Tao Te Ching

Tao Te Ching

Ink on silk manuscript of the Tao Te Ching – from Mawangdui (2nd century BCE)
Author	Laozi (trad.)
Language	Classical Chinese
Subject	Philosophy
Publication date	4th century BCE
Publication place	China
Published in English	1868
Original text
Translation	Tao Te Ching at Wikisource

The Tao Te Ching or Dào Dé Jīng,Template:NoteTag (traditional Chinese: 道德經; simplified Chinese: 道德经; lit. 'Classic of the Way and its Virtue') or Laozi in Chinese and scholarship, is an ancient Chinese classic text, becoming 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.

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).

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. One of the most translated texts in world literature, the text is well known in the West.

Title

In English, the title is commonly rendered Tao Te Ching, following the Wade–Giles romanization, or as Daodejing, following pinyin. It can be translated as The Classic of the Way and its Power, The Book of the Tao and Its Virtue, The Book of the Way and of Virtue, The Tao and its Characteristics, The Canon of Reason and Virtue, The Classic Book of Integrity and the Way, or A Treatise on the Principle and Its Action.

Ancient Chinese books were commonly referenced by the name of their real or supposed author, in this case the "Old Master", Laozi. As such, the Tao Te Ching is also sometimes called the Laozi, especially in Chinese sources. The term dao-de itself was not used in the time of Mencius; it emerges in the late Warring States period. The title Tao Te Ching, designating the work's status as a classic, was first applied during the reign of Emperor Jing of Han (157–141 BCE).

Later sources added that it was Emperor Jing himself who named it a classic, but the Shiji states that his mother the Empress Dowager Dou was a more dedicated student of the text. Other titles for the work include the honorific Sutra of the Way and Its Power (Template:Zhi) and the descriptive Five Thousand Character Classic (Template:Zhi).

Authorship

The Tao Te Ching is traditionally ascribed to Laozi, whose historical existence has been a matter of scholarly debate. His name, which means "Old Master", has only fueled controversy on this issue. Legends claim variously that Laozi was "born old" and that he lived for 996 years, with 12 previous incarnations starting around the time of the Three Sovereigns before the 13th as Laozi. Some scholars have expressed doubts about Laozi's historicity.

Laozi riding a water buffalo

The first biographical reference to Laozi is in the Records of the Grand Historian, by Chinese historian Sima Qian (c. 145–86 BCE), which combines three stories. In the first, Laozi was a contemporary of Confucius (551–479 BCE). His surname was Li (Template:Zhi), and his personal name was Er (Template:Zhi) or Dan (Template:Zhi). He was an official in the imperial archives, and wrote a book in two parts before departing to the West; at the request of the keeper of the Han-ku Pass, Yinxi, Laozi composed the Tao Te Ching. In the second story, Laozi, also a contemporary of Confucius, was Lao Laizi (), who wrote a book in 15 parts. Third, Laozi was the grand historian and astrologer Lao Dan (), who lived during the reign of Duke Xian of Qin (r. 384–362 BCE).

Feng Youlan was from an era of scholarship that believed the Tao te Ching was a late work. He did not consider it a significant issue for tradition if the Tao te Ching turned out to be a much later work than the traditional Laozi. He did not believe the traditional account required Laozi to personally write the book named for him, or that this would therefore void him having been a real person.

Textual history

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 (, fl. 80 BCE – 10 CE). The "Heshang Gong" version is named after the legendary Heshang Gong ("legendary sage"), who supposedly lived during the reign of Emperor Wen of Han (180–157 BCE). This commentary has a preface written by Ge Xuan (164–244 CE), granduncle of Ge Hong, and scholarship dates this version to c. the 3rd century CE. The origins of the "Wang Bi" version have greater verification than either of the above. Wang Bi (226–249 CE) was a Three Kingdoms-period philosopher and commentator on the Tao Te Ching and I Ching.

Archaeologically recovered manuscripts

Tao Te Ching scholarship has advanced from archaeological 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 more than 50 partial and complete manuscripts. Another partial manuscript has the Xiang'er commentary, which had previously been lost.Template:Rp

In 1973, archaeologists discovered copies of early Chinese books, known as the Mawangdui Silk Texts, in a tomb dated to 168 BCE. They included two nearly complete copies of the text, referred to as Text A () and Text B (), both of which reverse the traditional ordering and put the Te Ching section before the Tao Ching, which is why the Henricks translation of them is named "Te-Tao Ching". Based on calligraphic styles and imperial naming taboo avoidances, scholars believe that Text A can be dated to about the first decade and Text B to about the third decade of the 2nd century BCE.

