Tao Te Ching

The Tao Te Ching ( 道德經 ), roughly translated as The Book of the Way and its Virtue is an ancient Chinese scripture. Tradition has it that the book was written around 600 BCE by a sage called Lao Zi (WG: Lao Tzu, "Old Master"), a record-keeper in the Emperor's Court of the Zhou Dynasty. A careful reading of the text, however, suggests that it is a compilation of maxims sharing similar themes. The authenticity of the date of composition/compilation and the authorship are still debated.

This short work is one of the most important in Chinese philosophy and religion, especially in Taoism, but also in Buddhism, because the latter – an Indian religion – shared many Taoist words and concepts before developing into Chinese Buddhism. (Indeed, upon first encountering it, Chinese scholars regarded Buddhism as merely a foreign equivalent of Taoism.) Many Chinese artists, including poets, painters, poets, painters, calligraphers and even gardeners have used the book as a source of inspiration. Its influence has also spread widely outside the Far East, aided by many different translations of the text into western languages.

The Tao Te Ching has been translated almost as many times as the Bible(second behind the Bible in fact). The original Chinese version however, was actually written in ZhuanShu script in scroll format (paper or bamboo), and later versions were written in LiShu and KaiShu style. Tao Te Ching calligraphy styles contains a good summary of the different styles in their actual format.

There are many possible translations of the book's title, as the meaning of the Chinese characters is somewhat broad.

• 道 (dào) is usually translated into English as "the way ahead", "the path ahead", or simply "the Way". This term, used by all Chinese Philosophers (including Confucius, Mencius, Mozi, the Legalists, etc.), has special meaning within the context of Taoism, where it implies the essential, unnamable process of the universe.
• 德 (dé) has the approximate English equivalent of "virtue" or "righteousness". 德 can carry the same connotations in Chinese that the word "virtue" does in English; that is, it may either mean "virtue" in the sense of a moral virtue, or it may also mean "virtue" in the somewhat archaic English sense of an inherent power (as in "healing virtue of a plant").
• 經 (jīng) means "scripture", "great book", or "doctrine".

Thus, 道德經 could be translated as "The Scripture of the Way and the Virtue", "The Great Book of the Way and its Power", "The Doctrine of The Path and its Virtues", etc.

Though commonly referred to as the 道德經 (Tao Te Ching), the title is probably a fusion of the two books of scriptures, namely 道經 (Tao Ching) and 德經 (Te Ching). In fact, the latter book has been found among some recent discoveries. It is likely that the combined name of both books has no real intended meaning, though this is at present impossible to ascertain given the numerous revisions of the scriptures.

In its present form, the Tao Te Ching is in two sections (Tao, containing chapters 1–37; andTe, chapters 38–81), and uses around 5,000 Chinese characters. Each chapter is rather short, using few characters to express its often difficult ideas poetically.