《老子》一书，又称《道德经》、《五千言》，内容包罗了宇宙观、人生论、认识论、方法论以及为人处世、治国兴邦等方方面面。所以，鲁迅说，不读《老子》，不知中国文化；胡适说，老子是中国哲学的鼻祖，是中国哲学史上第一位真正的哲学家。《老子》其辩证的思维方法，精到的处世策略，今天读来仍然十分鲜明。本书为英文读本，领你进入这一古老文化宝藏地。

Dao De Jing(The Book of Lao Zi)is widely read and celebrated as a Daoi.st classic.It is full of aphorisms that display the originality of Lao Zi’S wisdom and thought-way.Written in a poetic form and literally presented in 8 1 chapters，the texts as a whole turn out to be suggestive，implicit and somewhat obscure in meaning；hence they are often found inspiring to venture through with responses of appreciation，but not easy to digest the key arguments in question，especially SO in the case of general readers today.In order to facilitate a more fruitful reading of the classic，a new approach is therefore recommended with due consideration of the reading habit in general.thus bringing into being The Classic"of the Dao：A New Investigation.This study project is noticeably characterized by a thematic rearrangement of the 8 1 chapters along with elaborate annotations and relevant commentary.They are offered as a result of contextual analysis and absorptive incorporation with some of the recent findings by Lao Zi scholars.A11 this is intended to help one obtain certain insights into the highlights of early Daoism as a philosophy.In addition to that，one may feel reasonably convenient and flexible to select according to one’s own interest any of the themes or topics available in the table of contents concerned，and then focus on it for spiritual nourishment for example.A1l in all，the work reveals a strong initiative to make Dao De Jing more accessible and intelligible to the readers of all kinds.The intention as such will be largely fulfilled and rewarded by virtue of those who are to benefit not only from scrutinizing the book itself,but also from reading the modern into it in every possible manner.

Preface

Lao Zi and His Doctrine of the Dao

Part I The Dao as the Origin of All

  1 The Essence of the Dao

  2 The Features of the Dao

  3 The Movement of the Dao

  4 The Dao and the Myriad Things

  5 The Dao of Heaven and the Dao of Man

Part II De as the Manifestation of the Dao

  6 From the Dao into De

  7 The Qualities of De

Part III The Human Condition in Perspective

  8 On Have-Substance and Have-No-Substance

  9 On Take-Action and Take-No-Action

  10 On Pleasure-Snobbery and Acquisitiveness

  11 On the Hard and the Soft

  12 On the Beautiful and the Ugly

  13 On Beauty, Truth and Goodness

  14 On Modesty and Retreat

  15 On Knowledge and Wisdom

  16 On Fortune and Misfortune

  17 On Life and Death

  18 On the Merits of Contentment

  19 On the Possibilities of Achievement

  20 On the Art of Leadership

  21 On Warfare

  22 On Peace

  23 On Returning to Antiquity

  24 On the Ideal Society

Part IV The Daoist Path to Personal Cultivation

  25 The Attitude to Dao-De

  26 The Experience of Dao-De

  27 The Praxis of Dao-De

  28 The Attainment of Dao-De

(1) Self-Purification and Deep Contemplation

(2) Plainness and Simplicity

(3) Vacuity and Tranquility

(4) Tenderness and Non-Competition

(5) Have-Less-Selfishness and Have-Few-Desires

(6) Naturalness and Take-no-Action

Appendix 1 The Dao De Jing of Lao Zi (Translation)

Appendix 2 The Dao De Jing of Lao Zi (Original)

Appendix 3 Toward the Dao of Human Existence

Key References

Glossary