The Tao Te Ching ( 道德經 ) is ascribed to Lao-Tzu. It is a small book with eighty-one short sections. There are more than 250 translations of the Tao Te Ching into Western languages, mostly to English, German, and French. The following are my favourite English translations:

Stephen Addiss & Stanley Lombardo, Tao Te Ching (Boulder, Shambhala, 1993).

Red Pine, Lao-Tzu’s TaoTeChing, with Selected Commentaries from the past 2,000 years (Copper Canyon Press, 2009).

Derek Lin, Tao Te Ching – Translation and Annotation (Skylight Paths, 2006).

Stephen Mitchell, Tao Te Ching (Francis Lincoln, 1999).

Wayne W. Dyer, Change Your Thoughts – Change Your Life: Living the Wisdom of the Tao (Hay House, 2007). This is not a translation, but rather the result of Dyer producing an English text from ten of his favourite translations.

Translation, Lessons, and Commentary

1st Verse | Translation & Commentary | The Tao, Naming.

2nd Verse | Translation & Commentary | Yin-Yang Polarity

3rd Verse | Translation & Commentary |

4th Verse | Translation & Commentary |

5th Verse | Translation & Commentary |

6th Verse | Translation & Commentary |

7th Verse | Translation & Commentary |

8th Verse | Translation & Commentary |

9th Verse | Translation & Commentary |

10th Verse | Translation & Commentary |

11th Verse | Translation & Commentary |

12th Verse | Translation & Commentary |