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Tao Te Ching
Traditional Chinese:	道德經
Simplified Chinese:	道德经
Hanyu Pinyin:	dàodéjīng
Transliterations Mandarin - Hanyu Pinyin: dàodéjīng - Wade-Giles: Tao Te Ching [ Listen (help·info)] Yue (Cantonese) - Jyutping: dou6 dak1 ging1

The Tao Te Ching, (traditional Chinese: 道德經; simplified Chinese: 道德经; pinyin: dào dé jīng) is a Chinese classic text. Its name comes from the opening words of its two sections: 道 dào "way," Chapter 1, and 德 dé "virtue," Chapter 38, plus 經 jīng "classic." According to tradition, it was written around 6th century BC by the Taoist sage Laozi (or Lao Tzu, "Old Master"), a record-keeper at the Zhou Dynasty court, by whose name the text is known in China. The text's true authorship and date of composition or compilation are still debated.^[1]

The Tao Te Ching is fundamental to the Taoist school (Dàojiā 道家) of Chinese philosophy and strongly influenced other schools, such as Legalism and Neo-Confucianism. This ancient book is also central in Chinese religion, not only for Taoism (Dàojiāo 道教) but Chinese Buddhism, which when first introduced into China was largely interpreted through the use of Taoist words and concepts. Many Chinese artists, including poets, painters, calligraphers, and even gardeners have used the Tao Te Ching as a source of inspiration. Its influence has also spread widely outside East Asia, aided by hundreds of translations into Western languages.

The Wade-Giles romanization Tao Te Ching dates back to early English transliterations in the late 19th century, and many people continue using it, especially for words and phrases that have become well-established in English. The pinyin romanization Daodejing originated in the late 20th century, and this romanization is becoming increasingly popular, having been adopted as the official system by the Chinese government. See discussion at Daoism-Taoism romanization issue.

Contents 1 The text 1.1 Title 1.2 Internal structure 1.3 Historical authenticity 1.4 Principal versions 1.5 Mawangdui and Guodian texts 2 Interpretation and themes 2.1 Ineffability 2.2 The Mysterious Female 2.3 Returning 2.4 Emptiness 2.5 Knowledge 2.6 Other themes 2.7 Interpretations in relation to religious traditions 3 Translations 3.1 Translational difficulties 3.2 Printed English translations 3.3 Online English translations 4 See also 4.1 Related Concepts 5 References 6 Notes 7 External links

The Tao Te Ching has a long and complex textual history. On one hand, there are transmitted versions and commentaries that date back two millennia; on the other, there are ancient bamboo, silk, and paper manuscripts that archeologists discovered in the last century.

Part of a series on Taoism

Fundamentals Tao · De · Xiulian

Prominent Taoists Laozi · Zhuangzi Zhang Daoling · Zhang Jiao Ge Hong · Chen Tuan Wang Chongyang

Deities and Immortals Three Pure Ones Jade Emperor · Xi Wangmu Eight Immortals

Main Sects Quanzhen School Tianshi Dao Zhengyi Dao Shangqing School Lingbao School

Taoist Texts Tao Te Ching · Zhuangzi Daozang

Taoist Precepts The Five Precepts

Sacred Sites Shizhou Sandao Grotto-heavens Sanshiliu Xiaodongtian Qishi'er Fudi Mount Longhu

Portal:Taoism

There are many possible translations of the book's title, owing to the polysemy of the component Chinese words:

• Dào/Tao 道 literally means "way", "road", "path", or "route," but was extended to mean "path ahead", "way forward", "method", "principle", "doctrine", or simply "the Way". This term, which was variously used by other Chinese philosophers (including Confucius, Mencius, Mozi, and Hanfeizi), has special meaning within the context of Taoism, where it implies the essential, unnamable process of the universe.
• Dé/Te 德 basically means "virtue" in the sense of "personal character", "inner strength", or "integrity", but was used differently by Confucianists to mean "morality". The semantics of this Chinese word resemble English virtue, which developed from a (now archaic) sense of "inner potency" or "divine power" (as in "healing virtue of a drug") to the modern meaning of "moral excellence" or "goodness". Compare the compound word dàodé (道德 "ethics", "ethical principles", "morals," or "morality").
• Jīng/Ching 經 originally meant "norm", "rule", "plan", "warp" (vs. "woof") and was semantically extended to mean "scripture", "canon", "great book", or "classic".

