The Tao Te Ching, (Pinyin Dao De Jing Traditional Chinese: 道德經 ) is a Chinese classic text. Its name comes from the opening words of its two sections: 道 dao "way," Chapter 1, and 德 de "virtue," Chapter 38, plus 經 jing "classic." According to tradition, it was written around 6th century BCE by the Taoist sage Laozi (or Lao Tzu, "Old Master"), a record-keeper at the Zhou Dynasty court, by whose name the text is known in China. The text's true authorship and date of composition or compilation are still debated.^[1] Traditional Chinese characters refers to one of two standard sets of printed Chinese characters. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Pinyin, more formally called Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; Pinyin: ), is the most common variant of Standard Mandarin romanization system in use. ... Standard Mandarin, also known as Standard Chinese, Modern Standard Chinese or Standard spoken Chinese, is the official modern Chinese spoken language used by the Peoples Republic of China, the Republic of China (Taiwan), and Singapore. ... Pinyin, more formally called Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; Pinyin: ), is the most common variant of Standard Mandarin romanization system in use. ... Wade-Giles, sometimes abbreviated Wade, is a Romanization (phonetic notation and transliteration) system for the Chinese language based on Mandarin. ... Image File history File links Chinese-TaoTeChing. ... Cantonese is a major dialect group or language of the Chinese language, a member of the Sino-Tibetan family of languages. ... Jyutping (sometimes spelled Jyutpin) is a romanization system for Standard Cantonese developed by the Linguistic Society of Hong Kong (LSHK) in 1993. ... Pinyin, more formally called Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; Pinyin: ), is the most common variant of Standard Mandarin romanization system in use. ... Traditional Chinese characters refers to one of two standard sets of printed Chinese characters. ... China has a wealth of classical literature, both poetry and prose, dating from the Eastern Zhou Dynasty (1122 BC _ 256 BC) and including the Chinese classics texts, or Chinese canonical texts. ... (7th century BC - 6th century BCE - 5th century BCE - other centuries) (600s BCE - 590s BCE - 580s BCE - 570s BCE - 560s BCE - 550s BCE - 540s BCE - 530s BCE - 520s BCE - 510s BCE - 500s BCE - other decades) (2nd millennium BCE - 1st millennium BCE - 1st millennium) The 5th and 6th centuries BCE were... For other uses of the words tao and dao, see Dao (disambiguation). ... Laozi (Chinese: ; pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Lao Tzu; also Lao Tse, Laotze, Lao Zi, and in other ways) was an ancient Chinese philosopher. ... Boundaries of the Western Zhou Dynasty (1050 - 771 BC) in China The Zhou Dynasty (Chinese: ; Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Chou Ch`ao; 1122 BC to 256 BC [1] preceded by the Shang Dynasty and followed by the Qin Dynasty in China. ...

The Tao Te Ching is fundamental to the Taoist school (Daojia 道家) of Chinese philosophy and strongly influenced other schools, such as Legalism and Neo-Confucianism. This ancient book is also central in Chinese religion, not only for Taoism (Daojiao 道教) but Chinese Buddhism, which when first introduced into China was largely interpreted through the use of Taoist words and concepts. Many Chinese artists, including poets, painters, calligraphers, and even gardeners have used the Tao Te Ching as a source of inspiration. Its influence has also spread widely outside East Asia, aided by hundreds of translations into Western languages. For other uses of the words tao and dao, see Dao (disambiguation). ... Yin Yang symbol and Ba gua paved in a clearing outside of Nanning City, Guangxi province, China. ... In Chinese history, Legalism (Chinese: ; Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Fa-chia; literally School of law) was one of the four main philosophic schools in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period (Near the end of the Zhou dynasty from about the sixth century BC to about the third... Neo-Confucianism (Traditional Chinese: ; Pinyin: ) is a form of Confucianism that was primarily developed during the Song Dynasty, but which can be traced back to Han Yu and Li Ao in the Tang Dynasty. ... Temple incense in Taichung, Taiwan with Fu Dog behind. ... This article explores how Buddhism, a Indian origin, has affected and been affected by Chinese culture, politics, literature and philosophy. ... Quatrain on Heavenly Mountain by Emperor Gaozong Hand-painted Chinese New Years duilian (對聯 couplet), a by-product of Chinese poetry, pasted on the sides of doors leading to peoples homes, at Lijiang City, Yunnan Poetry is the most highly regarded literary genre in ancient China. ... Wall scroll painted by Ma Lin in 1246. ... Contemporary Calligraphy Calligraphy (from Greek kallos beauty + graphẽ writing) is the art of beautiful writing (Mediavilla 1996: 17). ... Reflecting pool at Epcot Centers China Pavilion. ...

The Wade-Giles romanization Tao Te Ching dates back to early English transliterations in the late 19th century, and many people continue using it, especially for words and phrases that have become well-established in English. The pinyin romanization Daodejing originated in the late 20th century, and this romanization is becoming increasingly popular, having been adopted as the official system by the Chinese government. See discussion at Daoism-Taoism romanization issue. Wade-Giles, sometimes abbreviated Wade, is a Romanization (phonetic notation and transliteration) system for the Chinese language based on Mandarin. ... Languages can be romanized in a variety of ways, as shown here with Mandarin Chinese In linguistics, romanization (or Latinization, also spelled romanisation or Latinisation) is the representation of a word or language with the Roman (Latin) alphabet, or a system for doing so, where the original word or language... Pinyin, more formally called Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; Pinyin: ), is the most common variant of Standard Mandarin romanization system in use. ... Dào is the pinyin romanization of the Chinese character 道, representing a word usually rendered in English as Tao, and used as the root word for the English term Taoism. ...

