The Quotable Dao: Essential Wisdom for the Road of Life

This is a revised edition of the text of the Dao De Jing (Tao Te Ching) based on recent philological studies of the Daoist classic made by such leading scholars as Gu Di, Zhou Ying, Chen Guying, Ren Jiyu, Gao Heng, Ma Xulun, Yan Lingfeng, Sha Shaohai, and many others. Lao Zi is considered the founder of early Daoism and is studied worldwide. As has been observed by both Asian and Western readers, the ideas of Lao Zi tend to be more philosophical in the pure sense of this term than those of his contemporaries in China. It is commonly acknowledged that Lao Zi's philosophizing is one of the main sources underlying the structure or formation of the overall psychology of the Chinese people. Lao Zi, as a Daoist philosopher, is attracting more and more attention and interest both in the East and the West. This version of the Dao De Jing is thematically rearranged with attempts to facilitate a more practical and fruitful reading. The thematic arrangement is based not merely on the scrutiny of Lao Zi's philosophizing as a systematic whole, but also on considerations of the reading habits of the English reader. The overall aim is to obtain a more relevant understanding and effective communication with regard to the text.