Tao Te Ching
Ancient Chinese philosophy
The Tao Te Ching is an ancient Chinese philosophical text attributed to Laozi, foundational to Taoism.
Its eighty-one brief chapters explore the Tao (the Way)—an ineffable principle underlying existence—and te (virtue or power).
The work emphasizes wu wei (effortless action), simplicity, and harmony with nature.
Enormously influential in Eastern thought, it remains widely read in translation: I keep a copy of the Tao Te Ching on my nightstand.
- effortless actionUnforced, natural doing
- natural orderInnate arrangement of things
- Three TreasuresTaoist vital essences trio
- simplicityLack of complexity
- watercourseChannel for flowing liquid
yin yang · Chinese philosophy · qi · virtue · te · emptiness · oneness · balance · breath · meditation · flow · ancient · eternal · harmony · stillness · yielding · nameless · Chinese
- Asian ScripturesVedas, Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, Guru Granth Sahib, Agamas
- Philosophy ClassicsRepublic, Meditations, Nicomachean Ethics, Metaphysics, Symposium
- Ancient ChinaShang dynasty, Han dynasty, Confucius, Warring States period, oracle bones
- Asian studiesKorean language, Chinese history, Japanese history, Asian history, Japanese literature
- TaoismLao Tzu, yin, yang, yin and yang, yin yang
- ancient textsscrolls, scroll, Euclid's Elements, Epic of Gilgamesh, codex
Tao Te ChingTen Commandments
Scriptural moral code
Leviticus · Code of Hammurabi · Sharia · Torah · Deuteronomy