Reflect upon the wisdom within this translation of the Tao Te Ching. Lao-Tzu's Tao Te Ching, or Book of the Way, is the classic manual on the art of living and one of the wonders of the world. In eighty-one brief chapters, the Tao Te Ching nods at the basic predicatment of being alive and gives advice that imparts balance and perspective, a serene and generous spirit. This book is about wisdom in action. It teaches how we work for the good with the effortless skill that comes from being in accord with the Tao (the basic principle of the universe) and applies equally to good government and sexual love, to childrearing, business, and ecology. The Tao Te Ching is the most widely traslated book in world literature, after the Bible. Yet the lucidity of the original has eluded most previous translations, and they have obscured some of its central ideas.

Translated by: James Legge