Daode Jing: Way to the West

Catalog description

At 5,000 words, the Daode Jing [Tao-te ching, 'the Scripture of the Way and its Powers,' attributed to the Sage Laozi] is perhaps the shortest religious book in the world. It is also the most widely misinterpreted. In China, Daoists, Buddhists and Confucians have each taken its short, pithy statements as warrant for their very different belief systems. In the West, missionaries, new-age pundits, hippies, rock-stars, mystics and LSD advocates each claim to understand the 'true meaning' of Laozi's mystical words. But 'the farther one travels, the less one knows...' Students read representative samples of these explanations to understand why this brief book of wisdom has endured for over 2000 years. Requires no knowledge of Chinese. Presents all Chinese texts in the translations of the instructor.