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| Classic text of Chinese philosophy. Written between the 6th and 3rd centuries BC, it was once called the Laozi after its traditional author Laozi, though its true authorship is still unresolved. The Daodejing presents a way of life intended to restore harmony and tranquillity to a kingdom racked by disorder. It promotes a course of nonaction, understood as restraint from any unnatural action rather than complete passivity, thereby allowing the dao to resolve things naturally. It was designed as a handbook for rulers, who should rule by inaction, imposing no restrictions or prohibitions on their subjects. The Daodejing has had a tremendous influence on all later schools of Chinese philosophy and religion and has been the subject of hundreds of commentaries. |
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| First philosopher of Chinese Daoism. He is traditionally named as the author of the Daodejing |
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| the ethereal substance of which everything is composed |
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| the practice advocated by Taoism of letting one's action follow the simple and spontaneous course of nature |
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| In Confucianism, the attitude of obedience, devotion, and care toward one's parents and other elders considered fundamental to moral conduct |
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| the feminine passive principle in nature that in Chinese cosmology is exhibited in darkness, cold, or wetness and that combines with yang to produce all that comes to be |
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| the masculine active principle in nature that in Chinese cosmology is exhibited in light, heat, or dryness and that combines with yin to produce all that comes to be |
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| five ancient books of confucianism |
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