In 1993, the oldest known version of the text, written on bamboo slips, was found in a tomb near the town of Guodian (Template:Zhi) in Jingmen, Hubei, and dated prior to 300 BCE. The Guodian Chu Slips comprise around 800 slips of bamboo with a total of over 13,000 characters, about 2,000 of which correspond with the Tao Te Ching. 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 utilise these two versions, sometimes with the verses reordered to synthesize the new finds.

Contents

Themes

{{#section:Laozi|DDJ themes}}

Structure and style

The Tao Te Ching is a text of around 5,162 to 5,450 Chinese characters in 81 brief chapters or sections (). There is some evidence that the chapter divisions were later additions—for commentary, or as aids to rote memorisation—and that the original text was more fluidly organised. It has two parts, the Tao Ching (; chapters 1–37) and the Te Ching (; chapters 38–81), which may have been edited together into the received text, possibly reversed from an original Te Tao Ching.

Contrasting with Confucianism, its general statements are free of narration or reference to "any particular persons, times, or places." The written style is laconic, with few grammatical particles. While the ideas are singular, the style is poetic, combining two major strategies: short, declarative statements, and intentional contradictions, encouraging varied, contradictory interpretations. The first of these strategies creates memorable phrases, while the second forces the reader to reconcile supposed contradictions. With a partial reconstruction of the pronunciation of Old Chinese spoken during the Tao Te ChingTemplate:'s composition, approximately three-quarters rhymed in the original language.

The Chinese characters in the earliest versions were written in seal script, while later versions were written in clerical script and regular script styles.

Chronological theories

Early late theory

Although debated more in early scholarship, early modern scholars like Feng Youlan and Herrlee G. Creel still considered the work a compilation; Gu Jiegang believed it to have been written over three centuries. Most modern scholarship holds the text to be a compilation, as typical for long-form early Chinese texts. Discussing concepts of names and realities, the early scholarship of Feng Youlan theorized the school of names as preceding the work, therefore supposing it as coming after Gongsun Long or Hui Shi. But the Tao te Ching does not demonstrate school of names influence the way the Zhuangzi does.

A traditional chronology places Laozi before Zhuang Zhou. Recalling general scholarship of the time, Chinese scholar Zhang Xincheng's (1939) publication questioned this, originating the early theory that the first seven chapters of the Zhuangzi (book) were earlier than other parts of the work. Following this was the early late theory of Zhuangzi the man as preceding completion of the Tao te Ching.

Essentially the dating of A.C. Graham, the Stanford Encyclopedia (of Laozi) supposes modern versions of text as dating back to the late Warring States period circa 250 BCE, drawing on a wide range of versions further dating back a century or two. Termed the "After Zhuangzi" theory, representative of Ch'ien Mu and Graham, a lack of early references contributes to Graham's late dating. While the Zhuangzi is the first reference for the Tao Te Ching, its Inner Chapters do not demonstrate familiarity with it. Thus, an early stratum representative of the Zhuangzi's core Inner Chapters may have preceded it('s completion or propagation).

Sima Qian & Shen Dao

Derived of Sima Qian's perspective in the mid-early Han dynasty, the term Daoist would typically bring Laozi and Zhuangzi to mind. Alongside the Han Feizi, the Tao Te Ching was likely becoming more influential than the Zhuangzi and Shen Buhai by Sima Qian's time, if they were not already influential going back to the late Warring States period. Sima Qian discusses them together, but names the chapter "Biographies of Laozi and Han Fei".

Earlier more influential, based on Shen Dao, there were at least some Laozi-like currents by the early mid Warring States period. Benjamin I. Schwartz viewed Shen Dao as still naturalist but less "primitivist" than Laozi, seeing high civilization as part of nature rather than rejecting it. But if Shen Dao was influenced by Laozi, much of his other beliefs are still more archaic; he has a view of human disposition as self-interested aligning more with Zhuangzi, but less developed views of Dao, and was more fatalist, including a belief that human disposition could not change. The Zhuangzi and Tao te Ching both believe human disposition can change.

Though scholar Pei Wang primarily treats the similarities and differences of Laozi, the Huangdi Sijing and Han Feizi, at least in review with Pei Wang, Yuri Pines Dao Companion to China's fa tradition expresses openness to the "indebtedness" of early Warring States thinkers like Shen Buhai to Laozi.

