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The Daode jing
Guides to Sacred Texts
The Daode jing
A Guide
L I V IA KO H N
1
3
Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers
the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education
by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University
Press in the UK and certain other countries.
Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press

198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America.
© Oxford University Press 2019
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in

a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the
prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted
by law, by license, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reproduction
rights organization. Inquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the
above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the
address above.
You must not circulate this work in any other form

and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer.
CIP data is on file at the Library of Congress

ISBN 978–0–19–068982–7 (pbk.)
ISBN 978–0–19–068981–0 (hbk.)
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Paperback printed by LSC Communications, United States of America

Hardback printed by Bridgeport National Bindery, Inc., United States of America
Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Series Introduction: Guides to Sacred Texts xi
Introduction 1
PA RT O N E T H E T E X T
1. Times and Authorship 7

The Axial Age 7
The Warring States 9
Confucianism 12
Yin-Yang Cosmology 15
Laozi 17
The Laozi Legend 20
Divinization 22
2. Textual Development 26
Language 26
Texts in Tombs 29
Guodian 31
Mawangdui 35
Heshang Gong 37
Standardization 39
Wang Bi 41
3. Key Concepts 45
Dao 45
Cosmic Unfolding 49
Natural Dynamics 53
Self-Being 56
Virtue 57
Images and Metaphors 60
vi Contents
4. Social Application 67
Nonaction 67
Social Reality 69
Sufficiency 72
Humility and Simplicity 76
Clarity and Stillness 80
Sagehood 84
PA RT T WO T R A D I T IO NA L E X PA N SIO N S
5. Communities and Politics 93

Primitivism 93
Self-Cultivation 96
Longevity Techniques 99
Inward Training 102
The Jixia Academy 105
Syncretism and Huang-Lao 108
Masters of Methods 111
6. Devotional Activation 114
Early Recitation 114
The Celestial Masters 116
Chanting for Immortality 118
Highest Clarity 121
The Northern Celestial Masters 125
Integrated Ordination 128
7. Commentary Exegeses 134
The Nature of Commentaries 134
Ideal Rulership 136
Personal Self-Cultivation 139
Original Nonbeing 144
Western Ascension 148
Mystical Attainment 150
8. Later Developments 155
Twofold Mystery 155
Imperial Attention 159
Song Huizong 162
Internal Alchemy 164
Daode jing Readings 167
Contents vii
Clarity and Stillness 169

The Qingjing jing 171
PA RT T H R E E M O D E R N R E C E P T IO N
9. China Today 179

Religious Veneration 179
Academic Study 182
Intellectual Engagement 185
Politics and Education 187
Ecology 189
Cognitive Therapy 192
Self-Help 195
10. In the World 201
Eastern Transmission 201
Early Western Reception 206
Seeing Dao 209
Philosophical Adaptation 212
Popular Understanding 214
Multiple Readings 217
11. English Translations 222
Types of Translations 222
Literal Translations 224
Historical Scholarship 226
Philosophical Renditions 228
Poetic Versions 231
Social Relevance 234
Self-Help Manuals 237
Whimsical Renditions 239
12. Western Adaptations 243
Daoist Leadership 243
Doing Business 246
Ecology 249
The Tao of . . . 251
Literary Allegories 255
Songs of Dao 257
Index 263
Illustrations
1. Laozi meets Confucius 18

2. The bamboo slips at Guodian 32
3. The dynamic interaction of yin and yang 50
4. Modern sign with ancient saying 64
5. “Dao follows naturalness” 70
6. Laozi as sage 87
7. The Yellow Emperor 107
8. Daoist monks chanting 128
9. A Daoist meditating on the spirits of the five organs 140
10. The landscape of internal alchemy 164
11. Temple complex on Mt. Wudang 181
12. The main Caodai sanctuary 205
13. A feng shui garden 219
14. Witter Bynner’s version 233
15. Peter Firebrace’s Sea Gong 260
Series Introduction: Guides
to Sacred Texts
What is a sacred text? The Oxford English Dictionary offers a def-