The text

The Tao Te Ching has a long and complex textual history. On one hand, there are transmitted versions and commentaries that date back two millennia; on the other, there are ancient bamboo, silk, and paper manuscripts that archeologists discovered in the last century.

Title

"Tao Te Ching", Calligraphy by Gia-Fu Feng

There are many possible translations of the book's title, owing to the polysemy of the component Chinese words: Image File history File links Download high resolution version (471x1192, 62 KB) Summary Tao Te Ching - Chinese calligraphy from the book cover of Tao Te Ching, translated by Gia Fu Febg and Jane English ISBN 39471833X Licensing File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (471x1192, 62 KB) Summary Tao Te Ching - Chinese calligraphy from the book cover of Tao Te Ching, translated by Gia Fu Febg and Jane English ISBN 39471833X Licensing File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old... Tao Te Ching, Calligraphy by Gia-Fu Feng Gia-Fu Feng, (1919-1985), was educated in China, and came to the United States in 1947 to study comparative religion, holding a BA from Peking University and an MA from the University of Pennsylvania. ... Polysemy (from the Greek πολυσημεία = multiple meaning) is the capacity for a sign to have multiple meanings. ...

• Dào/Tao 道 literally means "way", "road", "path", or "route," but was extended to mean "path ahead", "way forward", "method", "principle", "doctrine", or simply "the Way". This term, which was variously used by other Chinese philosophers (including Confucius, Mencius, Mozi, and Hanfeizi), has special meaning within the context of Taoism, where it implies the essential, unnamable process of the universe.
• Dé/Te 德 basically means "virtue" in the sense of "personal character", "inner strength", or "integrity", but was used differently by Confucianists to mean "morality". The semantics of this Chinese word resemble English virtue, which developed from a (now archaic) sense of "inner potency" or "divine power" (as in "healing virtue of a drug") to the modern meaning of "moral excellence" or "goodness". Compare the compound word dàodé (道德 "ethics", "ethical principles", "morals," or "morality").
• Jīng/Ching 經 originally meant "norm", "rule", "plan", "warp" (vs. "woof") and was semantically extended to mean "scripture", "canon", "great book", or "classic".

Thus, Tao Te Ching can be translated as "The Scripture/Classic/Canon of the Way/Path and the Power/Virtue", etc. This article is about the Chinese character and the philosophy it represents. ... Confucius (Chinese: ; Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Kung-fu-tzu), lit. ... Mencius (Romanization; 孟子, pinyin: Mèng Zǐ; Wade-Giles: Meng Tzu; most accepted dates: 372 – 289 BCE; other possible dates: 385 – 303/302 BCE) was a Chinese philosopher who was arguably the most famous Confucian after Confucius himself. ... Mozi (Chinese: ; pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Mo Tzu, Lat. ... ... De (Chinese: ; pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: te) is a key concept in Chinese philosophy, usually translated inherent character; inner power; integrity in Daoism, moral character; virtue; morality in Confucianism and other contexts, and quality; virtue (guna) or merit; virtuous deeds (punya) in Chinese Buddhism. ... A compound is a word (lexeme) that consists of more than one free morpheme. ...

Note that there is in fact no "its" in the title, either explicitly or implicitly. Therefore, commonly accepted translations of the title such as "The Book of the Way and Its Power" are in fact adding an extra element that takes away from the accuracy.

Besides Daode Jing, other titles include the eponymous Laozi (老子 "Old Master[s]"), the amalgam Laozi Daode Jing (老子道德經), the honorific Daode Zhen Jing (道德真經 "True Classic of the Way and the Power"), and the Wuqian wen (五千文 "Five thousand character [classic]"; see next). An eponym is a person (real or fictitious) whose name has become identified with a particular object or activity. ...

Internal structure

The received Tao Te Ching is a short text of around 5,000 Chinese characters in 81 brief chapters or sections (章). It has two parts, the Tao Ching (道經; chaps. 1–37) and the Te Ching (德經; chaps. 38–81), which may have been edited together into the received text, possibly reversed from an original "Te Tao Ching" (see Mawangdui texts below). The written style is laconic, with few grammatical particles, frequently ambiguous, occasionally rhymed, and expressing often difficult ideas poetically. Technical note: Due to technical limitations, some web browsers may not display some special characters in this article. ... In linguistics, the term particle is often employed as a useful catch-all lacking a strict definition. ...

The Chinese characters in the original versions were probably written in zhuànshū (篆書 seal script), while later versions were written in lìshū (隷書 clerical script) and kǎishū (楷書 regular script) styles. Daoist Chinese Characters contains a good summary of these different calligraphies. 《尋隱者不遇》—賈島 松下問童子 言師採藥去 隻在此山中 雲深不知處 Seeking the Master but not Meeting by Jia Dao Beneath a pine I asked a little child. ... The clerical script or chancery script (Traditional Chinese: ; Simplified Chinese: ; pinyin: lìshu; Japanese: 隸書体, Reishotai;) is an archaic style of Chinese calligraphy which, due to its high legibility to modern readers, is still being used for artistic flavor in a variety of functional applications such as headlines, signboards and advertisements. ... Sheng Jiao Xu by Chu Suiliang: calligraphy of the Kaishu style The Regular Script, or in Chinese Kaishu (楷書 Pinyin: kÇŽishÅ«) and Japanese Kaisho, also commonly known as Standard Regular (正楷), is the newest of the Chinese calligraphy styles (peaked at the 7th century), hence most common in modern writings and...

Historical authenticity

The Tao Te Ching is universally ascribed to Laozi, who may, or may not, have been a historical person ("Old Master"), or people ("Old Masters"). No one can be certain; indeed, Laozi "was a hidden sage" (Kaltenmark 1969:10). Laozi (Chinese: ; pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Lao Tzu; also Lao Tse, Laotze, Lao Zi, and in other ways) was an ancient Chinese philosopher. ...

