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Author

Chapters: 12 Ideas: 65

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Dao De Jing

Laozi 350-250 BCE

Can we live well without forcing things? Daoist reflections on simplicity, humility, and acting without force. Explore the Way through images of water and emptiness, with lessons on desire, leadership, and living without contention.

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  1. Idea 4

    What cannot be seen, heard, or grasped eludes separate descriptions. Formless and indistinct, it joins into one continuity whose beginning and end cannot be found.

  2. Idea 47

    One who has enough can use the surplus to serve the world. Accomplish the work without claiming ownership or displaying superiority.

  3. Idea 54

    If people do not fear death, threatening execution cannot control them. Taking over the role of the executioner resembles cutting for a master carpenter: the substitute is likely to injure a hand.

Contents
  1. The Way Beyond Names5 ideas
  2. Being, Emptiness, and Use4 ideas
  3. Action Without Striving6 ideas
  4. Water, Humility, and Noncontention5 ideas
  5. Simplicity and Enough6 ideas
  6. Stillness, Return, and Renewal6 ideas
  7. Natural Virtue6 ideas
  8. Leadership Without Domination6 ideas
  9. Power, Inequality, and Responsibility5 ideas
  10. War and Coercion5 ideas
  11. Careful Beginnings and Endings5 ideas
  12. Knowledge, Speech, and Generosity6 ideas