The
Lao Tzu text.
The name Lao Tzu, an obvious pesudonym, means "old master" or "old philosopher" or more generically "old <respectful title>". It is thought by some that the text was originally written by a man named
Li Erh. Whether the fable of the Great Wall guard and Lao Tzu actually happened to Li Erh or not is unknown.
The Lao Tzu is divided into two sections, namely the
Tao and the Te. They are so-called because the first characters in the Tao and Te sections are, not surprisingly, "tao" and "te". This is a common naming convention for
Chinese texts. Doing the same thing again on a higher level will give you the common title of the text. This is how its common title, Tao Te Ching, came to be. The text has no formal title, though. Not in the sense of a
Western title phrase that summarizes some theme in the book, anyway. So it is commonly called Tao Te Ching by most people, and called the Lao Tzu by more academic types. I guess it sounds smarter. I call it the Lao Tzu for reasons that will be enumerated below.
The chapters within the Tao section are mostly metaphysical in nature, dealing with the nature of the Tao--
the Way. Meanwhile, the chapters within the Te section are mostly practical in nature, dealing with how to correctly govern people. This is just a general trend, however, and actually you can find both of these themes in both parts.
To my knowledge, the oldest known copies of the text were found in 1973 in a tomb near the small village of Ma-wang-tui. This is also where the oldest known copy of the
I Ching was found, and at the same time. Each of the two new copies of the text are very incomplete, but between the two of them, the full text is intact. They are both missing great chunks, but they are both missing different great chunks.
The two copies of the Lao Tzu were found to be different in minor details from each other, and significantly different from previously found copies.
The first and arguably most important difference is that these two texts indicate that the Lao Tzu was intented to be read with the Te section first. Hence, the correct order and title would be
Te Tao Ching.
Another difference is that there are no chapter divisions, but only special characters in places where some chapter divisions are known to be. The special characters don't always appear in the places commonly considered chapter divisions. This implies that the well-known 81 chapter structure was not the will of the author, but of future editors. This makes sense, because the number 81 has spiritual significance in Chinese culture. Editors would have sought to make the text appear more perfect and well-conceived.
There are those that believe the Lao Tzu is nothing more than:
"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..." -- Sensei, E2.
The
cryptic-by-modern-standards nature of the Lao Tzu does nothing to dispel this belief, certainly, but this reasoning is similar to saying that when
Jesus said "
Love thy neighbor!" he was encouraging
promiscuous premarital sex.
In fact, the concepts of the Lao Tzu lead towards
decentralization of government, not totalitarianism. Chapter 80 is the most common one to be quoted as saying that people should be kept isolated and ignorant, but let me quote it, and then comment:
80
Let the states be small and people few--
Bring it about that there are weapons for tens and hundreds, but yet let no one use them;
Have the people regard death gravely and put migrating far from their minds.
Though they might have boats and carriages, no one will ride them;
Though they might have armor and spears, no one will display them.
Have the people return to knotting cords and using them.
They will relish their food,
Regard their clothing as beautiful,
Delight in their customs,
And feel safe and secure in their homes.
Neighboring states might overlook one another,
And the sounds of chickens and dogs might be overheard,
Yet the people will arrive at old age and death with no comings and goings between them.
In saying "let no one use [the weapons]," it is not literally meant that the weapons should be restricted from use, but it means that, "let events evolve in such a way that people have no use for the weapons."
In saying "have the people regard death gravely," it does not mean "put the fear of death in them," but, "have the people take death seriously, and not as an abstract." This is similar to the popular quote "You are not an adult until you understand that you will one day die."
In saying "put migrating far from their minds," there are no overtones of control or totalitarianism, but it simply means that people should be made content, so that they have no need that cannot be fulfilled at home, thus precluding the need to go abroad.
So you see, this chapter says all the same things that an
Agriculturalist in ancient China would say. Keep life simple, don't have many wants, realize that all you need is all around you. To further show that this interpretation is correct, instead of an insidious totalitarian plot, I give you Chapter 72:
72
When the people don't respect those in power, then what they greatly fear is about to arrive.
Don't narrow the size of the places in which they live;
Don't oppress them in their means of livelihood.
It's simply because you do not oppress them, that they therefore will not be fed up.
Therefore the Sage knows himself but doesn't show himself;
He cherishes himself but doesn't value himself.
For this reason, he rejects that and takes this.
So you see, casually reading the Lao Tzu will not give you an understanding of
Taoism. Only by studying the Lao Tzu with the benefit of translator's notes can most people understand the original meaning. To judge the text based on inferior translation is folly. Imagine someome judging your best literary work, after having been translated into a different language using Altavista's
Babelfish.
There is great wisdom in the Lao Tzu text, but it will not become apparent unless you are capable of understanding implicit meaning instead of claiming the words outline an oppressive master plot.
If Taoism interests you, I suggest you also read the
Chuang Tzu, which is another book in which Taoist philosophy can be found. It is a great deal more coherent and comprehensive than the Lao Tzu.
Robert Henricks is one person who has translated the sum of the Ma-wang-tui texts, and his translation and commentary is published by
Ballantine books under the title
Lao-Tzu, Te-Tao Ching, A New Translation Based on the Recently Discovered Ma-wang-tui Texts,
ISBN 0-345-37099-6. All of my quoted passages of the Lao Tzu are taken from this book.