Laozi

The first reliable reference to Laozi is his "biography" in the circa 100 BCE Shiji (63, tr. Chan 1963:35-37), by Chinese historian Sima Qian, which combines three stories. First, Laozi was a contemporary of Confucius (551-479 BCE), his surname was Li (李 "plum") and personal name was Er (耳 "ear") or Dan (聃 "long ear"). He was an official in the imperial archives, and wrote a book in two parts before departing to the West. Second, Laozi was Lao Laizi (老來子 "Old Come Master"), also a contemporary of Confucius, who wrote a book in 15 parts. Third, Laozi was the Grand Historian and astrologer Lao Dan (老聃 "Old Long-ears"), who lived during the reign (384-362 BCE) of Duke Xian (獻公) of Qin). This work is copyrighted. ... This work is copyrighted. ... Laozi (Chinese: ; pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Lao Tzu; also Lao Tse, Laotze, Lao Zi, and in other ways) was an ancient Chinese philosopher. ... The Records of the Grand Historian or the Records of the Grand Historian of China was the magnum opus of Sima Qian, in which he recounted Chinese history from the time of the mythical Yellow Emperor until his own time. ... Sima Qian Si Ma Qian (司馬遷) (c. ... Confucius (Chinese: ; Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Kung-fu-tzu), lit. ... Qin or Chin (Wade-Giles) (秦), pronounced something like Shin, (778 BC-207 BC) was a state during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods of China. ...

Legends that Laozi was born old, and that lived to 160 or 200 years, are seen by serious Chinese scholars as superstitious tales. Although some Western scholars have expressed doubts over Laozi's historical existence, much of this skepticism is founded on a lack of cultural understanding - namely, that it would be inconceivable, indeed an impossibility within the context of ancient Chinese culture, for Sima Qian the historian to engage in confabulation. Therefore, Chinese scholars by and large accept Laozi as a historical figure, while dismissing superstitious legends as mentioned.

Generations of scholars have debated the historicity of Laozi and the dating of the Tao Te Ching. Linguistic studies of the text's vocabulary and rhyme scheme point to a date of composition after the Shi Jing yet before the Zhuangzi — around the late 4th or early 3rd centuries BCE. A rhyme is a repetition of identical or similar terminal sounds in two or more different words (i. ... ShÄ« JÄ«ng (Chinese: 詩經), translated variously as the Classic of Poetry, the Book of Songs or the Book of Odes, is the first major collection of Chinese poems. ... Zhuangzi (Traditional: 莊子; Simplified: 庄子, Pinyin: Zhuāng Zǐ, Wade-Giles: Chuang TzÅ­, lit. ...

Some supporters of Taoism attribute this debate to the folkloric age of Laozi of over 900 years old who had thirteen incarnates starting around the time of the Three Sovereigns, a view rejected by scholars.

Principal versions

Among the many transmitted editions of the Tao Te Ching text, the three primary ones are named after early commentaries. The "Yan Zun Version," which is only extant for the Te Ching, derives from a commentary attributed to Han Dynasty scholar Yan Zun (巖尊, fl. 80 BCE-10 CE). The "Heshang Gong Version" is named after the legendary Heshang Gong (河上公 "Riverside Sage") who supposedly lived during the reign (202-157 BCE) of Emperor Wen of Han. This commentary (tr. Erkes 1950) has a preface written by Ge Xuan (葛玄, 164-244 CE), grand-uncle of Ge Hong, and scholarship dates this version to around the 3rd century CE. The "Wang Bi Version" has more verifiable origins than either of the above. Wang Bi (王弼, 226 – 249 CE) was a famous Three Kingdoms period philosopher and commentator on the Tao Te Ching (tr. Lin 1977, Rump and Chan 1979) and the I Ching. Han Dynasty in 87 BC Capital Changan (202 BC–9 AD) Luoyang (25 AD–190 AD) Language(s) Chinese Religion Taoism, Confucianism Government Monarchy History  - Establishment 206 BC  - Battle of Gaixia; Han rule of China begins 202 BC  - Interruption of Han rule 9 - 24  - Abdication to Cao Wei 220... Emperor Wen of Han (202 BC–157 BC) was an emperor of the Han Dynasty in China. ... Ge Hong(葛洪) (284-364, also known as Zhichuan) was a minor southern official during the Jin dynasty (263-420), best known for his interest in Daoism, alchemy, and techniques of longevity. ... Wang Bi was a scholar of the Yi Jing (also known as I Ching). ... The Three Kingdoms period (Traditional Chinese: ; Simplified Chinese: ; pinyin: ) is a period in the history of China, part of an era of disunity called the Six Dynasties. ... Alternative meaning: I Ching (monk) The I Ching (Traditional Chinese: 易經, pinyin y jīng; Cantonese IPA: jɪk6gɪŋ1; Cantonese Jyutping: jik6ging1; alternative romanizations include I Jing, Yi Ching, Yi King) is the oldest of the Chinese classic texts. ...

