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65-598: The name first compounds xuan ( 玄 ) "black, dark; mysterious, profound, abstruse, arcane." It occurs in the first chapter of the Daodejing (" 玄之又玄 ， 眾妙之門 "). The word xuan literally depicts a shade of deep, mystical, dark red. Daodejing speaks of the Dao as Xuan , more specifically underpinning the depth, utter impenetrability, and the profound mystery of the Dao . Xue ( 學 ) means "study, learn, learning"; thus, xuanxue

130-460: A kun'yomi (Japanese reading) of na . It is a fourth grade kanji. The Korean hanja 無 is read mu (in Revised , McCune–Reischauer , and Yale romanization systems). The Vietnamese Hán-Việt pronunciation is vô or mô . Some English translation equivalents of wu or mu are: In modern Chinese, Japanese and Korean it is commonly used in combination words as

195-469: A negative prefix to indicate the absence of something (no ..., without ..., un- prefix), e.g., Chinese : 无-线 ; pinyin : wú-xiàn / mu-sen ( 無-線 ) / mu-seon ( 무-선 ) for "wireless". In Classical Chinese , it is an impersonal existential verb meaning "not have". The same character is also used in Classical Chinese as a prohibitive particle , though in this case it

260-610: A "return" to their natural state, in harmony with Tao. Language and conventional wisdom are critically assessed. Taoism views them as inherently biased and artificial, widely using paradoxes to sharpen the point. Wu wei , literally 'non-action' or 'not acting', is a central concept of the Tao Te Ching . The concept of wu wei is multifaceted, and reflected in the words' multiple meanings, even in English translation; it can mean "not doing anything", "not forcing", "not acting" in

325-585: A foundation in Chinese language and philosophy who are trying to render the original meaning of the text as faithfully as possible into English. Some of the more popular translations are written from a less scholarly perspective, giving an individual author's interpretation. Critics of these versions claim that their translators deviate from the text and are incompatible with the history of Chinese thought. Russell Kirkland goes further to argue that these versions are based on Western Orientalist fantasies and represent

390-404: A kind of scholasticism that pitches one school against another. Instead of seeing them as attempting to reconcile Confucianism with Taoism, it may be suggested that they were primarily concerned with the substantive issue of the relationship between mingjiao and ziran . Daodejing The Tao Te Ching ( traditional Chinese : 道德經 ; simplified Chinese : 道德经 ) or Laozi

455-420: A new character ji ( 箕 ) (clarified with the bamboo radical ⺮ ) to specify the basket. The character wu ( 無 ) originally meant "dance" and was later used as a graphic loan for wu , "not". The earliest graphs for 無 pictured a person with outstretched arms holding something (possibly sleeves, tassels, ornaments) and represented the word wu "dance; dancer". After wu meaning "dance"

520-465: A political level, it means avoiding such circumstances as war, harsh laws and heavy taxes. Some Taoists see a connection between wu wei and esoteric practices, such as zuowang ('sitting in oblivion': emptying the mind of bodily awareness and thought) found in the Zhuangzi . The Tao Te Ching is a text of around 5,162 to 5,450 Chinese characters in 81 brief chapters or sections ( 章 ). There

585-403: A question whose "answer" is to either un-ask the question, indicate the question is fundamentally flawed, or reject the premise that a dualistic answer can be given. "Mu" may be used similarly to " N/A " or "not applicable," a term often used to indicate that the question cannot be answered because the conditions of the question do not match the reality. An example of this concept could be with

650-402: A student is to free the mind from analytic thinking and into intuitive knowing. A student who understands the nature of his question would understand the importance of awareness of potential to begin developing it. The Japanese scholar Iriya Yoshitaka  [ ja ] made the following comment on the two versions of the koan: I have held doubts for some time even with regard to the way

715-519: A voltage for "one" and a voltage for "zero." That's silly! Any computer-electronics technician knows otherwise. Try to find a voltage representing one or zero when the power is off! The circuits are in a mu state. The word features prominently with a similar meaning in Douglas Hofstadter 's 1979 book, Gödel, Escher, Bach . It is used fancifully in discussions of symbolic logic , particularly Gödel's incompleteness theorems , to indicate

