The Book of the Way of Life. With Commentary and Illustrations

«The Book of the Way of Life» by Laozi, known in Chinese as «Dao-De Jing», ranks second in the world after the Bible in terms of the number of translations. The origins of this book and the identity of its author are shrouded in numerous legends, which the renowned translator Vladimir Malyavin details in his preface. The very word «dao» means way, and at the same time, it signifies the way of the universe, life, and human perfection. And «de» represents the inner fullness of life, an invisible yet firm connection that binds all living things. The main secret of Laozi seems paradoxical: to become oneself, one must eliminate one’s private «i»; to have power, one must not desire it, and so on. The secret to reading Laozi lies in grasping that inner depth of meaning that wisdom conveys, revealing in every statement an alternate and opposing significance. Reading «The Book of the Way of Life» will be fruitless if it does not reveal the futility of abstract ideas and does not lead to a revolution in the very way of perceiving the world.