Tao Te Ching scholarship has lately advanced from archeological discoveries of manuscripts, some of which are older than any of the received texts. Beginning in the 1920s and 1930s, Marc Aurel Stein and others found thousands of scrolls in the Mogao Caves near Dunhuang. They included over 50 partial and complete Tao Te Ching manuscripts. One written by the scribe So/Su Dan (素統) is dated 270 CE, and corresponds closely with the Heshang Gong version. Another partial manuscript has the Xiang'er (想爾) commentary, which had previously been lost. In 1973, archeologists discovered copies of early Chinese books, known as the Mawangdui Silk Texts, in a tomb dating from 168 BCE. They included two nearly complete copies of the Laozi, referred to as Text A (甲) and Text B (乙), both of which reverse the traditional ordering and put the Te Ching section before the Tao Ching. Based on calligraphic styles and imperial naming taboo avoidances, scholars believe that A and B can be respectively dated to about the first and third decades of the 2nd century BCE (Boltz 1993:284). In 1993, the oldest known version of the text, written on bamboo tablets, was found in a tomb near the town of Guodian (郭店) in Jingmen, Hubei, and dated prior to 300 BCE. The Guodian Chu Slips comprise about 800 slips of bamboo with a total of over 13,000 characters, about 2,000 of which correspond with the Tao Te Ching, including 14 previously unknown verses. Both the Mawangdui and Guodian versions are generally consistent with the received texts, excepting differences in chapter sequence and graphic variants. Several recent Tao Te Ching translations (e.g., Lau 1989, Henricks 1989, Mair 1990, Henricks 2000, Allan and Williams 2000, and Roberts 2004) utilize these two versions, sometimes with the verses reordered to synthesize the new finds. The 1920s is a decade that is sometimes referred to as the Jazz Age or the Roaring Twenties, usually applied to America. ... Face The 1930s (years from 1930–1939) were described as an abrupt shift to more radical and conservative lifestyles, as countries were struggling to find a solution to the Great Depression, also known in Europe as the World Depression. ... Image:AurelStein. ... The Mogao Caves, or Mogao Grottoes (Chinese: ; Pinyin: ) form a system of 492 temples 25km (15. ... Location of Dunhuang Dunhuang (Chinese: , also written as 燉煌 till early Qing Dynasty; Pinyin: ) is a city in Jiuquan, Gansu province, China. ... For the song by James Blunt, see 1973 (song). ... The Mawangdui Silk Texts (Chinese: ; pinyin: Mawangdui Boshu) are texts of Chinese philosophical and medical works written on silk and found at Mawangdui in China in 1973. ... Naming taboo was a taboo of saying or writing names (specifically characters) of the emperors and ancestors in China and neighboring nations in the ancient Chinese cultural sphere. ... Year 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1993 Gregorian calendar). ... Jingmen (simplified Chinese: 荆门; traditional Chinese: 荊門; pinyin: JÄ«ngmén) is a prefecture-level city in Hubei province of the Peoples Republic of China. ... Hubei (Chinese: 湖北; Hanyu Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Hu-pei; Postal System Pinyin: Hupeh) is a central province of the Peoples Republic of China. ... The Guodian Chu Slips (Chinese: ; pinyin: Guōdiàn ChÇ”jiÇŽn) were unearthed in 1993 in Tomb no. ...

Interpretation and themes

Many believe the Tao Te Ching contains universal truths that have been independently recognized in other philosophies, both religious and secular. Depending on interpretation, some ambiguous passages have multiple readings, ranging from political advice for rulers to practical wisdom for people. The following themes and concepts are central to interpreting the text.

Ineffability

The Way that can be told of is not an unvarying way;

The names that can be named are not unvarying names.

It was from the Nameless that Heaven and Earth sprang;

The named is but the mother that rears the ten thousand creatures, each after its kind. (chap. 1, tr. Waley[1])

These famous first lines of the Tao Te Ching state that the Tao is ineffable. Tao is nameless, goes beyond distinctions, and transcends language. Perhaps the Tao, like the Dharma, is what physicist David Bohm means by "that which is", perfectly being what is, both all and nothing. "My words are very easy to understand and very easy to put into practice. Yet no one under heaven understands them; no one puts them into practice" (chap. 70, tr. Waley[2]) To say that something is ineffable means that it cannot or should not be spoken. ...   (Sanskrit) (Devnagari: धर्म) or Dhamma (Pali) is the underlying order in nature and human life and behaviour considered to be in accord with that order. ... David Bohm. ...

The Mysterious Female

The Valley Spirit never dies

It is named the Mysterious Female.

And the doorway of the Mysterious Female

Is the base from which Heaven and Earth sprang.

It is there within us all the while;

Draw upon it as you will, it never runs dry. (chap. 6, tr. Waley[3])

Like the above description of the ineffable Tao as "the mother that rears the ten thousand creatures", the Tao Te Ching advocates "female" (or Yin) values, emphasizing the passive, solid, and quiescent qualities of nature (which is opposed to the active and energetic), and "having without possessing". This theme challenges "male" (or Yang) values such as movement, positive action, and domination of nature. Yin and Yang should be balanced, "Know masculinity, Maintain femininity, and be a ravine for all under heaven." (chap. 28, tr. Mair) Taoists Taijitu The concept of Yin Yang originates in ancient Chinese philosophy, most likely from the observations of day turning into night and night into day. ...

Returning

In Tao the only motion is returning;

The only useful quality, weakness.

For though all creatures under heaven are the products of Being,

Being itself is the product of Not-being. " (chap. 40, tr. Waley[4])

Another theme is the eternal return, or what Mair (1990:139) calls "the continual return of the myriad creatures to the cosmic principle from which they arose." Eternal return or sometimes eternal recurrence is a concept originating from ancient Egypt and developed in the teachings of Pythagoras. ...

There is a contrast between the rigidity of death and the weakness of life: "When he is born, man is soft and weak; in death he becomes stiff and hard. The ten thousand creatures and all plants and trees while they are alive are supple and soft, but when and dead they become brittle and dry." (chap. 76, tr. Waley[5]). This is returning to the beginning of things, or to one's own childhood.

The Tao Te Ching focuses upon the beginnings of society, and describes a golden age in the past, comparable with the ideas of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Human problems arose from the "invention" of culture and civilization. In this idealized past, “the people should have no use for any form of writing save knotted ropes, should be contented with their food, pleased with their clothing, satisfied with their homes, should take pleasure in their rustic tasks." (chap. 80, tr. Waley[6]) Jean-Jacques Rousseau, (June 28, 1712 – July 2, 1778) was a Genevan philosopher of the Enlightenment whose political ideas influenced the French Revolution, the development of socialist theory, and the growth of nationalism. ...