inition of “sacred” as “Set apart for or dedicated to some religious
purpose, and hence entitled to veneration or religious respect.” The
definition is necessarily vague. What does it mean to be “set apart?”
What constitutes a “religious purpose?” How formal is “vener-
ation?” Does minimal “religious respect” qualify? The sphere of
meanings surrounding the word “sacred” will depend on the reli-
gion involved. For that reason “sacred texts” in this series is a term
conceived broadly. All of the texts covered by this series have held
special regard—they have been “set apart”—in a religion either an-
cient or modern. Such texts are generally accorded more serious
attention than other religious documents. In some cases the texts
may be believed to be the words of a deity. In other cases the texts
may be part of an atheistic religion. This breadth of application
indicates the rationale behind Guides to Sacred Texts.
This series offers brief, accessible introductions to sacred texts,
written by experts on them. While allowing for the individuality of
each text, the series follows a basic format of introducing the text
in terms of its dates of composition, traditions of authorship and
assessment of those traditions, the extent of the text, and the issues
raised by the text. For scripture that continues to be utilized, those
issues will likely continue to generate controversy and discussion
among adherents to the text. For texts from religions no longer
practiced, the issues may well continue to address concerns of the
present day, despite the antiquity of the scripture. These volumes
are useful for introducing sacred writings from around the world to
readers wanting to learn what these sacred texts are.
Introduction
The Daode jing or Tao Te Ching is the oldest and most venerated
scripture of Daoism and a classic of world philosophy. Often hailed
as representing the core of ancient Chinese mysticism, it is in fact a
multifaceted work that can, and has been, interpreted in many dif-
ferent ways: a manual of strategy, a political treatise on the recovery
of the Golden Age, a guide to underlying principles, and a metalin-
guistic inquiry into forms of prescriptive discourse. Fundamentally
it can be read in different ways: as a document of early Chinese cul-
ture or as a scripture of universal significance, cosmologically or
practically, as a general statement or an expression of an esoteric
teaching.
Looked at in terms of Chinese culture, concepts of statesman-
ship, political principles, military strategy, and royal virtues be-
come essential—the focus is on understanding the text in the
context of contemporaneous works and the social and political
situation of the time. Seen as a scripture of universal significance,
ideas of personal cultivation, freedom of mind, and the attain-
ment of spontaneity and naturalness take center stage—the text’s
main appeal is its timeless characterization and alleviation of the
human condition. Both approaches are equally important and have
been proposed by readers and scholars over the centuries; both are
also evident in numerous traditional commentaries and the uses
of the text throughout Chinese history and particularly the Daoist
tradition.
Also known in the West as “Taoism”—using an older mode of
transliterating Chinese—it is famous for its philosophy and health
2 Introduction
practices. Its philosophy centers on the concept of “Dao” or “Way,”

and presents notions of naturalness and spontaneity, nonaction
and going with the flow. Its health practices often take the form
of taiji quan and qigong, utilizing deep breathing, slow motion,
gentle stretches, and meditation. While both philosophy and health
practices constitute major aspects of Daoism, they form only a part
of the entire complex, which also includes an organized, communal
religion of social and political dimensions, with formal rituals and
ordination hierarchies, potent talismans and magical spells, as well
as visualizations and ecstatic excursions to the stars.
Daoism was not always seen as consisting of these three
dimensions. When Western missionaries first encountered it, they
followed the dominant Confucian perception and focused entirely
on its ancient classics such as the Daode jing, ignoring its cultiva-
tion practices and condemning its popular rituals as “heathen.”
The texts, on the other hand, they admired and interpreted in a
Christian light, trying to find God and Western values in them.
This attitude has led to the widespread adoption of the age-old
distinction between daojia, the “Daoist school,” originally a bib-
liographical classification that goes back to the first century bce,
and daojiao or the “Daoist teaching,” a term applied to organized
groups in the early middle ages and found in texts from the fifth
century onward. In Western terms, the two are called “philosoph-
ical” and “religious” Daoism, a cleft that has prevented a proper
understanding of the tradition as a whole. Recently, a more ap-
propriate and integrated understanding has come to the fore that
sees the ancient “thinkers” as informed and infused by practices,
especially meditation and other forms of self-cultivation, as well as
often living in communities that presage later organizations.
Today scholars see the Daoist tradition as consisting of three
major branches: literati, organized, and self-cultivation. More spe-
cifically, literati Daoists belong to the educated elite and focus on
Daoist ideas as found in the ancient texts, applying them to their
lives and expanding them to influence the political and social
Introduction 3
situation of their time. Their goal is to align themselves with Dao