Huangdi Sijing

Compared with Laozi by Sima Qian, the Tao te Ching would traditionally be taken as preceding Shen Buhai. Questioning their chronology, Creel proposed that Shen Buhai may have preceded it as well, but Shen Buhai does bear a "striking" resemblance to Laozi. Though not enough to eliminate a late dating, discovery of the early Mawangdui silk texts and Guodian Chu Slips again made a dating before the third-century BCE at least more probable.

Included in the Mawangdui tomb with ten similar passages, the Huangdi Sijing can contribute to debate for an early Tao te Ching. Although it does not directly quote from the Tao te Ching, Yates did treat it as quoting from the text. Admittedly, Yate's data would still suggest a late Warring States compilation for much of the material, but does have earlier material like Shen Dao, increasing the theoretical likelihood of prominent Laozi and similar currents dating back to the late Warring States period if not earlier. Yates preferred to argue the possibility of earlier datings for the materials.

Leo S Chang theorized potential Laozi influences for the Sijing, with some passages similar to the Zhuangzi. Its introduction resembles the Tao te Ching. But it does not actually quote the Tao te Ching. As Chang notes, there are "no lengthy parallel expressions between" the Sijing and Laozi, and Guanzi passages are dominant. The Sijing has similar ideas to Laozi of strategically "assuming feminine conduct", but the ruler switches to an active posture at "the right moment", countervailing against Laozi's passivity. In Laozi, the Dao gives birth to the One; in the Sijing, they are the same. Laozi disparages law; the Sijing's law 'derives from Dao'.

Despite Shen Dao's early heyday, Guanzi currents would seem more theoretically dominant among late Warring States period nobles. The Huangdi Sijing has some few Shen Dao passages, but Guanzi passages are most dominant in it. It has an introduction resembling the Tao te Ching, but doesn't provide it as a source. While it is possible it goes farther back, it is easier to suggest a modern Tao te Ching, or at least more marked increase in influence, closer to the end of Warring States period, with Laozi mentioned (though not specifically endorsed) in the Lushi Chunqiu, and commentaries in the Han Feizi.

Before Zhuangzi

Linguistic studies of the Tao Te ChingTemplate:'s vocabulary and rime scheme point to a date of composition after the early Classic of Poetry (or Book of Songs), but before the Zhuangzi, and would generally be taken as preceding the Zhuangzi. This is the traditional "before Zhuangzi" theory. Although the Book of Songs is a diverse work, they do not bear any especial resemblance. Sinologist Xiaogan Liu (inc. Dao Companion series) argued that the Tao Te Ching's poetic structure resembles the Book of Songs more than the later, Warring States period Songs of Chu.

Upholding the traditional early dating of Sima Qian, Xiaogan Liu criticized late theories as based in negative rather than positive evidence, and the idea that Laozi could be contemporary with later parts of the Zhuangzi, which refer to him as "Great True man of Ancient Time". Not considering Laozi an exceedingly difficult text, he moreover questions why the Han Feizi would feel the need to annotate Laozi if its author was contemporary to him. In the evaluation of Mark Edward Lewis, Laozi's presence in the Han Feizi is itself indicative its author(s) felt that it specifically would be of interest to rulers; that it was, by the late Warring States period, not at least just another text.

As one suggestion the work is an ancient text, ancient texts are arguably divided in two parts. The Mawangdui versions divide the text in two parts, and one version also didn't have chapters yet. When the Tao te Ching did get chapters, they weren't given titles. Alongside the Huangdi Sijing, late Warring States texts Xunzi and Han Feizi are the first to give titles to chapters. While the Han Feizi is Laozi's first preserved commentary, Laozi was naturalist, adapting to nature. The late Xun Kuang and Han Feizi enter into the philosophical age of trying to control nature.

As another criticism of late theories for the work, although the earliest recovered versions are from late in the range of possible dating, their language is already "coherent and natural". Benjamin I. Schwartz considered the Tao Te Ching remarkably unified by the time of the Mawangdui, even if these versions swap the two halves of the text. While the Han Feizi itself is not the most effective example of Daoistic syncretism, translator W.K. Liao considered the Han Feizi's Chapter 20 "Commentaries on Lao Tzŭ's Teachings" academically thorough.

Han Fei & Renshu

The late Warring States period Han Feizi includes the Tao te Ching's earliest known commentaries. As Graham argued, the Han Feizi does make a "sustained effort" to use the Tao te Ching, but is not the most effective example of Daoistic syncretism, and is limited to a few chapters. Its Laozi arguments had likely not been around very long, or would have incorporated them more comprehensively. Its "Interpreting Laozi" is again comparable with the Guanzi.