However, "returning" is not a simplistic reactionary retreat. Two illustrations are the anti-Confucianist saying that, "Learning consists in adding to one's stock day by day; The practice of Tao consists in 'subtracting day by day'." (chap. 48, tr. Waley[7]); and this strategic advice “If you doubt your ability to advance an inch, then retreat a foot”. (chap. 69, tr. Waley[8]) Diminishing one's ego, instead of "improving" it through study, is the path to real wisdom. Letting the enemy take the first step (thus reducing his range of possibilities) is the way to gain the upper hand. This theme is similar to psychological practices such as introspection or meditation, but one returns not to oneself but to nothingness, to "that which is".

Emptiness

We put thirty spokes together and call it a wheel;

But it is on the space where there is nothing that the usefulness of the wheel depends.

We turn clay to make a vessel;

But it is on the space where there is nothing that the usefulness of the vessel depends.

We pierce doors and windows to make a house;

And it is on these spaces where there is nothing that the usefulness of the house depends.

Therefore just as we take advantage of what is, we should recognize the usefulness of what is not. (chap. 11, tr. Waley[9])

Philosophical vacuity is a common theme among Asian wisdom traditions including Taoism (especially Wu wei "nonaction"), Buddhism, and some aspects of Confucianism. One could interpret the Tao Te Ching as a suite of variations on the "Powers of Nothingness". This resonates with the Buddhist Shunyata philosophy of "form is emptiness, emptiness is form." Wu wei (trad. ... Śūnyatā, शून्यता (Sanskrit), Suññatā (Pāli), stong pa nyid (Tibetan), Kuu, 空 (Japanese) qoɣusun (Mongolian), generally translated into English as Emptiness or Voidness, is a concept of central importance in the teaching of the Buddha, as a direct realization of Sunyata is required to achieve liberation from the cycle of...

Looking at a traditional Chinese landscape, one can understand how emptiness (the unpainted) has the power of animating the trees, mountains, and rivers it surrounds. Emptiness can mean having no fixed preconceptions, preferences, intentions, or agenda. Since "The Sage has no heart of his own; He uses the heart of the people as his heart." (chap. 49, tr. Waley[10]). From a ruler's point of view, it is a laissez-faire approach: This article does not cite its references or sources. ... Laissez-faire is short for laissez faire, laissez passer, a French phrase meaning to let things alone, let them pass. First used by the eighteenth century Physiocrats as an injunction against government interference with trade, it is now used as a synonym for strict free market economics. ...

So a wise leader may say:

"I practice inaction, and the people look after themselves."

But from the Sage it is so hard at any price to get a single word

That when his task is accomplished, his work done,

Throughout the country every one says: “It happened of its own accord”. (chap. 17, tr. Waley[11])

Knowledge

Knowing others is wisdom;

Knowing the self is enlightenment.

Mastering others requires force;

Mastering the self requires strength;

He who knows he has enough is rich.

Perseverance is a sign of will power.

He who stays where he is endures.

To die but not to perish is to be eternally present. (chap. 33, tr. Feng and English)

The Tao Te Ching praises self knowledge but criticizes rational understanding. For example: "Banish wisdom, discard knowledge, And the people will be benefited a hundredfold." (chap. 19, tr. Waley[12]) Knowledge, like desire, should be diminished. "It was when intelligence and knowledge appeared that the Great Artifice began." (chap. 18, tr. Waley[13]).

Christian Interpretations

Since Christian missionaries were among the first Westerners to study the Tao Te Ching, it is not surprising that they connected Taoism with Christianity. Assimilation of local religions often helped missionary efforts to convert the populace to Christianity. They drew many parallels between the New Testament and the Tao Te Ching, for instance, "Do good to those who hate you" (Luke 6:27, tr. NASB) and "Requite injuries with good deeds" (chap. 63, tr. Waley[14]). Note that the Chinese Bible translates logos as Tao. A missionary is a propagator of religion, often an evangelist or other representative of a religious community who works among those outside of that community. ... This article is about the Christian scriptures. ... Look up logos in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Two particular Tao Te Ching chapters are perceived as exemplifying Christian themes. Chapter 42 bears a resemblance to the Trinity doctrine: "The Way gave birth to unity, Unity gave birth to duality, Duality gave birth to trinity, Trinity gave birth to the myriad creatures." (tr. Mair 1990:9). This article or section contains too many quotations for an encyclopedic entry. ...

Zhuangzi once stated in a passage from his famous work Inner Chapters, that a great sage would come who would bring knowledge and peace to all men; though he didn't know if it would be in a thousand years or in a day.^{[citation needed]} Naturally, this was interpreted by missionaries as a prediction or foreshadowing of Christ. Zhuangzi (Traditional: 莊子; Simplified: 庄子, Pinyin: Zhuāng Zǐ, Wade-Giles: Chuang Tzŭ, lit. ...

Going even further, in 1823 the French sinologist Jean-Pierre-Abel Rémusat suggested that Yahweh was signified by three words in Chapter 14; yi (夷 "calm; level; barbarian"), xi (希 "rare; indiscernible; hope"), and wei (微 "tiny, small; obscure"). Jean-Pierre-Abel Rémusat (September 5, 1788 - June 4, 1832) was a French Chinese scholar. ... Tetragrammaton redirects here. ...