and enhance universal harmony, legitimizing their ideas on the
basis of a deep dedication to the classical texts. They are often
writers, compiling interpretations, commentaries, and exegeses,
and also integrating Daoist concepts into literature, poetry, and
art. Working in different areas of society, in some cases retiring to
their landed estates to lead a life of leisure, they derive their self-
identity from ideas centered on Dao, shaping the tradition as tex-
tual commentators, religious patriarchs, and modern intellectuals.
The second branch of the religion, what used to be “religious”
Daoism, we now call “organized.” Its members similarly appear
in various functions and levels of society but their distinguishing
mark is that they belong to one or the other communal group that
practices organized religion. These groups have priestly hierarchies
and monastic orders, and they support formal ordinations, regular
rituals, and prayers to the gods. Some are close-knit fraternities
with esoteric practices that actively separate from the rest of so-
ciety; others form part of ordinary society, often furnishing neigh-
borhood temples that serve to create a spiritual dimension to the
life cycle by celebrating weddings, graduations, business ventures,
and funerals as well as offering services of healing, protection,
and exorcism. These groups have extensive codices of scriptures,
hagiographies, and manuals, now collected in the Daoist canon,
which in its present form goes back to 1445. Historically, there are
traces of early groups, notably centering on the vision of the Daode
jing, but as a strong social force they appear only in the second cen-
tury ce. Since then, they have vacillated between marginal, even
rebellious, positions and times of great political influence, overall
forming a firm part of mainstream culture since the fifth century.
The third group of Daoists focus on personal self-cultivation,
practices known summarily “nurturing life” (yangsheng). From an
early time linked with the personal adaptation and intentional acti-
vation of virtues and subtle states described by the ancient thinkers,
these practices include breathing techniques, physical exercises,
4 Introduction
dietary and sexual moderation, as well as—most importantly—

forms of meditation described in terms of quiet sitting, concentra-
tion, and clarity and stillness. By the second century bce, detailed
manuals appear in excavated manuscripts, showing that these
techniques also played an important role in traditional Chinese
medicine, where they constituted its preventative and health-
enhancing aspects. Around the same time, stories describe semi-
divine figures known as immortals (xian), who use these practices
to attain more than harmony in life, reaching for high spiritual
states of transcendence. Rather than philosophical ideals or com-
munal rites, the main concern of self-cultivation Daoists is the
attainment of physical health, longevity, peace of mind, and mys-
tical oneness with Dao. They tend to stay away from political in-
volvement and complex organizations, working instead with close
relationships of master and disciple.
While anyone participating in either of these dimensions may
call himself a Daoist, the overarching trend for serious devotees is
to engage in all three: think of life in terms of the ancient classics
and their later and modern interpretations, practice some form of
self-cultivation, and connect to society through communal organ-
izations. The Daode jing as the first and most venerated classic of
the tradition accordingly plays an important role in all three. Its
format and outlook being on the more “philosophical” side, for
most of its history it has invited literati engagement, discussions,
commentaries, and interpretations. However, even from the earliest
times, its teachings were associated with self-cultivation and med-
itation practices, and even before the inception of the Daoist re-
ligion in the second century ce, it was venerated and recited as a
sacred scripture, believed to contain supernatural powers and to
bring blessings and good fortune to its devotees. The text is, there-
fore, a multifaceted phenomenon, with both a long history and a
continuing active presence in the world today.
PART ONE
T HE T E XT
1
Times and Authorship
The Axial Age
The Daode jing is one of the great works that shaped human civiliza-
tion and goes back to a period of pervasive change that the German
thinker Karl Jaspers, in The Origin and Goal of History (1953),
called the Axial Age, when “man as we know him today came into
being.” At this time, in many different cultures new thinkers and
religious leaders arose, who for the first time placed great em-
phasis on the individual as opposed to the community of the clan
or tribe, creating abstractions and sophisticated forms of criticism.
Examples include the Buddha and Mahavira in India, Zoroaster in
Persia, Solon and Socrates in ancient Greece, and Confucius and
Laozi in China.
This change was due to the increasing impact of literacy, which
arose in the wake of the invention of writing. A way of keeping track
of increasingly complex economical and political transactions,
writing is logophonic, that is, the visible record of spoken words,
and as such different from immediate pictorial representations
or other forms of record-keeping, including knotted cords, ar-
ranged pebbles, carved ivory bones, or pictographic abstractions.
Its first traces go back to about 3500 bce, when the Babylonians
and Sumerians in the Near East developed cuneiform ideographs,
soon followed by the ancient Egyptians and, about 1500 bce, by
the Chinese. The Greek alphabet, more potent due to its ability
of shaping words from individual letters and vowels, goes back
to about 800 bce. Easier to learn and more flexible in applica-
tion, it was both more democratic socially and more prone toward
8 Part One: The Text
abstraction philosophically than the Chinese character script, a

