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PeterMerel

 

Lao Tse
   

The TaoTeChing?, "the book of flow and harmony", is the fundamental text of Taoism. Its origins lost in the revolutions of Chinese history, it is known to pre-date the invention of paper. In fact its form exhibits many of the features of an oral tradition, suggesting it may pre-date writing as well. The unknown author of the Tao Te Ching is popularly known as LaoTse, which is both "the old philosopher" and "the old philosophy". Hence Lao Tse is also a title for the book.

Many myths, religions, cults, yogas, and martial disciplines have sprung up around Lao Tse. The poem's parallels with the Bhagavad Gita, its implicit opposition to Confucian thought, its relationship with Chuang Tse and Sun Tse, and its distinction from the discipline of Zen are subjects of some controversy. As a thread connecting human endeavors over thousands of years, there appears no proper historical context for interpretation of the work.

Nevertheless, there are good reasons to think of LaoTse in the context of Go. The work's emphases on impartiality, compassion, harmony and acceptance find frequent echo in fine Go play.

PeterMerel's english rendition of LaoTse is online at [ext] http://home.san.rr.com/merel/gnl.html. There are many others online as well, but this one has the advantage of being OpenContent.

The correct Pinyin spelling is Laozi, but this makes me think of 'lousy' so I like the old way better. Whoever decided that z should be pronounced 'ts' is crazy. But I REALLY love 'his' book. ('he' is in quoutes because some doubt his very existence. If he is imaginary, where did the book come from?) -- CraigDaniel



This is a copy of the living page "Lao Tse" at Sensei's Library.
(C) the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0.