Text Summary and Analysis

TAO TE CHING consists of 81 numbered chapters of varying lengths. The translated text is set as free verse broken into two, three, or four stanzas. It is followed by Stephen Mitchell's notes and commentaries, chapter-by-chapter. The book is a series of aphorisms and scenarios with little apparent larger structure. Because attempting to integrate text and notes creates undue confusion, this study guide divides them as does the original.

1. The Tao cannot be both named and is eternal. Desire separates mystery and manifestations, but both are rooted in darkness, from which comes understanding. 2. Beauty and goodness cause ugliness and bad to be seen. Being/non-being, difficult/easy, long/short, high/low, and before/after are each connected. The Master acts and teaches without doing or speaking, lets things happen, knows when to let go, neither possesses nor expects, and, forgetting her work...