A pre-Qin dynasty Chinese totalitarian political discourse on how to rule effectively by keeping peasants isolated in their villages but filling their bellies; never letting the State's motivations or actions be discernable, and so on. The opening lines, "Dao that can be Daoed not unchanging Dao" is characteristic of tracts of this period by acknowledging its vulnerability when pretending to present Truth: "Any mode of discourse that can itself be discoursed upon does not stand outside the arguments of discourse." Later reinterpreted as a teaching on how to survive in hostile political times. Much later, reinterpreted as a teaching on longevity. Re-reinterpreted in the West as having some spiritual meaning.