Thus, Tao Te Ching can be translated as "The Scripture/Classic/Canon of the Way/Path and the Power/Virtue", etc.

Note that there is in fact no "its" in the title, either explicitly or implicitly. Therefore, commonly accepted translations of the title such as "The Book of the Way and Its Power" are in fact adding an extra element that takes away from the accuracy.

Besides Dàodé Jīng, other titles include the eponymous Lǎozǐ (老子 "Old Master[s]"), the amalgam Lǎozǐ Dàodé Jīng (老子道德經), the honorific Daode Zhen Jing (道德真經 "True Classic of the Way and the Power"), and the Wuqian wen (五千文 "Five thousand character [classic]"; see next).

The received Tao Te Ching is a short text of around 5,000 Chinese characters in 81 brief chapters or sections (章). It has two parts, the Tao Ching (道經; chaps. 1–37) and the Te Ching (德經; chaps. 38–81), which may have been edited together into the received text, possibly reversed from an original "Te Tao Ching" (see Mawangdui texts below). The written style is laconic, with few grammatical particles, frequently ambiguous, occasionally rhymed, and expressing often difficult ideas poetically.

The Chinese characters in the original versions were probably written in zhuànshū (篆書 seal script), while later versions were written in lìshū (隷書 clerical script) and kǎishū (楷書 regular script) styles. Daoist Chinese Characters contains a good summary of these different calligraphies.

The Tao Te Ching is universally ascribed to Laozi, who may, or may not, have been a historical person ("Old Master"), or people ("Old Masters"). No one can be certain; indeed, Laozi "was a hidden sage" (Kaltenmark 1969:10).

The first reliable reference to Laozi is his "biography" in the circa 100 BC Shiji (63, tr. Chan 1963:35-37), by Chinese historian Sima Qian, which combines three stories. First, Laozi was a contemporary of Confucius (551-479 BC), his surname was Li (李 "plum") and personal name was Er (耳 "ear") or Dan (聃 "long ear"). He was an official in the imperial archives, and wrote a book in two parts before departing to the West. Second, Laozi was Lao Laizi (老來子 "Old Come Master"), also a contemporary of Confucius, who wrote a book in 15 parts. Third, Laozi was the Grand Historian and astrologer Lao Dan (老聃 "Old Long-ears"), who lived during the reign (384-362 BC) of Duke Xian (獻公) of Qin).

Legends that Laozi was born old, and that he lived for 160 or 200 years, are seen by serious Chinese scholars as superstitious tales. Although some Western scholars have expressed doubts over Laozi's historical existence, much of this skepticism is founded on a lack of cultural understanding - namely, that it would be inconceivable, indeed an impossibility within the context of ancient Chinese culture, for Sima Qian the historian to engage in confabulation. Therefore, Chinese scholars by and large accept Laozi as a historical figure, while dismissing superstitious legends as mentioned.

Generations of scholars have debated the historicity of Laozi and the dating of the Tao Te Ching. Linguistic studies of the text's vocabulary and rhyme scheme point to a date of composition after the Shi Jing yet before the Zhuangzi — around the late 4th or early 3rd centuries BC.

Some supporters of Taoism attribute this debate to the folkloric age of Laozi of over 900 years old who had thirteen incarnates starting around the time of the Three Sovereigns, a view rejected by scholars.

Among the many transmitted editions of the Tao Te Ching text, the three primary ones are named after early commentaries. The "Yan Zun Version," which is only extant for the Te Ching, derives from a commentary attributed to Han Dynasty scholar Yan Zun (巖尊, fl. 80 BC-10 AD). The "Heshang Gong Version" is named after the legendary Heshang Gong (河上公 "Riverside Sage") who supposedly lived during the reign (202-157 BC) of Emperor Wen of Han. This commentary (tr. Erkes 1950) has a preface written by Ge Xuan (葛玄, 164-244 AD), grand-uncle of Ge Hong, and scholarship dates this version to around the 3rd century AD. The "Wang Bi Version" has more verifiable origins than either of the above. Wang Bi (王弼, 226 – 249 AD) was a famous Three Kingdoms period philosopher and commentator on the Tao Te Ching (tr. Lin 1977, Rump and Chan 1979) and the I Ching.

