According to tradition, the originator of Taoism, Lao-tzu, was an older contemporary of Kung Fu-tzu, or Confucius, who died in 479 B.C.1 Lao-tzu is said to have been the author of the Tao Te Ching, a short book of aphorisms, setting forth the principles of the Tao and its power or virtue (Tee). But traditional Chinese philosophy ascribes both Taois

The text was first translated into a Western language by the Jesuit missionary Joseph de Grammont, who rendered it into Latin shortly before 1788.

Manifest plainness, embrace simplicity, reduce selfishness, have few desires. —LAO-TZU