Daodejing (Oxford World´s Classics New Edition)

• The Daodejing is the founding text of Daoism, and a fundamental Chinese text that combines philosophy and religion to promote harmony in life for the individual and for society as a whole.
• This new translation is sensitive to both the meaning and the poetry of the original, and draws upon the recent archaeological discoveries at Mawangdui and Guodian for a better understanding of the classical text.
• The translation preserves the original cultural context in which practical politics, warfare, and mysticism formed a coherent whole.
• Benjamin Penny's fine Introduction explains the work's importance, examines its textual history, origins, and authorship, its style and meaning and commentarial tradition, and the reasons for its continuing popularity.

'Of ways you may speak,
but not the Perennial Way;
By names you may name,
but not the Perennial Name.'

The best-loved of all the classical books of China and the most universally popular, the Daodejing or Classic of the Way and Life-Force is a work that defies definition. It encapsulates the main tenets of Daoism, and upholds a way of being as well as a philosophy and a religion. The dominant image is of the Way, the mysterious path through the whole cosmos modelled on the great Silver River or Milky Way that traverses the heavens. A life-giving stream, the Way gives rise to all things and holds them in her motherly embrace. It enables the individual, and society as a whole, to harmonize the disparate demands of daily life and achieve a more profound level of understanding.

This new translation draws on the latest archaeological finds and brings out the word play and poetry of the original. Simple commentary accompanies the text, and the introduction provides further historical and interpretative context.

Readership: General readers with an interest in Chinese philosophy, religion, and culture, in Daoism, mysticism, practitioners in the theory of Chinese medicine and acupuncture, tai-chi; students of Chinese, Chinese literature, culture and philosophy