Tao Te Ching scholarship has lately advanced from archeological discoveries of manuscripts, some of which are older than any of the received texts. Beginning in the 1920s and 1930s, Marc Aurel Stein and others found thousands of scrolls in the Mogao Caves near Dunhuang. They included more than 50 partial and complete Tao Te Ching manuscripts. One written by the scribe So/Su Dan (素統) is dated 270 AD and corresponds closely with the Heshang Gong version. Another partial manuscript has the Xiang'er (想爾) commentary, which had previously been lost.

In 1973, archeologists discovered copies of early Chinese books, known as the Mawangdui Silk Texts, in a tomb dating from 168 BC. They included two nearly complete copies of the Laozi, referred to as Text A (甲) and Text B (乙), both of which reverse the traditional ordering and put the Te Ching section before the Tao Ching. Based on calligraphic styles and imperial naming taboo avoidances, scholars believe that A and B can be respectively dated to about the first and third decades of the 2nd century BC (Boltz 1993:284).

In 1993, the oldest known version of the text, written on bamboo tablets, was found in a tomb near the town of Guodian (郭店) in Jingmen, Hubei, and dated prior to 300 BC. The Guodian Chu Slips comprise about 800 slips of bamboo with a total of over 13,000 characters, about 2,000 of which correspond with the Tao Te Ching, including 14 previously unknown verses.

Both the Mawangdui and Guodian versions are generally consistent with the received texts, excepting differences in chapter sequence and graphic variants. Several recent Tao Te Ching translations (e.g., Lau 1989, Henricks 1989, Mair 1990, Henricks 2000, Allan and Williams 2000, and Roberts 2004) utilize these two versions, sometimes with the verses reordered to synthesize the new finds.

Many believe the Tao Te Ching contains universal truths that have been independently recognized in other philosophies, both religious and secular. Depending on interpretation, some ambiguous passages have multiple readings, ranging from political advice for rulers to practical wisdom for people. The following themes and concepts are central to interpreting the text.

The Way that can be told of is not an unvarying way;

The names that can be named are not unvarying names.

It was from the Nameless that Heaven and Earth sprang;

The named is but the mother that rears the ten thousand creatures, each after its kind. (chap. 1, tr. Waley[1])

These famous first lines of the Tao Te Ching state that the Tao is ineffable. Tao is nameless, goes beyond distinctions, and transcends language. Perhaps the Tao, like the Dharma, is what physicist David Bohm means by "that which is", perfectly being what is, both all and nothing. "My words are very easy to understand and very easy to put into practice. Yet no one under heaven understands them; no one puts them into practice" (chap. 70, tr. Waley[2])

The Valley Spirit never dies

It is named the Mysterious Female.

And the doorway of the Mysterious Female

Is the base from which Heaven and Earth sprang.

It is there within us all the while;

Draw upon it as you will, it never runs dry. (chap. 6, tr. Waley[3])

Like the above description of the ineffable Tao as "the mother that rears the ten thousand creatures", the Tao Te Ching advocates "female" (or Yin) values, emphasizing the passive, solid, and quiescent qualities of nature (which is opposed to the active and energetic), and "having without possessing". This theme challenges "male" (or Yang) values such as movement, positive action, and domination of nature. Yin and Yang should be balanced, "Know masculinity, Maintain femininity, and be a ravine for all under heaven." (chap. 28, tr. Mair)

In Tao the only motion is returning;

The only useful quality, weakness.

For though all creatures under heaven are the products of Being,

Being itself is the product of Not-being. " (chap. 40, tr. Waley[4])

Another theme is the eternal return, or what Mair (1990:139) calls "the continual return of the myriad creatures to the cosmic principle from which they arose."

There is a contrast between the rigidity of death and the weakness of life: "When he is born, man is soft and weak; in death he becomes stiff and hard. The ten thousand creatures and all plants and trees while they are alive are supple and soft, but when dead they become brittle and dry." (chap. 76, tr. Waley[5]). This is returning to the beginning of things, or to one's own childhood.