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780-542: A wide range of versions dating back a century or two. Benjamin I. Schwartz still considered it remarkably unified by the time of the Mawangdui silk texts , even if these versions swap the two halves of the text. Linguistic studies of the Tao Te Ching ' s vocabulary and rime scheme point to a date of composition after the Classic of Poetry , but before the Zhuangzi , and would generally be taken as preceding

845-560: Is cognate with the Proto-Tibeto-Burman * ma , meaning 'not'. This reconstructed root is widely represented in Tibeto-Burman languages ; for instance, ma means 'not' in both Tibetan and Burmese. The Standard Chinese pronunciation of wú ( 無 ; 'not', 'nothing') historically derives from the c.  7th century Middle Chinese mju , the c.  3rd century Late Han Chinese muɑ , and

910-569: Is Buddha-nature, and either a positive or negative answer is absurd because there is no particular thing called Buddha-nature. This koan is discussed in Part 1 of Hau Hoo's The Sound of the One Hand: 281 Zen Koans with Answers . In it, the answer of "negative", mu, is clarified as although all beings have potential Buddha-nature , beings who do not have the capacity to see it and develop it essentially do not have it. The purpose of this primary koan to

975-434: Is a Chinese classic text and foundational work of Taoism traditionally credited to the sage Laozi , though the text's authorship, date of composition and date of compilation are debated. The oldest excavated portion dates to the late 4th century BC. The Tao Te Ching is central to both philosophical and religious Taoism, and has been highly influential to Chinese philosophy and religious practice in general. It

1040-531: Is a famous puzzle which everyone would like to feel he had solved." The first English translation of the Tao Te Ching was produced in 1868 by the Scottish Protestant missionary John Chalmers , entitled The Speculations on Metaphysics, Polity, and Morality of the "Old Philosopher" Lau-tsze . It was heavily indebted to Julien 's French translation and dedicated to James Legge , who later produced his own translation for Oxford's Sacred Books of

1105-461: Is generally taken as preceding the Zhuangzi , the other core Taoist text, as suggested by the Zhuangzi itself. Terminology originating within the text has been reinterpreted and elaborated upon by Legalist thinkers , Confucianists , and particularly Chinese Buddhists , which had been introduced to China significantly after the initial solidification of Taoist thought. The text is well known in

1170-610: Is impossible to understand some passages without some transposition of characters. Mu (negative) In the Sinosphere , the word 無 , realized in Japanese and Korean as mu and in Standard Chinese as wu , meaning 'to lack' or 'without', is a key term in the vocabulary of various East Asian philosophical and religious traditions, such as Buddhism and Taoism . The Old Chinese * ma ( 無 )

1235-411: Is laconic, and has few grammatical particles . While the ideas are singular, the style is poetic, combining two major strategies: short, declarative statements, and intentional contradictions, encouraging varied, contradictory interpretations. The first of these strategies creates memorable phrases, while the second forces the reader to reconcile supposed contradictions. With a partial reconstruction of

1300-613: Is literally the "learning" or "study" of the "arcane", "mysterious", or "profound". Therefore, the meaning of xuanxue can be described as "study of the mysterious or profound". In Modern Standard Chinese usage, xuanxue can mean "Neo-Taoism", " esoteric ", " metaphysics ", " spiritualism ", or " mysticism ". The New Treatise on the Uniqueness of Consciousness by Xiong Shili defines Xuanxue as "dark/obscure/mysterious/profound learning". The concept can be described by such abstractions as "to initiate no action", "emptiness", "one and

1365-428: Is more properly written Chinese : 毋 ; pinyin : wú . In traditional Chinese character classification , the uncommon class of phonetic loan characters involved borrowing the character for one word to write another near- homophone . For instance, the character 其 originally depicted a winnowing basket ( ji ), and scribes used it as a graphic loan for qi ( 其 , "his; her; its"), which resulted in

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1430-584: Is only extant for the Te Ching , derives from a commentary attributed to Han dynasty scholar Yan Zun ( 巖尊 , fl.  80 BC – 10 AD ). The "Heshang Gong" version is named after the legendary Heshang Gong ('legendary sage'), who supposedly lived during the reign of Emperor Wen of Han (180–157 BC). This commentary has a preface written by Ge Xuan (164–244 AD), granduncle of Ge Hong , and scholarship dates this version to c.  the 3rd century AD . The origins of

