Tao (the Way) is one of the most profound and influential of the world's spiritual traditions, and the Tao Te Ching (The Book of the Way and Its Virtue) has left its imprint on Far Eastern philosophy, art, and literature for over two thousand years. This classic of meditative insight was an important influence on Buddhist thought. Its key tenet is wu-wei, naturalness and simplicity, a mystical path of spontaneity and noninterference that fosters individuality and spiritual freedom. Although Taoism has declined in importance as a formal religion, its spirit of harmony and peace not only permeates art and life in the East but also continues to animate New Age consciousness in the West. This high-quality, inexpensive edition of the authoritative Legge translation will prove invaluable to seekers of enlightenment, students of Eastern religion and thought, and general readers.
Ch. 1. 1. The TĂąo that can be trodden is not the enduring and unchanging TĂąo. The name that can be named is not the enduring and unchanging name.
2. (Conceived of as) having no name, it is the Originator of heaven and earth ; (conceived of as) having a name, it is the Mother of all things.
3.
Always without desire we must be found, If its deep mystery we would sound; But if desire always within us be, Its outer fringe is all that we shall see.
4. Under these two aspects, it is really the same ; but as development takes place, it receives the different names. Together we call them the Mystery. Where the Mystery is the deepest is the gate of all that is subtle and wonderful.
, âEmbodying the TĂąo.â The author sets forth, as well as the difficulty of his subject would allow him, the nature of the TĂąo in itself, and its manifestation. To understand the TĂąo one must be partaker of its nature.
Par. 3 suggests the words of the apostle John, â He that loveth not knoweth not God ; for God is love.â Both the TĂąo, LĂąo-3zeâs ideal in the absolute, and its Teh, or operation, are comprehended in this chapter, the latter being the TĂąo with the name, the Mother of all things.
2. I. All in the world know the beauty of the beautiful, and in doing this they have (the idea of) what ugliness is ; they all know the skill of the skilful, and in doing this they have (the idea of) what the want of skill is.
2. So it is that existence and non-existence give birth the one to (the idea of) the other; that difficulty and ease produce the one (the idea of) the other; that length and shortness fashion out the one the figure of the other; that (the ideas of) height and lowness arise from the contrast of the one with the other; that the musical notes and tones become harmonious through the relation of one with another; and that being before and behind give the idea of one following another.
3. Therefore the sage manages affairs without doing anything, and conveys his instructions without the use of speech.
4. All things spring up, and there is not one which declines to show itself; they grow, and there is no claim made for their ownership; they go through their processes, and there is no expectation (of a reward for the results). The work is accomplished, and there is no resting in it (as an achievement).
The work is done, but how no one can see ; âTis this that makes the power not cease to be.
, âThe Nourishment of the Person.â But many of Ho-shang Kungâs titles are more appropriate than this.
The chapter starts with instances of the antinomies, which suggest to the mind each of them the existence of its corresponding opposite ; and the author finds in them an analogy to the â contraries â which characterize the operation of the TĂąo, as stated in chapter 40. He then proceeds to describe the action of the sage in par. 3 as in accordance with this law of contraries ; and, in par. 4, that of heaven and earth, or what we may call nature, in the processes of the vegetable world.
Par. 2 should be rhymed, but I could not succeed to my satisfaction in the endeavour to rhyme it. Every one who can read Chinese will see that the first four members rhyme. The last two rhyme also, the concluding
being pronounced so ;âsee the Khang-hsĂź dictionary in voc.
3. 1. Not to value and employ men of superior ability is the way to keep the people from rivalry among themselves; not to prize articles which are difficult to procure is the way to keep them from becoming thieves ; not to show them what is likely to excite their desires is the way to keep their minds from disorder.
2. Therefore the sage, in the exercise of his government, empties their minds, fills their bellies, weakens their wills, and strengthens their bones.
3. He constantly (tries to) keep them without knowledge and without desire, and where there are those who have knowledge, to keep them from presuming to act (on it). When there is this abstinence from action, good order is universal.
, â Keeping the People at Rest.â The object of the chapter is to show that government according to the TĂąo is unfavourable to the spread of knowledge among the people, and would keep them rather in the state of primitive simplicity and ignorance, thereby securing their restfulness and universal good order. Such is the uniform teaching of LĂąo-
ze and his great follower Kwang-
ze, and of all Taoist writers.
4. 1. The TĂąo is (like) the emptiness of a vessel; and in our employment of it we must be on our guard against all fulness. How deep and unfathomable it is, as if it were the Honoured Ancestor of all things!
2. We should blunt our sharp points, and unravel the complications of things ; we should attĂšmper our brightness, and bring ourselves into agreement with the obscurity of others. How pure and still the T Ăąo is, as if it would ever so continue!
3. I do not know whose son it is. It might appear to have been before God.
, â The Fountainless.â There is nothing before the TĂąo ; it might seem to have been before God. And yet there is no demonstration by it of its presence and operation. It is like the emptiness of a vessel. The second character =
;âsee Khang-hsĂź on the latter. The practical lesson is, that in following the TĂąo we must try to be like it.
5. I. Heaven and earth do not act from (the impulse of) any wish to be benevolent; they deal with all things as the dogs of grass are dealt with. The sages do not act from (any wish to be) benevolent; they deal with the people as the dogs of grass are dealt with.
2. May not the space between heaven and earth be compared to a bellows ?
âTis emptied, yet it loses not its power; âTis moved again, and sends forth air the more. Much speech to swift exhaustion lead we see ; Your inner being guard, and keep it free.
, â The Use of Emptiness.â Quiet and unceasing is the operation of the TĂąo, and effective is the rule of the sage in accordance with it.
The grass-dogs in par. I were made of straw tied up in the shape of dogs, and used in praying for rain ; and afterwards, when the sacrifice was over, were thrown aside and left uncared for. Heaven and earth and the sages dealt so with all things and with the people ; but the illustration does not seem a happy one. Both Kwang-
ze and HwĂąi-nan mention the grass-dogs. See especially the former, XIV, 25 a, b. In that Book there is fully developed the...