The Tao Te Ching focuses upon the beginnings of society, and describes a golden age in the past, comparable with the ideas of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Human problems arose from the "invention" of culture and civilization. In this idealized past, “the people should have no use for any form of writing save knotted ropes, should be contented with their food, pleased with their clothing, satisfied with their homes, should take pleasure in their rustic tasks." (chap. 80, tr. Waley[6])

However, "returning" is not a simplistic reactionary retreat. Two illustrations are the anti-Confucianist saying that, "Learning consists in adding to one's stock day by day; The practice of Tao consists in 'subtracting day by day'." (chap. 48, tr. Waley[7]); and this strategic advice “If you doubt your ability to advance an inch, then retreat a foot”. (chap. 69, tr. Waley[8]) Diminishing one's ego, instead of "improving" it through study, is the path to real wisdom. Letting the enemy take the first step (thus reducing his range of possibilities) is the way to gain the upper hand. This theme is similar to psychological practices such as introspection or meditation, but one returns not to oneself but to nothingness, to "that which is".

Thirty spokes converge at the Hub;

but emptiness completes the wheel.

Clay is shaped to make a pot;

and what's useful is its emptiness.

Carve fine doors and windows;

but the room is useful in its emptiness.

What is, is benefical, while what is not, also proves useful. (chap. 11, tr. Sam Hamill 2005. Shambhala Publications, Inc.)

Philosophical vacuity is a common theme among Asian wisdom traditions including Taoism (especially Wu wei "nonaction"), Buddhism, and some aspects of Confucianism. One could interpret the Tao Te Ching as a suite of variations on the "Powers of Nothingness". This resonates with the Buddhist Shunyata philosophy of "form is emptiness, emptiness is form."

Looking at a traditional Chinese landscape, one can understand how emptiness (the unpainted) has the power of animating the trees, mountains, and rivers it surrounds. Emptiness can mean having no fixed preconceptions, preferences, intentions, or agenda. Since "The Sage has no heart of his own; He uses the heart of the people as his heart." (chap. 49, tr. Waley[9]). From a ruler's point of view, it is a laissez-faire approach:

So a wise leader may say:

"I practice inaction, and the people look after themselves."

But from the Sage it is so hard at any price to get a single word

That when his task is accomplished, his work done,

Throughout the country every one says: “It happened of its own accord”. (chap. 17, tr. Waley[10])

Knowing others is wisdom;

Knowing the self is enlightenment.

Mastering others requires force;

Mastering the self requires strength;

He who knows he has enough is rich.

Perseverance is a sign of will power.

He who stays where he is endures.

To die but not to perish is to be eternally present. (chap. 33, tr. Feng and English)

The Tao Te Ching praises self knowledge but criticizes rational understanding. For example: "Banish wisdom, discard knowledge, And the people will be benefited a hundredfold." (chap. 19, tr. Waley[11]) Knowledge, like desire, should be diminished. "It was when intelligence and knowledge appeared that the Great Artifice began." (chap. 18, tr. Waley[12]).

Here are some other themes inferred from the "Tao Te Ching" (with examples of instances):

• Force begets force.
• One whose needs are simple can fulfill them easily.
• Material wealth does not enrich the spirit.
• Self-absorption and self-importance are vain and self-destructive. (22, 24)
• Victory in war is not glorious and not to be celebrated, but stems from devastation, and is to be mourned.
• The harder one tries, the more resistance one creates for oneself.
• The more one acts in harmony with the universe (the Mother of the ten thousand things), the more one will achieve, with less effort.
• The truly wise make little of their own wisdom for the more they know, the more they realize how little they know.
• When we lose the fundamentals, we supplant them with increasingly inferior values which we pretend are the true values. (18)
• Glorification of wealth, power and beauty beget crime, envy and shame.
• The qualities of flexibility and suppleness, especially as exemplified by water, are superior to rigidity and strength. (8, 40, 55, 78)
• Everything is in its own time and place.
• Duality of nature that complements each other instead of competing with each other — the two faces of the same coin — one cannot exist without the other.
• The differences of opposite polarities — i.e. the differences between male and female, light and dark, strong and weak, etc. — helps us understand and appreciate the universe.
• Humility is the highest virtue.
• Knowing oneself is a virtue. (33)
• Envy is our calamity; overindulgence is our plight.
• The more you go in search of an answer, the less you will understand.
• Know when it's time to stop. If you don't know then stop when you are done. (9)

The relation between Taoism and Buddhism and Chan Buddhism is complex and fertile. Similarly, the relationship between Taoism and Confucianism is richly interwoven, historically.

