Kuanyin Tzu, or True Man of Wenshih, is Yin Hsi, Frontier Com-mander of Hankukuan Pass. He is one of the ten great thinkers in The Pre-Ch’in Period. He is also a senior official, general and philosopher as well as an educator in The Eastern Chou Dynasty. He is a founder of the Taoist School and a contemporary of Lao Tzu. He is the first man in inheriting and propagating Lao Tzu or Tao Te Ching in human history. According to Historical Records, “Lao Tzu studied the theory of Tao and virtue which takes living in seclusion and no-name as its top priority. He lived in the capital of The Eastern Chou Dynasty for a long time and seeing that The Eastern Chou Dynasty was on the de-cline, he left there. When he arrived at Hankukuan Pass, Yin Hsi, Frontier Commander of Hankukuan Pass, said to him, ‘You’re going to live in seclusion. Would you please be so kind as to write a book for me?’ Thus, Lao Tzu wrote a book consisting of Part One and Part Two which describes the contents of Tao and virtue with over 5,000 Chi-nese characters and then he left. Nobody knew where he had gone.” This book is called Lao Tzu or Tao Te Ching, a classical work with the largest number of editions and the largest number of publications in human history.

No one can understand China or be an intelligent citizen of the world without some knowledge of the Lao Tzu, also called the Tao-te ching (The Classic of the Way and Its Virtue), for it has modified Chinese life and thought throughout history and has become an integral part of world literature. Therefore any new light on it, however little, should prove to be helpful. There have been many translations of this little classic, some of them excellent. Most translators have treated it as an isolated document. Many have taken it as religious literature. A few have related it to ancient Chinese philosophy. But none has viewed it in the light of the entire history of Chinese thought. Furthermore, no translator has consulted extensively the many commentaries regarding the text, much less the thought. Finally, no translator has written a complete commentary from the perspective of the total history of Chinese philosophy. Besides, a comprehensive and critical account of the recent debates on Lao Tzu the man and Lao Tzu the book is long overdue. The present work is a humble attempt to fill these gaps. This 1963 work is organized as follows: I. The Philosophy of Tao 1. Historical Background and the Taoist Reaction 2. The Meaning of Tao 3. The Emphasis on Man and Virtue 4. Weakness and Simplicity 5. Unorthodox Techniques 6. Lao Tzu and Confucius Compared 7. Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu Compared 8. Influences on Neo-Taoism, Buddhism, and Neo-Confucianism 9. The Taoist Religion 10. Taoism in Chinese Life II. Lao Tzu, the Man 1. Traditional Accounts 2. Lao Tzu’s Birthplace and Names 3. Lao Tzu’s Occupation 4. Confucius’ visit to Lao Tzu 5. Lao Lai Tzu and Lao P’eng 6. The Grand Historian 7. Summary and Conclusion III. Lao Tzu, the Book 1. Reactions Against Tradition 2. Arguments About Contemporary References 3. Arguments About Style 4. Arguments About Terminology 5. Arguments About Ideas 7. Titles and Structure 8. Commentaries 9. Translations The Lao Tzu (Tao-te ching)

The Chinese philosophical text Zhuangzi was written by Zhuangzi in the fourth century BCE. With humor and relentless logic Zhuangzi attacks claims to knowledge about the world, especially evaluative knowledge of what is good and bad or right and wrong. This book is about the man and the text.

A revolutionary archaeological discovery--considered by some to be as momentous as the revelation of the Dead Sea Scrolls--sheds fascinating new light on one of the most important texts of ancient Chinese civilization.

Chinese civilization and the Chinese character would have been utterly different if the book Lao Tzu had never been written. In fact, even Confucianism, the dominant system in Chinese history and thought, would not have been the same, for like Buddhism, it has not escaped Taoist influence. No one can hope to understand Chinese philosophy, religion, government, art, medicine, and even cooking without a real appreciation of the profound philosophy taught in this little book.