1495-463: Is produced and sustained by one impersonal principle, which is unlimited, unnameable, unmoving, unchanging, and undiversified. Rather than a school of set doctrines, Xuanxue is a broad, dynamic intellectual front. Many Xuanxue scholars argued that "words cannot fully express meaning," as meaning transcends the limiting confines of language. Xuanxue seeks to bring together Confucian and Daoist ideologies with fresh annotation and discourse, working with

1560-456: Is some evidence that the chapter divisions were later additions—for commentary, or as aids to rote memorisation—and that the original text was more fluidly organised. It has two parts, the Tao Ching ( 道經 ; chapters 1–37) and the Te Ching ( 德經 ; chapters 38–81), which may have been edited together into the received text, possibly reversed from an original Te Tao Ching . The written style

1625-508: Is written in Classical Chinese , which generally poses a number of challenges for interpreters and translators. As Holmes Welch notes, the written language "has no active or passive, no singular or plural, no case, no person, no tense, no mood." Moreover, the received text lacks many grammatical particles which are preserved in the older Mawangdui and Beida texts, which permit the text to be more precise. Lastly, many passages of

1690-555: The Guozijian , together with Rú ( Confucian learning), Literature , and History . Although Xuanxue does not represent one monolithic school of thought, it does encompass a broad range of philosophical positions. The goal of Xuanxue is to bring to light the nature and function of Dao , which appears dark and impenetrable. It started from the assumption that all temporally and spatially limited phenomena (anything "nameable"; all movement, change, and diversity; in short, all "being")

1755-632: The Mogao Caves near Dunhuang . They included more than 50 partial and complete manuscripts. Another partial manuscript has the Xiang'er commentary, which had previously been lost. In 1973, archaeologists discovered copies of early Chinese books, known as the Mawangdui Silk Texts , in a tomb dated to 168 BC. They included two nearly complete copies of the text, referred to as Text A ( 甲 ) and Text B ( 乙 ), both of which reverse

1820-429: The Tao Te Ching are deliberately ambiguous. Since there is very little punctuation in Classical Chinese, determining the precise boundaries between words and sentences is not always trivial. Deciding where these phrasal boundaries are must be done by the interpreter. Some translators have argued that the received text is so corrupted due to its original medium being bamboo strips linked with silk threads—that it

1885-468: The Wei - Jin and Six Dynasties periods. These sessions were transformed versions of the more politically charged "Pure Criticism" ( 清議 ) protests of the later Han, which were, in turn, continuations of political remonstration practices. Much of Xuanxue had become divorced from the realities of life and afforded an escape from it. During the 5th-century CE, Xuanxue formed a part of the official curriculum at

1950-700: The Zhuangzi . Creel proposed that Shen Buhai preceded it as well. Schwartz's contemporaries discussed Shen Dao as a Daoistic predecessor. A member of the Jixia Academy , Shen Dao is listed in the Outer Zhuangzi before Laozi and Zhuangzi, and shares content the Inner Zhuangzi , which does not appear to be familiar with the Tao Te Ching . Thus, an early stratum of the Zhuangzi may still have preceded them. Chad Hansen does not consider

2015-439: The "Wang Bi" version have greater verification than either of the above. Wang Bi (226–249 AD) was a Three Kingdoms -period philosopher and commentator on the Tao Te Ching and I Ching . Tao Te Ching scholarship has advanced from archaeological discoveries of manuscripts, some of which are older than any of the received texts. Beginning in the 1920s and 1930s, Marc Aurel Stein and others found thousands of scrolls in

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2080-488: The "Way of Mysterious Learning" ( Xuanxue ) emerged. Two influential Xuanxue scholars were Wang Bi and Guo Xiang, editors and leading commentators on the Daodejing and Zhuangzi , respectively. For instance, the Daodejing exists in two received versions named after the commentaries. While the "Heshang Gong version" explains textual references to Daoist meditation, the "Wang Bi version" does not. Richard Wilhelm said

2145-606: The Buddha-Nature". Koan 363 in the Zhaozhou Zhenji Chanshi Yulu shares the same beginning question. This koan is one of several traditionally used by Rinzai school to initiate students into Zen study, and interpretations of it vary widely. Hakuun Yasutani of the Sanbo Kyodan maintained that The koan is not about whether a dog does or does not have a Buddha-nature because everything

