The Tao Te Ching also known by its pinyin romanizations Daodejing and Dao De Jing, is a Chinese classic text traditionally credited to the 6th-century BCE sage Laozi. The text's authorship, date of composition and date of compilation are debated. The oldest excavated portion dates back to the late 4th century BCE, but modern scholarship dates other parts of the text as having been written-or at least compiled-later than the earliest portions of the Zhuangzi The Tao Te Ching, along with the Zhuangzi, is a fundamental text ...
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The Tao Te Ching also known by its pinyin romanizations Daodejing and Dao De Jing, is a Chinese classic text traditionally credited to the 6th-century BCE sage Laozi. The text's authorship, date of composition and date of compilation are debated. The oldest excavated portion dates back to the late 4th century BCE, but modern scholarship dates other parts of the text as having been written-or at least compiled-later than the earliest portions of the Zhuangzi The Tao Te Ching, along with the Zhuangzi, is a fundamental text for both philosophical and religious Taoism. It also strongly influenced other schools of Chinese philosophy and religion, including Legalism, Confucianism, and Buddhism, which was largely interpreted through the use of Taoist words and concepts when it was originally introduced to China. Many Chinese artists, including poets, painters, calligraphers, and gardeners, have used the Tao Te Ching as a source of inspiration. Its influence has spread widely outside East Asia and it is among the most translated works in world literature. Tao Te Ching is the Wade-Giles romanization of the same name as the pinyin Daodejing and should be pronounced in the same way. D???o/tao literally means "way," or one of its synonyms, but was extended to mean "the Way." This term, which was variously used by other Chinese philosophers (including Confucius, Mencius, Mozi, and Hanfeizi), has special meaning within the context of Taoism, where it implies the essential, unnamable process of the universe. D???/te means "virtue," "personal character," "inner strength" (virtuosity), or "integrity." The semantics of this Chinese word resemble English virtue," which developed from the Italian virt???, an archaic sense of "inner potency" or "divine power" (as in "healing virtue of a drug") to the modern meaning of "moral excellence" or "goodness." Compare the compound word taote.
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