The Han Feizi's "Way of the Ruler" (Ch5) can be considered a core ideological text of the Han Feizi. While incorporating Laozi from the very beginning of the chapter, it quotes it only briefly; Laozi had an "undeniable" influence in the late Warring States period, but only a limited individual level of intellectual and political influence or utility for the author(s).

Argument in scholarship holds that least some of the Han Feizi preceded and pluasibly even influences the Qin's encyclopedic Lushi Chunqiu. The Lushi Chunqiu mentions Laozi, and the "Ren shu" chapter includes an example of wu wei Daoistic influence. Despite this, Renshu isn't specifically Laozi. Renshu instead exhibits syncretism comparable with Shen Buhai, Shen Dao, Han Fei, Guanzi and the Mawangdui Huangdi sijing.

Zhuangzi & Shen Dao

As argued by Creel, as a work which includes discussion of government, the Tao te Ching's more governmentally complex ideas of Dao or wu wei could well be expected to come after some early ideas of them represented in the Zhuangzi, which didn't as much involve government. The Analects have wu wei as an idea of government, but one of virtue, not a technique of governmental control like the Tao te Ching.

Discussed in the Outer Zhuangzi's after Mozi but before Laozi and Zhuangzi, Shen Dao shares content with the Inner Zhuangzi, and can also be directly compared with the Tao Te Ching. Placing Laozi at the penultimate before Zhuangzi, Xiaogan Liu considered this an example of ranking rather than chronology. But it is plausibly chronological. Less technically complex than Shen Buhai, while Shen Dao's current probably does not go back to the Spring and Autumn period, some such content could go back to the early fourth century BCE.

Sinologsist Chad Hansen did not consider the Outer Zhuangzi entirely accurate chronologically, but positioned Shen Dao under "Pre-Laozi Daoist Theory" for the theoretical framework of the Stanford Encyclopedia of Daoism's 2024 edition (2025 defines Daoism more philosophically). With Shen Dao being comparable, his time could theoretically form a grounding for its development, or might have been finished by his time, if the Zhuangzi's (and other) indications are not chronologically accurate.

Translation

The Tao Te Ching has been translated into Western languages over 250 times, mostly to English, German, and French. Another estimate is that there have been 1930 translations into 94 languages. According to Holmes Welch, "It is a famous puzzle which everyone would like to feel he had solved." The first English translation of the Tao Te Ching was produced in 1868 by the Scottish Protestant missionary John Chalmers, entitled The Speculations on Metaphysics, Polity, and Morality of the "Old Philosopher" Lau-tsze. It was heavily indebted to Julien's French translation and dedicated to James Legge, who later produced his own translation for Oxford's Sacred Books of the East.

Other notable English translations of the Tao Te Ching are those produced by Chinese scholars and teachers: a 1948 translation by linguist Lin Yutang, a 1961 translation by author John Ching Hsiung Wu, a 1963 translation by sinologist Din Cheuk Lau, another 1963 translation by professor Wing-tsit Chan, and a 1972 translation by Taoist teacher Gia-Fu Feng together with his wife Jane English.

Many translations have been written by people with a foundation in Chinese language and philosophy who have been trying to render the original meaning of the text as faithfully as possible into English. Some of the more popular translations, however, are written from a less scholarly perspective, giving an individual author's interpretation; critics of these versions claim that they deviate from the text and are not compatible with the history of Chinese thought. Russell Kirkland goes further, arguing that these versions are based on Western Orientalist fantasies and represent the colonial appropriation of Chinese culture. Other Taoism scholars, such as Michael LaFargue and Jonathan Herman, argue that, while these versions do not pretend to scholarship, they meet a real spiritual need in the West; they aim to make the wisdom of the Tao Te Ching more accessible to modern English-speaking readers by, typically, employing more familiar cultural and temporal references.

Challenges in translation

The Tao Te Ching is written in Classical Chinese, which poses a number of challenges for interpreters and translators. As Holmes Welch notes, the written language "has no active or passive, no singular or plural, no case, no person, no tense, no mood". Moreover, the received text lacks many grammatical particles which are preserved in the older Mawangdui and Beida texts, and which permit the meaning to be more precise. Lastly, many passages of the Tao Te Ching appear to be deliberately ambiguous.

Since there is very little punctuation in Classical Chinese, determining the boundaries between words and sentences is not always a trivial task; the interpreter has to decide where these phrasal boundaries are. Some translators have argued that the received text is so corrupted, due to its original medium being bamboo strips linked with silk threads, that it is impossible to understand some passages without some transposition of characters.