2210-681: The Buddhas, below to the crawling bugs, all have Buddha-nature. Why is it that the dog has not?" The Book of Serenity Chinese : 從容録 ; pinyin : cóngrónglù , also known as the Book of Equanimity or more formally the Hóngzhì Chánshī Guǎnglù Chinese : 宏智禪師廣錄 , has a longer version of this koan, which adds the following to the start of the version given in the Zhaozhou Zhenji Chanshi Yulu . 州云，有。 僧云，既有為什麼卻撞入這箇皮袋。 州云，為他知而故犯。 Zhao Zhou replied, "Yes." And then

2275-632: The East . Other notable English translations of the Tao Te Ching are those produced by Chinese scholars and teachers: a 1948 translation by linguist Lin Yutang , a 1961 translation by author John Ching Hsiung Wu , a 1963 translation by sinologist Din Cheuk Lau , another 1963 translation by professor Wing-tsit Chan , and a 1972 translation by Taoist teacher Gia-Fu Feng together with his wife Jane English . Many translations are written by people with

2340-576: The Mu Kōan as hosshin 発心 "resolve to attain enlightenment", that is, appropriate for beginners seeking kenshō "to see the Buddha-nature"'. Case 1 of The Gateless Gate reads as follows: The koan originally comes from the Zhaozhou Zhenji Chanshi Yulu ( Chinese : 趙州真際禪師語錄 ), The Recorded Sayings of Zen Master Zhao Zhou , koan 132: 師云：無。 問：上至諸佛，下至螻蟻皆有佛性，狗子為什麼卻無？ 師云：為伊有業識在。 The master said, "Not [Mu]!" The monk said, "Above to all

2405-478: The Outer Zhuangzi entirely accurate chronologically, but still discusses Shen Dao as part of the theoretical framework of the Stanford Encyclopedia of Daoism, as "Pre-Laozi Daoist Theory". Discussing concepts of names and realities in its opening, Feng Youlan proposed the school of names as preceding it the Tao Te Ching , but while some may have, it does not demonstrate school of names influence

2470-448: The Tao being the beginning of all things, while simultaneously being indescribable and non-being, the Tao is said to be "dark" or "mysterious" ( xuan ). Xuanxue should not be misinterpreted as interchangeable with the Dao . Rather, Xuanxue is the study of the mystery and darkness of the intangible. Dao represents xuan , the mystical that is central to the philosophy. The Dao supplies

2535-464: The Wang Bi commentary changed the Daodejing "from a compendiary of magical meditation to a collection of free philosophical aperçus ." One of the major defining features of Zhengshi Xuanxue is the " Pure Conversation " ( 清談 ) gatherings that took place among political and intellectual elites from the 3rd century onward, through which intellectuals questioned tradition and shared their ideas during

2600-560: The Way , or A Treatise on the Principle and Its Action . Ancient Chinese books were commonly referenced by the name of their real or supposed author, in this case the "Old Master", Laozi. As such, the Tao Te Ching is also sometimes referred to as the Laozi , especially in Chinese sources. The title Tao Te Ching , designating the work's status as a classic, was only first applied during

2665-614: The West, and is one of the most translated texts in world literature. In English, the title is commonly rendered Tao Te Ching , following the Wade–Giles romanisation, or as Daodejing , following pinyin . It can be translated as The Classic of the Way and its Power , The Book of the Tao and Its Virtue , The Book of the Way and of Virtue , The Tao and its Characteristics , The Canon of Reason and Virtue , The Classic Book of Integrity and

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2730-408: The classical definitions, doctrines, and rules set by previous philosophers. The concept of Wú is central to Xuanxue . It is translated as " nothing ", "nothingness", " non-being ", and " negativity ". The Tao can literally only be described as nameless and formless, not having any characteristics of things. That the Tao is the "mother of all life" is also central to Xuanxue ideology. Because of

2795-492: The colonial appropriation of Chinese culture. Other Taoism scholars, such as Michael LaFargue and Jonathan Herman, argue that while they do not pretend to scholarship, they meet a real spiritual need in the West. These Westernized versions aim to make the wisdom of the Tao Te Ching more accessible to modern English-speaking readers by, typically, employing more familiar cultural and temporal references. The Tao Te Ching

2860-447: The flourishing of Dao . They use phrases like "dark words" ( xuanyan ) or "dark discourse" ( xuanlun ) in a pejorative sense, indicating that to them Xuanxue was nothing but convoluted empty talk. In these contexts, xuan may be translated as "abstruse", "obscure", or words to that effect. To classify Xuanxue as merely "Neo-Taoism" misleadingly reinforces suggestions that Wei-Jin thinkers were only "reinterpreting Confucianism through

