The Dao De Jing

The Dao De Jing is a philosophical work by Laozi (Li Er) from the Spring and Autumn period. It is also known as The Classic of the Way and Virtue, Laozi, The Five Thousand Words, and Laozi’s Five Thousand Words. Written before the various schools of thought in ancient China had fully emerged, it is an important source of Daoist philosophy. The Dao De Jing is divided into two parts. In the original text, the first part was The Classic of Virtue and the second The Classic of the Way, with no chapter divisions. Later, the chapters were rearranged so that the 37 chapters of The Classic of the Way came first, followed by The Classic of Virtue from chapter 38 onward, making 81 chapters in all.