system that, by its very difficulties, limited access and conferred
great status.
By 600 bce, the time of the Axial Age, the use of writing among
major world civilizations had spread widely enough among their
upper classes to make a difference in thinking. The most momen-
tous of all human technological inventions, as Walter Ong calls
it (2002), writing freed language from context and standardized
concepts, and created autonomous discourse, thus opening new
levels of awareness in the individual. Completely artificial, it
requires the use of cortical areas in the brain more related to visual
input and enhanced processing in the prefrontal cortex, thus
raising consciousness to a completely new level and opening the
path toward the growth of an inner sense of self—characteristic of
philosophies of the time.
More specifically, writing allowed backward scanning of re-
corded thoughts, and increased choice of words, the ability to chal-
lenge logic, and the reduction of inconsistencies. It separated the
knower from the known, opening the self to introspection and
society to abstract concepts, such as justice and morality. For the
first time, people became aware of the complexities of their internal
motivations and were able to create itemized lists and indexes,
gaining a much greater control over the outside world and their
inner thinking while being more and more alienated from both.
This stands in sharp contrast to orally based thinking, which
has several distinct characteristics. Thus, in terms of grammat-
ical organization, it is additive rather than subordinative, using
“and” more than “because” or “after,” as well as aggregative rather
than analytic, that is, it heavily uses proverbs, sayings, aphorisms,
epithets, and parallel constructions. It also tends to be redundant
or copious, with repetition and back-looping. In terms of con-
tent, it is close to the human life-world, homeostatic and present-
oriented, deeply engaged with immediate issues, as well as focused
on concrete events over general patterns. It is overall situational
Chapter 1: Times and Authorship 9
rather than abstract, empathetic rather than detached. The Daode

jing, as we shall see, while the product of an already literary cul-
ture, both in style and content still maintains many characteristics
of oral thinking, making it a powerful document in a time of major
transition.
The Warring States
This transition in China, the time when the Daode jing was first
conceived, is marked by the shift from the Spring and Autumn pe-
riod (770–481 bce) to the Warring States (480–221 bce) within
the Eastern Zhou dynasty. Besides an increase in literacy, it also
signaled major changes in economics, society, and politics. During
the Western Zhou (1046–771 bce), following Shang (ca. 1550–1046
bce) models, the state had been dominated by a warrior aristoc-
racy whose privileged status was marked by its monopoly of ritu-
ally directed violence. Sanctioned killing, as Mark Edward Lewis
describes it (1990), in the forms of sacrifice, warfare, and hunting—
which also served as military exercise and formed part of the king’s
seasonal inspection tour—constituted the central rites of the cults
of the ancestors and the state altars, and the performance of these
rites set the aristocracy apart from the common people who slaved
to keep them housed and fed.
This aristocracy, moreover, was organized through a close net-
work of kinship ties that created a systematic group hierarchy,
within which each lineage had its own capital, temple, and mil-
itary force. In the late Spring and Autumn period, iron age tech-
nology spread, bringing with it better plowshares, wagon axles, and
weapons. This caused an increase in food production and massive
population growth, as well as greater mobility and wealth among
the upper classes. As a result, the family-based social structure
disintegrated. Lineages split into various branches of unequal status
and began to pursue local power, engaging in interlineage conflicts
and interstate wars. Needing more fighters than the family had to
offer, the aristocracy added comrades-in-arms by means of blood
covenants and established increasingly independent states, striving
for supremacy or hegemony.
To this end, lineage-based states in the late Spring and Autumn
period began to tighten their organization, progressively extending
military service to create universal conscription and make every
adult male into a soldier. Establishing the integrated squad of five
men as the lowest independent tactical unit, they unified the army
into a single body. Pervasive military training changed to turn
previously autonomous fighting men into standardized, predict-
able, functionally differentiated members of a coordinated whole,
reducing troops to passive objects of manipulation. This in turn
affected civil society in the Warring States, creating a brutally re-
pressive system of sanctioned violence by organizing the entire
population into units of military service as the primary means of
civil control. It brought forth numerous totalitarian and tyrannical
regimes that wielded extensive and comprehensive power, making
each individual liable for the acts of his or her social unit and bru-
tally punishing transgressions.
The Daode jing, therefore, arose in the context of constant war-
fare, when people essentially devoted all their efforts to never-
ceasing sacrificial and military activities, farming in the spring
and summer and campaigning in the fall and winter. Equipped
with new weaponry, such as the crossbow and the iron sword,
and supported by mounted cavalry that replaced the war chariots
of old, large infantry armies of up to 600,000 men—ten times the
size of Spring and Autumn forces—fought each other to the death,
creating destruction and devastation everywhere.
In response to this gruesome situation, a new social group of so-
called scholar-knights or officials-in-waiting (shi) arose. Literate
and intellectually aware, they were often younger or illegitimate
sons of warrior lords, who developed visions of creating a more
stable and better integrated society. Philosophically inclined, they

