The Door of All Wonders: Overview and Introduction

 “The Door of all Wonders:
The Commentary on the Tao Te Ching”

By Nirguna Chor-Kok Lam

Overview

  

The Tao Te Ching, as a great treasure of spirituality in the aspect of religion and philosophy from ancient China up to now, has been the bestseller among all the authors of classics and books in the whole world ranking the second next to the Bible according to the survey of UNESCO in the past years. It is probably nowadays the largest top bestseller, with many translated versions in different languages. The Bible has been widely spread by the global missionary of Christianity that is the reason for its large circulation. However, the Tao Te Ching has never had this missionary work to publicize itself but its attraction of words of meaning is so great that many scholars of different cultures, especially the western world, have put much effort to translate the Tao Te Ching by their understanding and studies. The Tao Te Ching has been highly valued in China and the whole world for centuries.

 

The Tao Te Ching was not only written for the spiritual guidance of individual life, but also practical guidance of social, economic and political affairs. It can benefit all people in all affairs, such a marvelous scripture which tells us the Truth in about 5000 words only. Whenever I read the Tao Te Ching, I can only thank our Lord for giving marvelous treasury to Chinese people. Nowadays, the Tao Te Ching has been the global spiritual asset for all people.

 

 

Introduction

 

The Tao Te Ching is one of the oldest classics in China. There have been a lot of versions of the Tao Te Ching circulated in China. The original texts of the Tao Te Ching can be concluded by three sources:

 

(1)   The general version widely circulated in history dated back at least as far as the first century B.C.

(2)   The two manuscripts of the Lao Tzu discovered at the Han tomb of Ma Wang Tui in Changsha of Hunan province of China.

(3)   The old texts of the Lao Tzu edited by Fu Wei in Tang dynasty (A.D.618-907).

 

Among these three sources, the two manuscripts of the Lao Tzu discovered at Ma Wang Tui in 1973 are the most original and the oldest scripts available as the texts are free from scribal errors and editorial tempering of a subsequent age. There are also two more archeological findings of the incomplete scripts of the Tao Te Ching in later years.

 

The general version of the Tao Te Ching most widely circulated is also called “the Book of 5000 characters”, as the texts having words about 5000 characters. The present division into 81 Chapters – 37 Chapters in Book I (the Tao Ching) and 44 Chapters in Book II (the Te Ching) was edited and formulated in western Han dynasty (202-8 B.C.). The book was also known by the alternative title of the Tao Te Ching, more specifically, Book I as the Tao Ching and Book II as the Te Ching.

 

 The Chinese word, “Tao” means “Truth” or “Way”, and the word “Te” means “Virtue” which is the embodiment of Truth. “Ching” means scriptures or classics. So, the name Tao Te Ching, as a whole, means the Scripture of Truth and Virtue.

 

 

 

Lao Tzu the most unknown sage in China

 

The traditional view holds that the book, Lao Tzu, was written by a man called Lao Tzu who was an older contemporary of Confucius (551 -479 B.C). Confucius was a Chinese philosopher and politician of the Spring and Autumn period in ancient China. His main interests were in ethics, moral and social philosophy. He was the founder of Confucianism in China.

 

The biography of Lao Tzu first found in the Shih Chi (Records of the Historian), the earliest general history of China, written at the beginning of the first century B.C. by Sie-ma Chien (B.C145-?) as follows:

 

“Lao Tzu was a native of the Chu Jen Hamlet in the Li Village of Hu Hsien in the State of Chu. His surname was Li, his personal name was Erh and he was styled Tan. He was the historian in charge of the archives in Chou dynasty.

 

When Confucius went to Chou Palace to ask to be instructed in the rites by Lao Tzu, Lao Tzu said, “What you are talking about concerns merely words left by people who have rotted along with their bones. When a gentleman is in sympathy with the times he goes out in a carriage, but drifts with the wind when the times are against them. I have heard it said that a good merchant hides his store in a safe place and appears to be devoid of possessions, while a gentleman, though endowed with great virtue, wears a foolish countenance. Rid yourself of your arrogance and your desires, your ingratiating manners and your excessive ambition. These are all detrimental to your person. This is all I have to say to you.” [1]

 

On leaving, Confucius told his disciples, “I know a bird can fly, a fish can swim, and a beast can run. For that which runs a net can be made; for that which swims a line can be made; for that which flies a corded arrow can be made. But the dragon’s ascent into heaven on the wind and the clouds is something which is beyond my knowledge. Today I have seen Lao Tzu who is perhaps like a dragon.”” [1]

 

Dragon is the most mysterious creature symbolizes as the most powerful and auspicious which only refers to the emperors in Chinese history. This is the praise and marvel of Confucius to Lao Tzu after the first meeting. The description of Shih Chi about Lao Tzu continues as follows:

 

“Lao Tzu cultivated the Truth and Virtue, and his teachings aimed at self-effacement (humbleness). He lived in Chou Empire for a long time but seeing its decline he departed. When he reached the Pass, the gate keeper there was pleased and said to him, “As you are about to leave the world behind, could you write a book for my sake?” Therefore, Lao Tzu wrote a book in two parts, setting out the meaning of the truth and virtue in some 5000 characters, and then departed. None knew where he went to in the end.

 

According to one tradition, there was Lao Lai Tzu who was also a native of the State of Chu. He wrote a book in 15 pieces, setting forth the applications of the teachings of the Taoist school, and was contemporary with Confucius. Lao Tzu probably lived to over 160 years of age – some even say over 200 – as he cultivated the truth and was able to live to a great age.

 

A hundred and twenty-nine years after the death of Confucius, it was recorded by a historian that Tan the historian of Chou had an audience with Duke Hsien of Chin…… According to some, Tan was none other than Lao Tzu, but according to others, this was not so. The world is unable to know where the truth lay. Lao Tzu was a gentleman who lived in retirement from the world…” [1]

 

Lao Tzu may be regarded as one of the above three persons that Sie-ma Chien could collect in his times, but they were all conjectures only, hence Sie-ma Chien concluded that “Lao Tzu was a gentleman who lived in retirement from the world.”

 

The Tao Te Ching tells us about the Truth and the Way to the Truth, which is the mystery of the mysteries, the wonder of the wonders. It is the origin of the whole universes. The word “Tao” conveys deep meanings in the philosophy of all the fields, like spiritual, political, military, social and economic fields. Everything lies in the Truth.

 

In this book, the texts of each Chapter would follow the general version of the earliest texts widely used in history and up to now, and the revised texts if any available in some Chapters as advised by  senior scholars of the Tao Te Ching will also be given in italics. Each Chapter will be postulated with insight and solid materials following the mind of Lao Tzu, how he conceives Tao and how he suggests the practice of Tao in the way not any ordinary people can have without really knowing the secret of our whole creation. The marvel work of Lao Tzu will come out with simplicity and clarity by itself which I humbly wish that by reading it people can appreciate and enjoy the light and the bright journey of Tao.

 

 

 

Note:

 

[1] Edited from “Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching” Translated by D.C. Lau, The Chinese University Press, 1963, 1982, 1989, Introduction, x.