Preface

The Daodejing (道德經), or "Classic of the Way and Integrity," was written around the 5th century BC by Laozi (老子), but "Laozi" just means "old master" - true to Daoist ideals, we aren't sure who he was, or even if he was just one person or more. Since its penning, the Daodejing has remained the primary text of Daoism, one of China's traditional philosophies. Unlike the studious but stuffy and hierarchical Confucianism, Daoism has long presented a freer and deeper counterview to its more famous and influential (in Asia) rival. More than half a millenium later, Buddhism from India entered China to become the third of the "three teachings" of China that would long coexist with each other, in part because Daoists found in Buddhism many similarities with their own teachings, and so initially thought that the Buddha was Laozi himself, who after all was said to have departed westwards after penning the Daodejing. Thus, Buddhism was initially imported to China largely using Daoist language and initially transmitted among the Daoists. However, Daoism is not Buddhism and Buddhism (even Zen) is not Daoism.

Today, Daoism continues to be a source of wisdom that is timeless. Following a more natural way that teaches action through non-action ("wuwei"), its teachings use few words to transmit profound teachings - indeed, the Daodejing is only 81 short chapters in total. Some call it a "religion," but Laozi's teachings were never about worshipping gods. Laozi wrote the Daodejing for a general audience, because its wisdom can be applied to anything - from managing people to self-cultivation. Today, many people find Daoism through taijiquan and other martial arts with Daoist influence, ultimately leading them to the Daodejing - as there is no more direct way to a philosophy than to read its primary source(s).

One of the major challenges for interested readers, though, is that the Daodejing is difficult to translate. Many translators have tried, who possess any range of classical Chinese reading ability (from fluent to none at all). I feel, however, that translations tend toward either poetry (which although sweet to the ears become mystical gobbledygook) or else too literal (which also makes the teachings largely inaccessible). In my own translation, I take a middle road - both attempting to accurately translate the texts, but also adding commentary and sometimes pictures or comics to try to make the meanings accessible to everyone (including cultivators). My hope is to make the Daodejing more accessible to everybody, so this text is freely viewable online.

The translations are based on the traditional Wang Bi texts (230 AD), the Mawangdui texts (250 BC) excavated from 1972, and the Guodian fragments (300 BC). Daoism has always been abstract, and classical Chinese subject to interpretation, but the older texts often provide clarity to some traditional passages that were particularly obscure. (Chapter divisions are from the traditional Wang Bi texts, but the names are from the author.)

Note About Romanization: Various Romanization systems exist for transliterating (Mandarin) Chinese into English. Until the 1980s or so, the Wade-Giles system ("Tao-te-ching" and "Lao-tzŭ") was most popular, but its copious use of apostrophes and hyphens made it unwieldy. Later, the Hanyu Pinyin system ("Daodejing" and "Laozi") became more popular, and today is the most common Romanization system used for Chinese. Other systems exist as well, such as the Yale system ("Daudejing" and "Laudz"), which arguably produces the most accurate readings when read by native Americans, but is very rare.

I will use pinyin out of personal preference and habit.