We look for it but do not see it; we name it "subtle." We listen for it but do not hear it; we name it "rare." We grope for it but do not grasp it; we name it "serene." These three cannot be fully fathomed, Therefore, They are bound together to make unity." (chap. 14, tr. Mair 1990:74)

James Legge (1891:57-58[15]) dismissed this hypothetical yi-xi-wei and Yahweh connection as "a mere fancy or dream". According to Holmes Welch:

It is not hard to understand the readiness of early scholars to assert that the doctrine of the Trinity was revealed in the Tao Te Ching and that its fourteenth chapter contains the syllables of "Yahveh." Even today, though these errors have been recognized for more than a century, the general notion that Lao Tzu was Christ's forerunner has lost none of its romantic appeal. (1965:7)

Present day researchers, such as Damascene et al. (1999), continue to explore the similarities between Taoist and Christian teachings.

Critics point out that these "similarities" consist of taking select passages out of context of the text as a whole, and out of the history of Chinese textual interpretation and religious practice. Passages that are incompatible with Christian doctrines, such as Chapter 5 "Heaven and Earth are not Humane (ren)"(Wing-tsit Chan trans.) are ignored. This approach was started by Christian missionaries, who were actively working to supplant Chinese religions. Professor Wing-tsit Chan (1901 - August 12, 1994) was one of the worlds leading scholars of Chinese philosophy and religion, active in the United States. ...

Other themes

Here are some other topics related to the Tao Te Ching:

• Force begets force.
• One whose needs are simple can fulfill them easily.
• Material wealth does not enrich the spirit.
• Self-absorption and self-importance are vain and self-destructive.
• Victory in war is not glorious and not to be celebrated, but stems from devastation, and is to be mourned.
• The harder one tries, the more resistance one creates for oneself.
• The more one acts in harmony with the universe (the Mother of the ten thousand things), the more one will achieve, with less effort.
• The truly wise make little of their own wisdom for the more they know, the more they realize how little they know.
• When we lose the fundamentals, we supplant them with increasingly inferior values which we pretend are the true values.
• Glorification of wealth, power and beauty beget crime, envy and shame.
• The qualities of flexibility and suppleness are superior to rigidity and strength.
• Everything is in its own time and place.
• Duality of nature that complements each other instead of competing with each other — the two faces of the same coin — one cannot exist without the other.
• The differences of opposite polarities — i.e. the differences between male and female, light and dark, strong and weak, etc. — helps us understand and appreciate the universe.
• Humility is the highest virtue.
• Knowing oneself is a virtue.
• Envy is our calamity; overindulgence is our plight.
• The more you go in search of an answer, the less you will understand.
• Know when it's time to stop. If you don't know then stop when you are done.

Translations and interpretations

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Tao Te Ching

The Tao Te Ching has been translated into over 250 Western languages, mostly to English, German, and French.^[2] According to Holmes Welch, "It is a famous puzzle which everyone would like to feel he had solved."^[3] There are also Tao Te Ching interpretations and poetic renderings by non-Chinese speaking authors. Image File history File links Wikisource-logo. ... The original Wikisource logo. ...

Translational difficulties

The Tao Te Ching is written in classical Chinese, which can be difficult to understand completely even for well-educated native speakers of modern Chinese. Classical Chinese relies heavily on allusion to a corpus of standard literary works to convey semantic meaning, nuance, and subtext. This corpus was memorized by highly-educated people in Laozi's time, and the allusions were reinforced through common use in writing, but few people today have this type of deep acquaintance with ancient Chinese literature. Thus, many levels of subtext are potentially lost on modern translators. Furthermore, many of the words that the Tao Te Ching uses are deliberately vague and ambiguous. Classical Chinese or Literary Chinese is a traditional style of written Chinese based on the grammar and vocabulary of very old forms of Chinese , making it very different from any modern spoken form of Chinese. ... Allusion is a stylistic device or trope, in which one refers covertly or indirectly to an object or circumstance that has occurred or existed in an external content. ... Look up corpus in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... In general, semantics (from the Greek semantikos, or significant meaning, derived from sema, sign) is the study of meaning, in some sense of that term. ... Subtext is content of a book, play, film or television series which is not announced explicitly by the characters (or author) but is implicit or becomes something understood by the reader / viewer as the production unfolds. ...

Since there are no punctuation marks in classical Chinese, it can be difficult to conclusively determine where one sentence ends and the next begins. Moving a period a few words forward or back or inserting a comma can profoundly alter the meaning of many passages, and such divisions and meanings must be determined by the translator. Some editors and translators argue that the received text is so corrupted (from originally being written on one-line bamboo tablets linked with silk threads) that it is impossible to understand some chapters without moving sequences of characters from one place to another. Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ...