Since Christian missionaries were among the first Westerners to study the Tao Te Ching, it is not surprising that they connected Taoism with Christianity. Assimilation of local religions often helped missionary efforts to convert the populace to Christianity. They drew many parallels between the New Testament and the Tao Te Ching, for instance, "Do good to those who hate you" (Luke 6:27, tr. NASB) and "Requite injuries with good deeds" (chap. 63, tr. Waley[13]). Note that the Chinese Bible translates logos ("the Word") as Tao ("the Way").

Two particular Tao Te Ching chapters are perceived as exemplifying Christian themes. Chapter 42 bears a resemblance to the Trinity doctrine: "The Way gave birth to unity, Unity gave birth to duality, Duality gave birth to trinity, Trinity gave birth to the myriad creatures." (tr. Mair 1990:9).

Zhuangzi once stated in a passage from his famous work Inner Chapters, that a great sage would come who would bring knowledge and peace to all men; though he didn't know if it would be in a thousand years or in a day.^{[citation needed]} Naturally, this was interpreted by missionaries as a prediction or foreshadowing of Christ.

Going even further, in 1823 the French sinologist Jean-Pierre-Abel Rémusat suggested that Yahweh was signified by three words in Chapter 14; yi (夷 "calm; level; barbarian"), xi (希 "rare; indiscernible; hope"), and wei (微 "tiny, small; obscure").

We look for it but do not see it; we name it "subtle." We listen for it but do not hear it; we name it "rare." We grope for it but do not grasp it; we name it "serene." These three cannot be fully fathomed, Therefore, They are bound together to make unity." (chap. 14, tr. Mair 1990:74)

James Legge (1891:57-58[14]) dismissed this hypothetical yi-xi-wei and Yahweh connection as "a mere fancy or dream". According to Holmes Welch:

It is not hard to understand the readiness of early scholars to assert that the doctrine of the Trinity was revealed in the Tao Te Ching and that its fourteenth chapter contains the syllables of "Yahveh." Even today, though these errors have been recognized for more than a century, the general notion that Lao Tzu was Christ's forerunner has lost none of its romantic appeal. (1965:7)

Present day researchers, such as Damascene et al. (1999), continue to explore the similarities between Taoist and Christian teachings.

Critics point out that these "similarities" consist of taking select passages out of context of the text as a whole, and out of the history of Chinese textual interpretation and religious practice. Passages that are incompatible with Christian doctrines, such as Chapter 5 "Heaven and Earth are not Humane (ren)"(Wing-tsit Chan trans.) are ignored. This approach was started by Christian missionaries, who were actively working to supplant Chinese religions.

The Tao Te Ching has been translated into over 250 Western languages, mostly to English, German, and French.^[2] According to Holmes Welch, "It is a famous puzzle which everyone would like to feel he had solved."^[3]

Most translations are written by people with a foundation in Chinese language and philosophy who are trying to render the original meaning of the text as faithfully as possible into English. Some of the more popular translations are written from a less scholarly perspective, giving an individual author's interpretation. Critics of these versions, such as Taoism scholar Eugene Eoyang, claim that translators like Mitchell produce readings of the Tao Te Ching that deviate from the text and are incompatible with the history of Chinese thought[15]. Russell Kirkland goes further to argue that these versions are based on Western Orientalist fantasies, and represent the colonial appropriation of Chinese culture[16][17]. Other Taoism scholars, such as Michael LaFargue[18] and Johnathan Herman[19], argue that while they are poor scholarship they meet a real spiritual need in the West.

The Tao Te Ching is written in classical Chinese, which can be difficult to understand completely even for well-educated native speakers of modern Chinese. Classical Chinese relies heavily on allusion to a corpus of standard literary works to convey semantic meaning, nuance, and subtext. This corpus was memorized by highly-educated people in Laozi's time, and the allusions were reinforced through common use in writing, but few people today have this type of deep acquaintance with ancient Chinese literature. Thus, many levels of subtext are potentially lost on modern translators. Furthermore, many of the words that the Tao Te Ching uses are deliberately vague and ambiguous.

