Résumé
Résumé de Tao Tö King
Free for 3 months
Get the full summary of Tao Tö King, free
- 200,000+ classics as eBooks, audiobooks and 15-minute summaries, and print and large print at cost
- Up to 5 readers in your home on one plan
À qui s’adresse-t-il ?
Readers who enjoy thought-provoking sayings and images of water and valleys will love this book. It suits those drawn to calm, practical wisdom about leadership, ambition and a simpler life.
De quoi parle ce livre ?
Why would a wise ruler be told to empty the minds of his people and fill their bellies? Why does a book claim that the useful part of a wheel is the hole at its center? These puzzles sit inside the Tao Teh King, a short book of eighty-one brief chapters credited to Laozi, a name that means Old Master.
It became a founding text of Taoism. It is about the Tao, the Way, the unnamed source of all things, and it offers plain advice on ruling, conflict, desire and a quiet life. Its first claim is that the Way cannot be captured in words.
Dans ce résumé
- 1The Tao cannot be fully put into wordsFree
- 2Emptiness and stillness are the source of use
- 3Yield like water and you will outlast the strong
- 4Act without forcing and nothing is left undone
- 5Rule lightly and the people look after themselves
- 6Gentleness and restraint are the true weapons
- 7Contentment and honest words lead to a steady life
Point clé 1 sur 7
The Tao cannot be fully put into words
At the outset, the text acknowledges its limitations. The opening chapter says that the Tao which can be walked is not the eternal Tao, and the name which can be named is not the eternal name. Words can only point toward the subject, never hold it.
Still, the book offers hints. Heaven and earth emerge from the Tao, which has no name. With a name, it is the mother of all things. Chapter twenty-five describes a whole reality that takes shape before heaven and earth exist. It is still and formless, stands alone, never changes, and reaches everywhere. The author does not know its name, so he calls it the Way.
Chapter fourteen shows how it slips past the senses. You look and do not see it, listen and do not hear it, reach and cannot grasp it. Chapter fifty-one says all things honor it, yet no one commands them to. It produces them, feeds them and does not claim them as its own.
What does this mean for you? The same chapter says that someone free of desire can sound its deepest mystery, while someone full of wants sees only its outer fringe. Seeing clearly starts with wanting less.
The Way is the unnamed source of everything, and it is known by quiet attention rather than by definitions.
That’s 1 of 7 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
- Nothing to pay today · Renews every year
- We email you before you pay
- Cancel online in two clicks
Take this summary with you
Send to Kindle downloads the file and opens Amazon's page: drop the file there.
Go deeper: the whole of Tao Tö King
About 40 min to read.Commencez 90 jours gratuitsPaperback, hardcover and large print, printed for you at cost, are on their way.Email me when it is printed
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 9,450 words
- Reading timeAbout 40 min
Questions about Tao Tö King
What is the Tao Teh King about?
It is about the Tao, the Way that gives rise to all things, and how to live and govern in harmony with it. Through short chapters and verses it teaches simplicity, humility, stillness and acting without force.
What does Tao Teh King mean?
Tao means the Way, the source and course of all things. Teh means power or virtue, the quality that flows from following the Way. King means a classic book. Together the title means the classic of the Way and its power.
Who wrote the Tao Teh King and when?
Tradition credits Laozi, said to have been an archivist in ancient China. Many scholars think the book was gathered from sayings over generations, and place its formation in the centuries before the common era.
Is the Tao Teh King easy to read?
It has eighty-one short chapters, many only a paragraph or a verse, so you can read one at a time. Its images of water, valleys, wheels and infants are concrete and easy to picture.
What is the main message of the Tao Teh King?
The main message is that the best way to live is to follow the natural course of things. Be humble and flexible, want less, avoid force, and let things develop on their own, in your life and in government.
Cite this edition
Laozi. The Tao Teh King, or the Tao and its Characteristics. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-tao-teh-king-or-the-tao-and-its-characteristics.
Laozi. (2026). The Tao Teh King, or the Tao and its characteristics. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-tao-teh-king-or-the-tao-and-its-characteristics (Original work published ca. 350 B.C.E.)
Laozi. The Tao Teh King, or the Tao and its Characteristics. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-tao-teh-king-or-the-tao-and-its-characteristics.
@book{laozi2026tao,
author = {Laozi},
title = {The Tao Teh King, or the Tao and its Characteristics},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-tao-teh-king-or-the-tao-and-its-characteristics},
note = {First published ca. 350 BCE}
}
Free for 3 months
Get the full summary of Tao Tö King, free
- 200,000+ classics as eBooks, audiobooks and 15-minute summaries, and print and large print at cost
- Up to 5 readers in your home on one plan
