The foundational text of Daoism, attributed to Laozi, consisting of 81 short chapters presenting the Dao as the ineffable source of all things and wu wei as the proper mode of human and political action.
The Dao that can be told is not the eternal Dao; the sage rules by not ruling; weakness overcomes strength; the highest virtue is like water. Provides a cosmological and ethical framework based on naturalness, spontaneity, and the reversal of conventional values.
No conceptual lineage found.
No recorded contemporaries.
No recorded minds influenced.
No conceptual posterity found.
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