Tao Te ChingWhat is Taoism?
A plain introduction to Taoism: the Tao as the way, the tradition of Laozi, the Tao Te Ching and Zhuangzi, wu wei, yin and yang and how the religion grew from the philosophy.
Taoism (Daoism) is a Chinese tradition of philosophy and religion built around the Tao (Dao), "the way": the underlying order of things from which all arise. The two classic texts are the Tao Te Ching, attributed to Laozi ("the old master"), and the Zhuangzi, named for its main author.
Laozi and the book
Tradition says that Laozi was an older contemporary of Confucius in the sixth century BCE who wrote the book when leaving China at a border pass. Modern scholars doubt that he was a single person, and think the book took its present shape in the fourth or third century BCE. It is short, about five thousand Chinese characters, in 81 brief chapters, divided into a part on the Tao (Tao) and a part on virtue or power (Teh): hence the name.
Main ideas
- The Tao cannot be fully named. The first chapter says that the Tao that can be told is not the constant Tao.
- Opposites depend on each other. Beauty and ugliness, long and short, are known by contrast; the yin and yang of later tradition express the same thought.
- Softness is strength. Water is the model: it yields and yet wears down rock.
- Wu wei, acting without forcing: see wu wei.
- Simplicity and contentment.
Philosophy and religion
From the second century CE, a religious Taoism with priests, temples, rituals and the search for long life grew up alongside the philosophy. Today both exist in China, Taiwan and elsewhere. Taoist ideas have also shaped Chinese art, medicine and martial arts.
The text is James Legge's English translation of 1891, in the public domain. Legge's brackets mark words he added to make the sense clear. The notes are our own. Translations of the Tao Te Ching differ a great deal, and this one is old; for the sense, read a few chapters side by side with a modern translation from a library.