would not look for what is true as opposed to apparent or fake, as
Western thinkers did, but instead strove to find ways to order or
proper government (zhi) as opposed to disorder or social chaos
(luan).
Their key concern was thus the proper “way” or “method” (dao)
that would lead to the recovery of the harmony and social managea-
bility of an earlier, golden age. Their works tend to be characterized
by a strong backward focus and feudalistic vision. Although
Western scholars usually characterize them as “philosophers,” they
always placed a strong emphasis on the practical dimensions of
their teachings, in regard to both social and political impact and the
individual’s personal cultivation. In fact, at the core of most ancient
Chinese thought are practices of social discipline and the transfor-
mation of individuals and communities.
The Han historian Sima Tan (d. 110 bce) distinguishes six
major philosophical schools of the Warring States, each of which
proposed one particular area as being most responsible for the state
of social and cosmic disharmony and offered remedies accord-
ingly. Thus, the Confucians (rujia) focused on social etiquette and
proper ritual; the Daoists emphasized the natural flow of things.
The Mohists (mojia), followers of the philosopher Mozi (470–391
bce), saw the solution to all problems in social equality, nonvio-
lence, and concern for all; the School of Names or Dialecticians
(mingjia) found the key flaw in the inaccurate use of language and
the resulting confusion in people’s minds. The Legalists (fajia)
thought that a set of strict laws and punishments was necessary to
return order to the world; and the Yin-Yang Cosmologists under-
stood social and personal harmony to depend on the cycles of the
seasons, the movements of the stars, and other macrocosmic phe-
nomena. Among these, the Confucians and Yin-Yang Cosmologists
are most relevant for understanding the Daode jing, itself central to
the Daoist school.
Confucianism
Confucianism goes back to Master Kong Qiu (551–479 bce),

called Kong Fuzi in Chinese and latinized by the missionaries as
Confucius. He was born as the illegitimate son of the ruler of Lu,
a minor state in what is today Shandong. Being part of the lesser
aristocracy, he received an education in the feudal arts, including
archery, charioteering, music, and poetry, and became literate.
Serving as a minor functionary in administration, he reflected on
the difficulties and divisions of his time, developing a philosoph-
ical and ethical system in the hope of guiding the country back to a
saner and more personally dedicated way of living. Hoping to find a
ruler to put it into practice, he traveled all over the country, visiting
many different feudal states, but was not hired. Eventually he went
back home and began to teach his ideas to interested disciples, soon
establishing a name for himself. The disciples later collected his
sayings into a book known as the Lunyu (Analects), which today
has twenty chapters, the first nine of which seem to be historically
closest to the Master himself.
The main concept of early Confucianism as presented in this
text—and variously criticized in the Daode jing—is the idea of
ritual formality or etiquette (li). The graph combines the symbol
for “spirit” or “divine” with the image of a basket full of beans; it is
a visual representation of offerings and by extension indicates the
sense of reverence and awe in the face of the numinous. The term
describes the clear inner awareness of social distinctions and per-
sonal potentials, the ability to maintain moderation and exhibit an
appropriate and respectful response in all kinds of situations. More
specifically, li means proper behavior among people of different
rank and status as defined in the five key relationships of ruler and
minister, father and son, husband and wife, older and younger
brother, as well as friend and friend. Each of these pairs consists
of a more senior and more junior partner, even if divided only by
minutes of birth or organizational membership, defining their re-