2925-471: The kōan is somewhat misleading. In Robert M. Pirsig 's 1974 novel Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance , mu is translated as "no thing", saying that it meant "unask the question". He offered the example of a computer circuit using the binary numeral system , in effect using mu to represent high impedance : For example, it's stated over and over again that computer circuits exhibit only two states,

2990-401: The lens of Taoism" (Chan 2010: 5). Chan points out that since xuan ( 玄 ) is already something "obscure" and "insubstantial" in Chinese, xuanxue can be left "untranslated, though not unexplained" (Chan 2010: 6). Xuanxue is also often classified as "Profound Learning". Although "profound" is more appropriate than "dark", ambiguity is still an issue with this classification. Xuanxue is not

3055-626: The many", "root and branches", "having and not having", and the "emotional responses" and "pattern". In modern Chinese, Xuanxue is also taken to refer to astrology , geomancy and other popular religious arts . Another translation of xuanxue could be "learning of the dark." Xuanxue arose after the Han dynasty (206 BCE-220 CE) in early Medieval China . It is mainly represented by a few scholars, namely Wang Bi (226-249), He Yan (d. 249), Xiang Xiu (223?-300), Guo Xiang (d. 312) and Pei Wei (267-300). In general, these scholars sought to reinterpret

3120-552: The monk said, "Since it has, how did it get into that bag of skin?" Zhao Zhou said, "Because knowingly, he purposefully offends." In the original text, the question is used as a conventional beginning to a question-and-answer exchange ( mondo ). The reference is to the Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra which says for example: In this light, the undisclosed store of the Tathagata is proclaimed: "All beings have

3185-504: The outset to reject the affirmative response as superficial compared to the negative one. It seems that the Wu-men kuan is responsible for this peculiarity. A similar critique has been given by Steven Heine: The common approach espoused [...] emphasizes a particular understanding of the role of the koan based on the “head-word” or “critical phrase” method developed by the prominent twelfth century Chinese master, Daie . This approach takes

3250-468: The pronunciation of Old Chinese spoken during the Tao Te Ching ' s composition, approximately three-quarters rhymed in the original language. The Chinese characters in the earliest versions were written in seal script , while later versions were written in clerical script and regular script styles. The Tao Te Ching has been translated into Western languages over 250 times, mostly to English, German, and French. According to Holmes Welch, "It

3315-610: The reconstructed c.  6th century BCE Old Chinese * ma . Other varieties of Chinese have differing pronunciations of Chinese : 無 . Compare Cantonese mou4 ; and Southern Min IPA: [bo˧˥] ( Quanzhou ) and IPA: [bə˧˥] ( Zhangzhou ). The common Chinese word wú ( 無 ) was adopted in the Sino-Japanese , Sino-Korean , and Sino-Vietnamese vocabularies. The Japanese kanji 無 has on'yomi readings of mu or bu , and

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3380-447: The reign of Duke Xian of Qin ( r.  384–362 BC ). The Tao Te Ching describes the Tao as the source and ideal of all existence: it is unseen, but not transcendent, immensely powerful yet supremely humble, being the root of all things. People have desires and free will (and thus are able to alter their own nature). Many act "unnaturally", upsetting the natural balance of the Tao. The Tao Te Ching intends to lead students to

3445-399: The reign of Emperor Jing of Han (157–141 BC). Other titles for the work include the honorific Sutra of the Way and Its Power ( 道德真經 ; Dàodé zhēnjing ) and the descriptive Five Thousand Character Classic ( 五千文 ; Wǔqiān wén ). Among the many transmitted editions of the Tao Te Ching text, the three primary ones are named after early commentaries. The "Yan Zun Version", which

3510-456: The so-called "Chao-chou's Word No" has been previously dealt with. To the question "Does a dog have the Buddha-nature?", on the one hand Monk Chao-chou replied affirmatively, but on the other hand he replied negatively. However, Zen adherents in Japan have rendered the koan exclusively in terms of his negative response, and completely ignored the affirmative one. Moreover, it has been the custom from

