Ocean State Libraries

When I was a boy, I didn't get specific lessons on how to live. I got stories. If I asked why I had to believe some concept, a person like my grandmother might reply with something like, "This is the true because of what happened to the Yellow Emperor," and then the story would follow. What intrigues me is that this habit hasn't changed even after China's revolution, rapid modernization, digital technology, and global culture. People still say, "It's...

This new translation of the Chinese classic and foundation text of Daoism integrates the manuscript discoveries of the last 30 years, introducing a fundamentally different view of the nature of the Dao. Michael Puett, the Walter C. Klein Professor of Chinese History and Chair of the Committee on the Study of Religion at Harvard University, calls this translation "an excellent translation of one of the most important texts from the Chinese philosophical...

This classic collection of spiritual insights and observations embodies the search for a way to live based not on arbitrary rules of morality but on acheiving harmony with all things. Taoism explains the world in terms of contemplation, meditation, acceptance, and reconciliation, in striking imagery that penetrates the heart.