Tao Te Ching (Daodejing) (Traditionally 6th century BC; probably compiled c. 4th century BC)
Short, poetic 81-chapter classic on the Dao and De (virtue or power); one of the most translated books in the world
Philosophy
Laozi
Traditionally 6th century BC (historicity disputed) · Chinese
Daoism (Taoism)
Laozi (Lao Tzu, "Old Master") is the legendary founder of Daoism and traditional author of the Tao Te Ching (Daodejing). Tradition makes him an archivist at the Zhou court and an older contemporary of Confucius, but many scholars doubt he was a single historical person and date the text, roughly in its received form, to around the 4th century BC. Its teaching of the Dao, wu wei and yielding simplicity has been hugely influential in Chinese thought and religion.
How to spot them
- ▸The Dao (Tao, 'the Way'), wu wei (non-action or effortless action), ziran (naturalness)
- ▸Tao Te Ching / Daodejing, 'Classic of the Way and Virtue', about 5,000 characters in 81 chapters
- ▸Legend of leaving China through a western pass (often on a water buffalo) and writing the book for the gatekeeper Yinxi
- ▸The uncarved block (pu); water as the model of softness overcoming hardness
Key works
Guodian bamboo slips (Tomb sealed c. 300 BC; excavated 1993)
Not by Laozi: the earliest known manuscript material matching parts of the Tao Te Ching
Mawangdui Silk Texts (Tomb sealed 168 BC; excavated 1973)
Not by Laozi: two early silk copies of the Laozi text, placing the De section before the Dao section
Key ideas
- The Dao is the nameless source and way of all things, beyond words: 'The Dao that can be spoken is not the constant Dao' (chapter 1, in a common rendering)
- Wu wei ('non-action') means acting effortlessly in harmony with the Dao rather than by force or contrivance
- The soft and yielding overcome the hard and strong, as water wears away stone
- Simplicity (pu, the 'uncarved block') and naturalness (ziran) are preferred to cleverness, ambition and elaborate moral rules
- The best ruler governs lightly, so that the people barely know he exists
Quick-fire facts
- •'Laozi' is an honorific meaning 'Old Master'; the historian Sima Qian gives his personal name as Li Er
- •Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji), c. 100 BC, describes Confucius visiting Laozi to ask about ritual
- •Whether Laozi was one real person, and when the text was written, are disputed by scholars
- •The other great early Daoist classic is the Zhuangzi, famous for Zhuangzi's butterfly dream
- •In religious Daoism Laozi was deified, for example as Taishang Laojun
- •'A journey of a thousand li begins beneath one's feet' comes from chapter 64 of the Tao Te Ching
Drill it — 9 cards
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Sources
- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy — Laozi