Printed English translations and interpolations

Tao Te Ching — translation by Gia-Fu Feng and Jane English

• John Chalmers, The Speculations on Metaphysics, Polity and Morality of "The Old Philosopher," Lao-tze, London, Trubner, 1868.
• Frederic H. Balfour, Taoist Texts: Ethical, Political, and Speculative, London, Trubner, 1884.
• James Legge, The Texts of Taoism, 2 vols (Sacred Books of China 39 and 40) Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1891; New York, Dover, 1962.
• I.W. Heysinger, The Light of China. The Tao Teh King of Lao Tsze; 604-504 B.C., Stationer's Hall, 1903; Kessinger, 2003.
• Arthur Waley, The Way and Its Power: A Study of the Tao Te Ching and its Place in Chinese Thought, London, Allen & Unwin, 1934, New York, Grove, 1958.
• Witter Bynner, The Way of Life According to Lao Tzu: An American Version, John Day Company, 1944.
• Lin Yutang, The Wisdom of Laotse, Random House, 1948.
• Eduard Erkes, Ho-Shang-Kung's Commentary on Lao-tse, Artibus Asiae, 1950.
• J.J.L. Duyvendak, Tao Te King: The Book of the Way and its Virtue, London, John Murray, 1954.
• John C.H. Wu, Tao Teh Ching, St. John's University Press, 1961; Shambhala, 1989.
• D.C. Lau, Tao Te Ching, Penguin Books, 1963; rev. ed. (with Mawang Dui texts) Chinese University Press, 1989.
• Wing-tsit Chan, The Way of Lao Tzu, Bobbs-Merrill, 1963.
• Jane English and Gia-Fu Feng, Tao Te Ching, New York, Vintage Books, 1972, 1989. (This was Alan Watts favorite English translation.)
• Paul Lin, A Translation of Lao-tzu's Tao Te Ching and Wang Pi's Commentary, University of Michigan, 1977.
• Ariane Rump and Wing-tsit Chan, Commentary on the Lao Tzu by Wang Pi, University of Hawaii, 1979.
• R.L. Wing, The Tao Of Power, Doubleday, 1986.
• Stephen Mitchell, Tao Te Ching, New York, Harper Collins, 1988.
• Ellen M. Chen, The Te Tao Ching: A New Translation with Commentary, New York, Paragon House, 1989.
• Robert G. Henricks, Lao-tzu: Te-Tao Ching, A New Translation Based on the Recently Discovered Ma-wang-tui Texts, Ballantine, 1989. ISBN 0-345-34790-0
• Victor H. Mair, Tao Te Ching: The Classic Book of Integrity and the Way, by Lao Tzu; an entirely new translation based on the recently discovered Ma-wang-tui manuscripts, New York, Bantam Books, 1990.
• Stephen Addiss and Stanley Lombardo, Loa-tzu, Tao Te Ching, Indianapolis, Hacket Publishing, 1993.
• Red Pine (Bill Porter), Lao-Tzu's Taoteching, With Selected Commentaries of the Past 2000 Years, San Francisco, Mercury House, 1996.
• Ursula K. Le Guin, Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching, a Book about the Way and the Power of the Way, Boston, Shambhala, 1998.
• Sarah Allan and Crispin Williams, The Guodian Laozi, Berkeley, University of California, 2000.
• Robert G. Henricks, Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching: A Translation of the Startling New Documents Found at Guodian, New York, Columbia University Press, 2000. (Contains only the Guodian chapters, cf. Henricks 1989.)
• David H. Li, Dao De Jing: a New Millennium Translation, Premier Publishing, 2001.
• Jonathan Star, Tao Te Ching: The Definitive Edition, New York, Penguin Books, 2001.
• David Hall and Roger T. Ames, Dao De Jing: A Philosophical Translation, New York, Ballantine Books, 2003.
• Han Hiong Tan, The Wisdom of Lao Zi - Dao De Jing, 2003. ISBN 0-9580067-2-5
• Rudolf G. Wagner, A Chinese Reading of the Daodejing: Wang Bi's Commentary on the Laozi With Critical Text and Translation, State University of New York Press, 2003.
• Moss Roberts, Dao De Jing: The Book of the Way, University of California Press, 2004. ISBN 0-520-24221-1
• Derek Lin, Tao Te Ching: Annotated & Explained, SkyLight Paths Publishing, 2006. Author available online to answer questions about his translation.
• Sam Hamill, Tao Te Ching: A New Translation, illustrated by Kazuaki Tanahashi, Shambhala Publications, 2007.

Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1200x1550, 262 KB) Summary Tao Te Ching - Translation by Gia-Fu Feng and Jane English Licensing File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1200x1550, 262 KB) Summary Tao Te Ching - Translation by Gia-Fu Feng and Jane English Licensing File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Tao Te Ching, Calligraphy by Gia-Fu Feng Gia-Fu Feng, (1919-1985), was educated in China, and came to the United States in 1947 to study comparative religion, holding a BA from Peking University and an MA from the University of Pennsylvania. ... This page is a candidate for speedy deletion. ... Ezra Pounds annotations on his copy of James Legges translation of the Book of Poetry (Shih Ching), in the Sacred Books of the East. ... Arthur David Waley (August 19, 1889 – June 27, 1966) was a noted English Orientalist and Sinologist. ... Harold Witter Bynner (1881 – 1968) was an American poet, writer and scholar, known for his long residence in Santa Fe, at what is now the Inn of the Turquoise Bear. ... Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Lin Yutang Lin Yutang, photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1939 This is a Chinese name; the family name is Lin (æž—) Lin Yutang (Traditional Chinese: ; Simplified Chinese: ; pinyin: , October 10, 1895 – March 26, 1976) was a Chinese writer and inventor whose original works... Professor Wing-tsit Chan (1901 - August 12, 1994) was one of the worlds leading scholars of Chinese philosophy and religion, active in the United States. ... This page is a candidate for speedy deletion. ... Tao Te Ching, Calligraphy by Gia-Fu Feng Gia-Fu Feng, (1919-1985), was educated in China, and came to the United States in 1947 to study comparative religion, holding a BA from Peking University and an MA from the University of Pennsylvania. ... From The Essential Alan Watts Alan Wilson Watts (January 6, 1915 – November 16, 1973) was a philosopher, writer, speaker, and expert in comparative religion. ... Stephen Mitchell is an acclaimed poet and translator. ... Victor H. Mair is Professor of Chinese Language and Literature in the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, United States. ... Stanley Lombardo is a professor of Classics at the University of Kansas. ... Bill Porter, an American author who writes under the name Red Pine, is an acclaimed translator of and interpreter of Chinese texts. ... Ursula Kroeber Le Guin [ˌɜɹsÉ™lÉ™ ËŒkɹobɜɹ ləˈgWɪn] (born October 21, 1929) is an American author. ... David H. Li, born 1928 in Ningbo, China, moved to the United States of America in 1949. ... Rudolf G. Wagner is a Professor of Department of Chinese Studies in University of Heidelberg, Germany[1]. He is also the Secretary-General of European Association for Chinese Studies (EACS, Chinese: 歐洲漢學學會)[2]. (2003), A Chinese Reading of the Daodejing: Wang Bis Commentary on the Laozi with Critical Text and...