Since there are no punctuation marks in classical Chinese, it can be difficult to conclusively determine where one sentence ends and the next begins. Moving a period a few words forward or back or inserting a comma can profoundly alter the meaning of many passages, and such divisions and meanings must be determined by the translator. Some editors and translators argue that the received text is so corrupted (from originally being written on one-line bamboo tablets linked with silk threads) that it is impossible to understand some chapters without moving sequences of characters from one place to another.

• John Chalmers, The Speculations on Metaphysics, Polity and Morality of "The Old Philosopher," Lao-tze, London, Trubner, 1868.
• Frederic H. Balfour, Taoist Texts: Ethical, Political, and Speculative, London, Trubner, 1884.
• James Legge, The Texts of Taoism, 2 vols (Sacred Books of China 39 and 40) Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1891; New York, Dover, 1962.
• I.W. Heysinger, The Light of China. The Tao Teh King of Lao Tsze; 604-504 B.C., Stationer's Hall, 1903; Kessinger, 2003.
• Arthur Waley, The Way and Its Power: A Study of the Tao Te Ching and its Place in Chinese Thought, London, Allen & Unwin, 1934, New York, Grove, 1958.
• Witter Bynner, The Way of Life According to Lao Tzu: An American Version, John Day Company, 1944.
• Lin Yutang, The Wisdom of Laotse, Random House, 1948.
• Eduard Erkes, Ho-Shang-Kung's Commentary on Lao-tse, Artibus Asiae, 1950.
• J.J.L. Duyvendak, Tao Te King: The Book of the Way and its Virtue, London, John Murray, 1954.
• John C.H. Wu, Tao Teh Ching, St. John's University Press, 1961; Shambhala, 1989.
• D.C. Lau, Tao Te Ching, Penguin Books, 1963; rev. ed. (with Mawang Dui texts) Chinese University Press, 1989.
• Wing-tsit Chan, The Way of Lao Tzu, Bobbs-Merrill, 1963.
• Jane English and Gia-Fu Feng, Tao Te Ching, New York, Vintage Books, 1972, 1989. (This was Alan Watts favorite English translation.)
• Paul Lin, A Translation of Lao-tzu's Tao Te Ching and Wang Pi's Commentary, University of Michigan, 1977.
• Ariane Rump and Wing-tsit Chan, Commentary on the Lao Tzu by Wang Pi, University of Hawaii, 1979.
• R.L. Wing, The Tao Of Power, Doubleday, 1986.
• Stephen Mitchell, Tao Te Ching, New York, Harper Collins, 1988.
• Ellen M. Chen, The Te Tao Ching: A New Translation with Commentary, New York, Paragon House, 1989.
• Robert G. Henricks, Lao-tzu: Te-Tao Ching, A New Translation Based on the Recently Discovered Ma-wang-tui Texts, Ballantine, 1989. ISBN 0-345-34790-0
• Victor H. Mair, Tao Te Ching: The Classic Book of Integrity and the Way, by Lao Tzu; an entirely new translation based on the recently discovered Ma-wang-tui manuscripts, New York, Bantam Books, 1990.
• Stephen Addiss and Stanley Lombardo, Loa-tzu, Tao Te Ching, Indianapolis, Hacket Publishing, 1993.
• Ko Hsuan (Aleister Crowley), Tao Te Ching: Liber CLVII, edited by Hymenaeus Beta, Samuel Weiser, Inc., 1995. ISBN 0-87728-846-1 [a poetic interpretation of the Legge translation]
• Red Pine (Bill Porter), Lao-Tzu's Taoteching, With Selected Commentaries of the Past 2000 Years, San Francisco, Mercury House, 1996.
• Ursula K. Le Guin, Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching, a Book about the Way and the Power of the Way, Boston, Shambhala, 1998.
• Sarah Allan and Crispin Williams, The Guodian Laozi, Berkeley, University of California, 2000.
• Robert G. Henricks, Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching: A Translation of the Startling New Documents Found at Guodian, New York, Columbia University Press, 2000. (Contains only the Guodian chapters, cf. Henricks 1989.)
• David H. Li, Dao De Jing: a New Millennium Translation, Premier Publishing, 2001.
• Jonathan Star, Tao Te Ching: The Definitive Edition, New York, Penguin Books, 2001.
• Moss Roberts, Dao De Jing: The Book of the Way, University of California Press, 2001. ISBN 0-520-20555-3
• Ralph Alan Dale, Tao Te Ching: A New Translation & Commentary, Watkins Publishing, 2002
• David Hall and Roger T. Ames, Dao De Jing: A Philosophical Translation, New York, Ballantine Books, 2003.
• Han Hiong Tan, The Wisdom of Lao Zi - Dao De Jing, 2003. ISBN 0-9580067-2-5
• Rudolf G. Wagner, A Chinese Reading of the Daodejing: Wang Bi's Commentary on the Laozi With Critical Text and Translation, State University of New York Press, 2003.
• John Bright-Fey, Tao Te Ching: An Authentic Taoist Translation, Sweetwater Press, 2004
• Derek Lin, Tao Te Ching: Annotated & Explained, SkyLight Paths Publishing, 2006. Author available online to answer questions about his translation.
• Sam Hamill, Tao Te Ching: A New Translation, illustrated by Kazuaki Tanahashi, Shambhala Publications, 2007.

