Contents

  1. Preface
  2. Introduction
  3. Lao-tzu’s Taoteching
    1. The way that becomes a way
    2. All the world knows beauty
    3. Bestowing no honors
    4. The Tao is so empty
    5. Heaven and Earth are heartless
    6. The valley spirit that doesn’t die
    7. Heaven is eternal and Earth is immortal
    8. The best are like water
    9. Instead of pouring in more
    10. Can you keep your crescent soul from wandering
    11. Thirty spokes converge on a hub
    12. The five colors make our eyes blind
    13. Favor and disgrace come with a warning
    14. We look but don’t see it
    15. The great masters of ancient times
    16. Keeping emptiness as their limit
    17. During the High Ages people knew they were there
    18. When the Great Way disappears
    19. Get rid of wisdom and reason
    20. Get rid of learning and problems will vanish
    21. The appearance of Empty Virtue
    22. The incomplete become whole
    23. Whispered words are natural
    24. Those who tiptoe don’t stand
    25. Imagine a nebulous thing
    26. Heavy is the root of light
    27. Good walking leaves no tracks
    28. Recognize the male
    29. Trying to govern the world with force
    30. Use the Tao to assist your lord
    31. Weapons are not auspicious tools
    32. The Tao remains unnamed
    33. Those who know others are perceptive
    34. The Tao drifts
    35. Hold up the Great Image
    36. What you would shorten
    37. The Tao makes no effort at all
    38. Higher Virtue isn’t virtuous
    39. Of those that became one in the past
    40. The Tao moves the other way
    41. When superior people hear of the Way
    42. The Tao gives birth to one
    43. The weakest thing in the world
    44. Which is more vital
    45. Perfectly complete it seems deficient
    46. When the Tao is present in the world
    47. Without going out your door
    48. Those who seek learning gain every day
    49. Sages have no mind of their own
    50. Appearing means life
    51. The Way begets them
    52. There’s a maiden in the world
    53. Were I sufficiently wise
    54. What you plant well can’t be uprooted
    55. He who possesses virtue in abundance
    56. Those who know don’t talk
    57. Use directness to govern a country
    58. Where the government stands aloof
    59. In governing people and caring for Heaven
    60. Ruling a great state
    61. A great state is a watershed
    62. The Tao is creation’s sanctuary
    63. Act without acting
    64. It’s easy to rule while it’s peaceful
    65. The ancient masters of the Way
    66. The reason the sea can govern a hundred rivers
    67. The world calls me great
    68. In ancient times
    69. In warfare there is a saying
    70. My words are easy to understand
    71. To understand yet not understand
    72. When people no longer fear authority
    73. Daring to act means death
    74. If people no longer fear death
    75. The reason people are hungry
    76. When people are born
    77. The Way of Heaven
    78. Nothing in the world is weaker than water
    79. In resolving a great dispute
    80. Imagine a small state with a small population
    81. True words aren’t beautiful
  4. Glossary