Tao te Ching

"Richard John Lynn presents here a translation of the Tao-te ching written especially for English-language readers.". "Like his I Ching, this volume includes the interpretive commentary of the third-century scholar Wang Bi (226-249), who wrote the first and most sophisticated commentary on the Tao-te ching. Lynn's critical introduction explores the centrality of Wang's commentaries in Chinese thought, his major contributions to Chinese philosophy, his short but brilliant life, and the era in which he lived, as well as the position of the Tao-te ching in East Asian traditions.". "Consisting of eighty-one short aphoristic sections, the Tao-te ching presents a complete view of how the sage rules in accordance with the spontaneous ways of the natural world. Although the work was originally designed to provide advice to the ruler, its teachings are considered tools for living and self-cultivation, applicable to anyone. Wang Bi's commentaries, following each statement, allow modern Western readers to encounter the Tao-te ching in the way that Chinese readers have for more than seventeen centuries - as a religious text and a philosophy of life."--BOOK JACKET.