Online English translations

• Tao Te Ching, James Legge
• Tao Te Ching, John H. McDonald
• Daode jing, Charles Muller
• Tao Te Ching, Derek Lin. Author available online to answer questions about his translation.
• The Tao Te Ching, Frederic H. Balfour
• Tao Te Ching, Stephen Mitchell
• Tao Te Ching [16]PDF (120 KiB), Stan Rosenthal
• Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu, 3 translations: James Legge, D.T. Suzuki, and Dwight Goddard
• Dao De Jing (Way Power Book) by Lao-zi, Sanderson Beck
• Tao Te Ching – The Way of Life, Raymond B. Blakney
• The Daode Jing (Tao Te Ching) of Laozi (Lao Tzu), Chad Hansen
• Dynamic Tao and Its Manifestations. Wayne L. Wang
• The Tao Te Ching, Lin Yutang
• The Daily I Ching - Tao Te Ching translation by Jane English and Gia-Fu Feng.
• The Living Dao, Daodejing translation by Lok Sang Ho
• 道德經 Dàodéjīng / Tao Te Ching / Tao Te King Chinese-English-German by Hilmar Klaus
• The Tao Teh King, Aleister Crowley
• The Tao Te Ching, Ron Hogan (available in several formats, including iPod)
• Jade Purity: Dao De Jing, Siji Tzu (highly interpretive rather than literal)
• Lao Tze - TaoDeChing, Peter A. Merel (interpolation)
• My Dao De Jing, Nina Correa
• Lao Tzu: "Tao Te Ching" (100 translations of Chapter 1), Bureau of Public Secrets
• Taoism - Tao Te Ching Translations, WWW Virtual Library
• Tao Te King Versions - many translations into English and other languages
• Tao Teh Ching, Line-by-Line Comparisons, 29 translations, St. Xenophon Library
• 13 translations into English
• Tao Te Ching audio edition, narrated by Michael Scott

Charles Muller is a translator specializing in East Asian philosophical texts. ... Stephen Mitchell is an acclaimed poet and translator. ... The Portable Document Format (PDF) is the file format created by Adobe Systems in 1993 for document exchange. ... A kibibyte (a contraction of kilo binary byte) is a unit of information or computer storage, commonly abbreviated KiB (never kiB). 1 kibibyte = 210 bytes = 1,024 bytes The kibibyte is closely related to the kilobyte, which can be used either as a synonym for kibibyte or to refer to... Wayne L. Wang, a Tao philosophy researcher, was born in I-Lan, Taiwan and came to the U.S. for graduate studies in engineering and theoretical physics. ... Aleister Crowley, born Edward Alexander Crowley, (12 October 1875 – 1 December 1947; the surname is pronounced // i. ... Siji Tzu a mythical Taoist living the ideas given by Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu and delivering interpretations of Philosophical Taoism through the use of poetry, koan and fable. ...

See also

• Laozi
• Daoism-Taoism romanization issue
• Eastern philosophy
• Huahujing
• Huainanzi
• Liezi
• Tai Ji
• Zhuangzi

Laozi (Chinese: ; pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Lao Tzu; also Lao Tse, Laotze, Lao Zi, and in other ways) was an ancient Chinese philosopher. ... Dào is the pinyin romanization of the Chinese character 道, representing a word usually rendered in English as Tao, and used as the root word for the English term Taoism. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... The Huahujing (Chinese: ; Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Hua Hu Ching; literally Classic on Converting the Barbarians) is a Taoist book. ... The Huainanzi (淮南子) is a Chinese classic from the 2nd century BC written under the patronage of the Han dynasty nobleman Liu An. ... The Liezi (Chinese: ; Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Lieh Tzu; literally [Book of] Master Lie) is a Daoist text attributed to Lie Yukou, a circa 5th century BCE Hundred Schools of Thought philosopher, but Chinese and Western scholars believe it was compiled around the 4th century CE. // The first two references to... The Taiji diagram or Taijitu , 太極圖 of Zhou Dun-yi. ... Zhuangzi (Traditional: 莊子; Simplified: 庄子, Pinyin: Zhuāng Zǐ, Wade-Giles: Chuang TzÅ­, lit. ...

References

• Boltz, William G. "Lao tzu Tao te ching." In Early Chinese Texts: A Bibliographical Guide, edited by Michael Loewe. Berkeley: University of California, Institute of East Asian Studies. 1993. pp. 269-92.
• Damascene, Hieromonk, Lou Shibai, and You-Shan Tang. Christ the Eternal Tao. Platina, CA: Saint Herman Press, 1999.
• Eliade, Mircea. A History of Religious Ideas, Volume 2. Translated by Willard R. Trask. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1984.
• Kaltenmark, Max. Lao Tzu and Taoism. Translated by Roger Greaves. Stanford: Stanford University Press. 1969.
• Kohn, Livia and Michael LaFargue, eds. Lao-Tzu and the Tao-Te-Ching, Albany: State University of New York Press. 1998.
• Welch, Holmes. Taoism: The Parting of the Way. Boston: Beacon Press. 1965.

Notes

1. ^ Eliade (1984), p.26
2. ^ LaFargue, Michael and Pas, Julian. On Translating the Tao-te-ching in Kohn and LaFargue (1998), p. 277
3. ^ Welch (1965), p. 7

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Tao Te Ching

See above for external links to Online English translations of the Tao Te Ching.

• The Authorship of the Tao Te Ching, John J. Emerson
• Tao Te Ching at the Open Directory Project

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