Laozi

Author: Wei Guanglai
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-07-01
Features: Basic Collection for Chinese Families · Volume of the Hundred Schools of Thought. Laozi was a philosopher in the late Spring and Autumn period and the founder of the pre-Qin Taoist school. The current version of the Tao Te Ching consists of 81 chapters, with the first 37 chapters being the "Way" section (Dao Jing) and the remaining chapters the "Virtue" section (De Jing), hence its alternative name Tao De Jing. The ideological structure of the entire work is: the Way (Dao) is the "substance" of Virtue (De), and Virtue (De) is the "application" of the Way (Dao). The Tao Te Ching contains brilliant dialectical propositions, such as "The opposite is the movement of the Way, and weakness is the application of the Way," which have long been well-known among scholars. Other reflections on society and life are also thought-provoking.