The Tao Te Ching

By Lao Tzu

The Tao Te Ching, Daodejing, Dao De Jing, or Daode jing , also simply referred to as the Laozi, is a Chinese classic text. The text's true authorship and date of composition or compilation are still debated. The oldest excavated portion dates back to the late 4th century BC, but modern scholarship dates the bulk of the text as having been written, or at least compiled later than the earliest portions of the Zhuangzi.  The Tao Te Ching, along with the Zhuangzi, is a fundamental text for both philosophical and religious Taoism, and strongly influenced other schools, such as Legalism, Confucianism, and Chinese Buddhism, which when first introduced into China was largely interpreted through the use of Daoist words and concepts. Many Chinese artists, including poets, painters, calligraphers, and even gardeners, have used the Daodejing as a source of inspiration. Its influence has also spread widely outside East Asia, and it is among the most translated works in world literature.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Enrico Conti
• Release date: Mar 31, 2017
• ISBN: 9788826069746

Lao Tzu

Lao Tzu is the reputed founder of Taoism, but there is little evidence that he actually existed. He is said to have been a contemporary of Confucius and to have served as curator of the dynastic archives until retiring to the mythical K’un-lun mountains.

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The Tao te Ching

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About this Edition

The Tao te Ching

About this Edition

This edition/rendition of the Tao te Ching represents my own interpretation of this classic of Chinese Taoist philosophy. The text is based on the James Legge translation. This was chosen for two reasons: first, the undisputed scholarship of Legge, second because his translation is in the public domain. However, many passages are substantially different, being my own interpretation of what I feel was intended. In some cases I have merely updated the language to suit modern taste (especially those which Legge attempted to put into verse, which many times produced execrable results). In other cases, I have reworked a passage to better accord with what I believe to be the essence of the Tao — not that I claim to be any kind of expert: I just personally feel happier with my rendering.

In reinterpreting parts, I have consulted a number of other editions to arrive at, I hope, a meaningful synthesis. See the bibliography at the end of this document.

It is my belief that the traditional structure of the work, namely the split into 81 chapters, is an artefact of later editions, and has no intrinsic value for the meaning. If one reads the work while ignoring chapter breaks, it seems evident that the work is really a compilation of short aphorisms, loosely arranged by some editor into some kind of order. Certainly the chapters do not logically flow from one to the next, and in many cases, the separate verses within a chapter bear no relation to one another. (For example, see Chapter XXXIX, where several verses mention carriages, but the last is clearly on a different track altogether.)

Furthermore, there seem to be obvious stylistic differences between paragraphs. Some have a dream-like quality, others are practical advice, others still seem more like later commentary. These latter I have rendered in italics. In particular, those passages which are intent on naming things (this is called . . . ) seem to me to be outside the spirit intended by Lao tzu!

Steve Thomas, 1998

The Tao te Ching

The way that can be described is not the unchanging Way.

The name