excavated portion dates to the late 4th century BCE. While tradition places Laozi earlier, a more conservative estimation would date modern versions of the text only as far back as the late Warring States period (475 – 221 BCE).
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Table of Contents
Introduction
L A O T Z U
BOOK ONE
BOOK TWO
List of Passages for Comparison
Appendices
1 The Problem of Authorship
2 The Nature of the Work
Chronological Table
Glossary
Notes
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Paperback Edition
192 pages. Printed card cover.
ISBN: 9780140441314
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About the Author
Laozi or Lao Tzu (老子), formerly latinized as Laocius, was a legendary Chinese philosopher considered to be the author of the Tao Te Ching (Pinyin: Dào Dé Jīng), one of the foundational texts of Taoism. Modern scholarship generally regards his biographical details as later inventions and his opus a collaboration of various writers, with the name Laozi, literally meaning 'Old Master', likely intended to portray an archaic anonymity that could converse with Confucianism.
Traditional accounts addend him as Li Er, born in the 6th-century BC state of Chu during China's Spring and Autumn period (c. 770 – c. 481 BC). Serving as the royal archivist for the Zhou court at Wangcheng (modern Luoyang), he met and impressed Confucius (c. 551 – c. 479 BC) on one occasion, composing the Dào Dé Jīng in a single session before retiring into the western wilderness.
A central figure in Chinese culture, Laozi is generally considered the founder of Taoism. He was claimed and revered as the ancestor of the Tang dynasty (618–907) and is similarly honoured in modern China as the progenitor of the popular surname Li. In some sects of Taoism, Chinese Buddhism, Confucianism, and Chinese folk religion, it is held that he then became an immortal hermit. Certain Taoist devotees held that the Dào Dé Jīng was the avatar – embodied as a book – of the god Laojun, one of the Three Pure Ones of the Taoist pantheon, though few philosophers believe this.