Notable translations

• Le Livre de la Voie et de la Vertu (in français), translated by Julien, Stanislas, Paris: Imprimerie Royale, 1842
• The Speculations on Metaphysics, Polity, and Morality of the "Old Philosopher" Lau-tsze, translated by Chalmers, John, London: Trübner, 1868, ISBN 978-0-524-07788-7 {{citation}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
• Strauss, Victor (1870), Laò-Tsè's Taò Tĕ Kīng (in Deutsch), Leipzig: Friedrich Fleischer
• Müller, Max, ed. (1891), The Tao Teh King, Sacred Books of the East – Sacred Books of China, vol. XXXIX:V, translated by Legge, James, Oxford University Press – via Project Gutenberg.
• Giles, Lionel; et al., eds. (1905), The Sayings of Lao Tzu, The Wisdom of the East, New York: E. P. Dutton
• Wilhelm, Richard (1911), Tao te king: Das Buch des Alten vom Sinn und Leben (in Deutsch), Jena: Diederichs
• Suzuki, Daisetsu Teitaro; et al., eds. (1913), The Canon of Reason and Virtue: Lao-tze's Tao Teh King, La Salle: Open Court.
• Les Pères du Système Taoiste, Taoïsme, Vol. II (in français), translated by Wieger, Léon, Hien Hien, 1913
• The works of Lao Tzyy: Truth and nature, popularly known as Daw-der-jing, translated by Cheng, Lin, Shanghai, 1949{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) (Based on rectified and rearranged Chinese text, divide into 180 verses/stanzas)
• Duyvendak, J.J.L. (1954), Tao Te Ching: The Book of the Way and Its Virtue, John Murray
• Waley, Arthur (1958) [1934], The Way and Its Power, New York: Grove Press
• Chan, Wing-tsit (1963), The Way of Lao Tzu: Tao-te ching, Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill
• Schwarz, Ernst (1970), Laudse: Daudedsching (in Deutsch), Leipzig: Reclam
• Houang, François and Leyris, Pierre (1979), La Voie et sa vertu: Tao-tê-king (in French), Paris: Éditions du Seuil
• Tao Te Ching: A New English Version, translated by Mitchell, Stephen, New York: Harper Collins, 1988, ISBN 978-0-06-180739-8.
• Henricks, Robert G. (1989), Lao-tzu: Te-tao ching. A New Translation Based on the Recently Discovered Ma-wang-tui Texts, New York: Ballantine Books, ISBN 0-345-34790-0
• Tao Te Ching, translated by Lau, D. C., Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 1989, ISBN 9789622014671
• Tao Te Ching: The Classic Book of Integrity and the Way, translated by Mair, Victor H., New York: Bantam, 1990, ISBN 978-0-307-43463-0.
• Tao-Te-Ching, translated by Bryce, Derek; et al., York Beach: Samuel Weiser, 1991, ISBN 978-1-60925-441-4
• Addiss, Stephen and Lombardo, Stanley (1991) Tao Te Ching, Indianapolis/Cambridge: Hackett Publishing Company.
• Ursula K. Le Guin Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching: A Book about the Way and the Power of Way, Shambhala Press, 1998, ISBN 978-1611807240.
• David Hinton, Tao Te Ching, Counterpoint Press, 2001, ISBN 978-1582431826.
• Chad Hansen, Laozi: Tao Te Ching on The Art of Harmony, Duncan Baird Publications, 2009
• Red Pine, Lao-tzu's Taoteching, Copper Canyon Press, 2009, ISBN 978-1556592904
• Sinedino, Giorgio (2015), Dao De Jing (in Portuguese), São Paulo: Editora Unesp
• Polymeros, Konstantinos G. (2021), Dao De Jing: The Old Man's Poem. (Greek: Τάο Τε Τζινγκ, το ποίημα του γηραιού - Tao Te Tzingk: to poiema tou geraiou). Lamia: Legga Gaea Editions.

See also

• Bogar
• Ecclesiastes
• Huahujing
• Huainanzi
• Huangdi Yinfujing
• Qingjing Jing
• Sanhuangjing
• Straw dog
• Taiping Jing
• Xishengjing
• Four Books and Five Classics

References

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External links

• Daodejing (in 文言 and English), translated by Legge, James (Wang Bi ed.) – via Chinese Text Project
  • Laozi (in 文言) (Guodian ed.) – via Chinese Text Project
  • Laozi (in 文言) (Mawangdui ed.) – via Chinese Text Project
• Template:StandardEbooks
• Tao Te Ching public domain audiobook at LibriVox
• Legge, Suzuki, and Goddard's translations side-by-side, along with the original text