Laozi -- Basic Collection of Chinese Family Classics

Author: Wei Guanglai
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Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-01-01
Features: Laozi was a philosopher in the late Spring and Autumn period of China and the founder of the pre-Qin Taoist school. Laozi is a great ancient thinker well-known to the Chinese people. The Tao Te Ching he wrote pioneered the development of ancient Chinese philosophical thought. His philosophical ideas and the Taoist school he established made significant contributions not only to the development of ancient Chinese thought and culture but also had a profound influence on the development of Chinese thought and culture for over 2,000 years. Laozi, surnamed Li, named Er, styled Boyang, and posthumously titled Dan, was a native of Kuhou County (now Luyi County) in the State of Chu. He lived approximately between 571 and 471 BC and once served as the Keeper of the Archives in the Zhou Dynasty. In his youth, Laozi tended cattle and studied diligently. In his later years, he resided in his hometown of Chen and later crossed the pass to teach in Qin. He died in Fufeng. The current edition of the Tao Te Ching consists of 81 chapters, with the first 37 chapters being the upper part, the Dao Jing (The Way), and the chapters following the 38th being the lower part, the De Jing (The Virtue), hence it is also known as the Tao Te Ching. The ideological structure of the entire book is: The Dao is the "substance" of De, and De is the "application" of the Dao. The Tao Te Ching contains brilliant dialectical propositions, such as "The opposite is the movement of the Dao, and weakness is the application of the Dao," which have long been well-known to scholars. Other reflections on society and life are also thought-provoking.