• A paragon ebook, LAO ZI most-comprehensive ebook for FREE in PDF & HTM format, contains 50 translations in 6 different layouts, by Sanmayce.
• Tao Te Ching, James Legge
• Tao Te Ching, John H. McDonald
• Daode jing, Charles Muller
• Tao Te Ching, Derek Lin. Author available online to answer questions about his translation.
• The Tao Te Ching, Frederic H. Balfour
• Tao Te Ching, Stephen Mitchell
• Tao Te Ching [20]PDF (120 KiB), Stan Rosenthal
• Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu, 3 translations: James Legge, D.T. Suzuki, and Dwight Goddard
• Dao De Jing (Way Power Book) by Lao-zi, Sanderson Beck
• Tao Te Ching – The Way of Life, Raymond B. Blakney
• The Daode Jing (Tao Te Ching) of Laozi (Lao Tzu), Chad Hansen
• Dynamic Tao and Its Manifestations. Wayne L. Wang
• The Tao Te Ching, Lin Yutang
• The Daily I Ching - Tao Te Ching translation by Jane English and Gia-Fu Feng.
• The Living Dao, Daodejing translation by Lok Sang Ho
• 道德經 Dàodéjīng / Tao Te Ching / Tao Te King Chinese-English-German by Hilmar Klaus
• The Tao Teh King, Aleister Crowley
• The Tao Te Ching, Ron Hogan (available in several formats, including iPod)
• Jade Purity: Dao De Jing, Siji Tzu (highly interpretive rather than literal)
• Lao Tze - TaoDeChing, Peter A. Merel (interpolation)
• My Dao De Jing, Nina Correa
• Lao Tzu: "Tao Te Ching" (100 translations of Chapter 1), Bureau of Public Secrets
• Taoism - Tao Te Ching Translations, WWW Virtual Library
• Tao Te King Versions - many translations into English and other languages
• Tao Teh Ching, Line-by-Line Comparisons, 29 translations, St. Xenophon Library
• 13 translations into English
• Tao Te Ching audio edition, narrated by Michael Scott

• Laozi
• Daoism-Taoism romanization issue
• Eastern philosophy
• Huahujing
• Huainanzi
• Liezi
• Tai Ji
• Zhuangzi
• Heraclitus

• Dialectical monism
• Dialectics
• Dualism

• Boltz, William G. "Lao tzu Tao te ching." In Early Chinese Texts: A Bibliographical Guide, edited by Michael Loewe. Berkeley: University of California, Institute of East Asian Studies. 1993. pp. 269-92.
• Damascene, Hieromonk, Lou Shibai, and You-Shan Tang. Christ the Eternal Tao. Platina, CA: Saint Herman Press, 1999.
• Eliade, Mircea. A History of Religious Ideas, Volume 2. Translated by Willard R. Trask. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1984.
• Kaltenmark, Max. Lao Tzu and Taoism. Translated by Roger Greaves. Stanford: Stanford University Press. 1969.
• Kohn, Livia and Michael LaFargue, eds. Lao-Tzu and the Tao-Te-Ching, Albany: State University of New York Press. 1998.
• Welch, Holmes. Taoism: The Parting of the Way. Boston: Beacon Press. 1965.
• Frey, James. "A Million Little Pieces."

See above for external links to Online English translations of the Tao Te Ching.

• The Authorship of the Tao Te Ching, John J. Emerson
• Tao Te Ching at the Open Directory Project