3575-505: The social and moral understanding of Confucianism in ways to make it more compatible with Taoist philosophy. Xuanxue philosophers of the Han dynasty were concerned with restoring unity and harmony to the land, not by condemning the teachings of the sages , but by interpreting them in new ways. Xuanxue thinkers thereby developed their theories by reinterpreting the relationship between Taoist and Confucian texts through an appreciation of their common themes. Through this syncretic movement,

3640-485: The subject matter/basis for the "Mystic Learning" that underpins the thinkings and teachings of Xuanxue . Xuanxue aims at unlocking the mystery of the Dao , but should not be confused with a revival of preceding schools of Taoism. Xuanxue is committed to analytic rigor and clarity in explicating the meaning of Dao , employing the new, contemporary language of the time. However, critics sometimes condemn it as "dark" because they judge it as obfuscating and detrimental to

3705-428: The theatrical sense, "creating nothingness", "acting spontaneously", and "flowing with the moment". This concept is used to explain ziran , or harmony with the Tao. It includes the concepts that value distinctions are ideological and seeing ambition of all sorts as originating from the same source. Tao Te Ching used the term broadly with simplicity and humility as key virtues, often in contrast to selfish action. On

3770-616: The time of the Three Sovereigns before the thirteenth as Laozi. Some scholars have expressed doubts over Laozi's historicity. The first biographical reference to Laozi is in the Records of the Grand Historian , by Chinese historian Sima Qian ( c.  145–86 BC ), which combines three stories. In the first, Laozi was a contemporary of Confucius (551–479 BC). His surname was Li ( 李 ), and his personal name

3835-485: The traditional ordering and put the Te Ching section before the Tao Ching , which is why the Henricks translation of them is named "Te-Tao Ching". Based on calligraphic styles and imperial naming taboo avoidances, scholars believe that Text A can be dated to about the first decade and Text B to about the third decade of the 2nd century BC. In 1993, the oldest known version of the text, written on bamboo slips ,

3900-431: The verses reordered to synthesize the new finds. Although debated more in early scholarship, early modern scholars like Feng Youlan and Herrlee G. Creel still considered the work a compilation, and most modern scholarship holds the text to be a compilation, as typical for long-form early Chinese texts. Essentially the dating of A.C. Graham , the current text might have been compiled c.  250 BCE , drawing on

3965-461: The way the Zhuangzi does. Although differing, Mohism and Confucianism also discuss concepts of names and realities. The Tao Te Ching was traditionally ascribed to Laozi , whose historical existence has been a matter of scholarly debate. His name, which means "Old Master", has only fuelled controversy on this issue. Legends claim variously that Laozi was "born old" and that he lived for 996 years, with twelve previous incarnations starting around

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4030-434: The “Mu” response in a non-literal way to express a transcendental negation that becomes the topic of an intensive contemplative experience, during which any and all thoughts or uses of reason and words are to be cut off and discarded for good rather than investigated for their expressive nuances and ramifications. Yet, historical studies demonstrate quite persuasively that an overemphasis on this single approach to one version of

4095-488: Was Er ( 耳 ) or Dan ( 聃 ). He was an official in the imperial archives, and wrote a book in two parts before departing to the West; at the request of the keeper of the Han-ku Pass, Yinxi , Laozi composed the Tao Te Ching . In the second story, Laozi, also a contemporary of Confucius, was Lao Laizi ( 老萊子 ), who wrote a book in 15 parts. Third, Laozi was the grand historian and astrologer Lao Dan ( 老聃 ), who lived during

4160-471: Was borrowed as a loan for wu meaning "not; without", the original meaning was elucidated with the radical 舛 , " opposite feet " at the bottom of wu , 舞 "dance". The Gateless Gate , a 13th-century collection of Zen kōan , uses the word wu or mu in its title ( Wumenguan or Mumonkan 無門關) and first kōan case ("Zhao Zhou's Dog" 趙州狗子). Chinese Chan calls the word mu 無 "the gate to enlightenment". The Japanese Rinzai school classifies

4225-616: Was found in a tomb near the town of Guodian ( 郭店 ) in Jingmen , Hubei, and dated prior to 300 BC. The Guodian Chu Slips comprise around 800 slips of bamboo with a total of over 13,000 characters, about 2,000 of which correspond with the Tao Te Ching. Both the Mawangdui and Guodian versions are generally consistent with the received texts, excepting differences in chapter sequence and graphic variants. Several recent Tao Te Ching translations utilise these two versions, sometimes with

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