Tao te Ching

1. The Tao-Path is not the All-Tao. The Tao Te Ching is an ancient Chinese text consisting of spiritual teachings, folk wisdom, political instruction, cosmology observations of nature, anti-Confucian doctrine, and mystical insights. The Lao tzu has had an influence on Chinese thought through the ages out of all proportion to its length. The Tao that can be trodden is not the enduring and unchanging Tao. TAO can be talked about, but not the Eternal Tao. COMMENT Laozi opens with a creation myth. The Warring States Period (403-221 BCE) in which the Daodejing was born is fairly named. 1 The way that can be spoken of Is not the constant way; The named that can be named Is not the constant name. The way you can go isn't the real way. THE EARLIEST use of connected writing (as opposed to isolated magic pictures, developing into magic patterns) was as an aid to memory. A. The Principle that can be enunciated is not the one that always was. A way become Way isn't the perennial Way. The tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao. Because readers of the Te-tao ching fall into two groups with different levels of expertise, I have repeated the translation in two independent segments. Laozi opens with a creation myth. Lao-Tzu was born in the hamlet Chu-Jan (Good Man's Bend), Li-Hsiang (Grinding County), K'u-Hien (Thistle District), of Ch'u (Bramble Land). Not exalting the gifted prevents quarreling. The way that you travel is Not the eternal Way.