spective obligations.
The key factor in the system, then, is mutuality (shu). This
means that the senior partner always should treat the junior with
care and concern, while the junior owes the senior deference and
respect. More particularly, this manifests as filial piety or obe-
dience (xiao) toward one’s parents, and loyalty (zhong) toward
the ruler or state. People should always think of how they would
like to be treated themselves. As the Lunyu has it, “The Master
said, Do not impose on others what you yourself do not desire”
(12.2; 14.15). Another way to activate li is through humaneness
(ren), expressed in kindness, benevolence, goodwill, generosity,
and compassion. The character shows the word for “person”
combined with the numeral “two,” indicating its focus on inter-
personal connection. This is closely followed by righteousness
or rightness (yi), the sense of familial duty and social obligation
that reaches beyond the interpersonal and takes the greater good
into account. The character consists of the two words for “I” and
“sheep,” suggesting the connection between the self and the flock
of humanity.
Nobody, not even the ruler of the country, always occupies a
senior or junior position. Rather, varying social contexts require
different forms of behavior, degrees of formality, and structures of
command. Complete mastery, then, guarantees the smooth func-
tion of society in all its complexity, a feature that needs to be ab-
sorbed rather than enforced. As the Lunyu says:
The Master said: Guide them by edicts, keep them in line with
punishments, and the common people will stay out of trouble but
will have no sense of shame. Guide them by virtue, keep them in
line with propriety, and they will not only have a sense of shame
but also reform themselves. (2.3)
This inner reform is described in Confucianism in terms of the

virtue of personal integrity as it manifests in fundamental hon-
esty, trustworthiness, and faith (xin), a word that combines the
graphs for “human being” and “speech.” It indicates a sense of per-
sonal truth and inner authenticity, the value of being true to one’s
unique disposition while maintaining a pervasive connection
to the greater social dimension of life. To know when to do what,
moreover, requires wisdom (zhi), a term whose graph combines
the words for “mouth” and “expression” or “speaking” with “arrow,”
indicating the mental direction underlying vocal expression. It sig-
nals the deeper understanding of things and profound appreciation
of social value and personal abilities.
To attain wisdom and find personal integrity within the over-
arching demands of propriety, Confucians focus strongly on
learning, notably training in the arts of the nobility—poetry, cal-
ligraphy, numerology, music, archery, and charioteering—together
with the study of history and important ancient documents.
Confucius himself is credited with compiling the Confucian canon,
a collection of six ancient works or classics that later became the
standard source of knowledge and formal education and include
the Shujing (Book of Documents), Shijing (Book of Songs), Yijing
(Book of Changes), Chunqiu (Spring and Autumn Annals), Liji
(Book of Rites), and one not extant today, the Yuejing (Book of
Music).
Confucians do not consider learning a burden but a pleasure, an
adventure of becoming increasingly aware of oneself and the so-
cial intricacies of life. Thus, the Lunyu begins, “The Master said: To
learn and practice from time to time what one has learned, is this
not indeed delightful?” (1.1). Learning will eventually make one
the ideal Confucian, a superior person or gentleman (junzi) who
follows his parents and leaders in all respects and honors the social
conventions to the best of his ability. He will make the world a better
place by radiating harmony and propriety throughout, from family
to neighborhood, village, county, state, and into the universe.
Yin-Yang Cosmology
Yin-Yang Cosmology, in contrast, does not have a specific founder,

but was first formally codified by the thinker Zou Yan (ca. 340–260
bce) who developed a systematic description of the known uni-
verse in terms of the energetic interaction of yin and yang and the
so-called five phases—stages of energetic rising and falling associ-
ated with the five concrete entities of wood, fire, earth, metal, and
water. Even before his time, Chinese cosmology rested on the basic
premise that everything in the world consists of one underlying
cosmic and vital energy known as qi. Qi is the concrete aspect of
Dao, the basic material building block of the universe, the funda-
mental stuff of nature. Ancient sources associate it with mist, fog,
and moving clouds, the quality that nourishes, warms, transforms,
and rises. Qi is the life force in all matter including the human body,
the ground of all vitality, the ongoing process of life.
Since qi is ubiquitous and not limited by constraints of space
or time, any energy vibration anywhere resonates fully with all
others—from the most minute realm within a human cell to the
most expansive order of galactic vastness. The way in which human
beings and natural objects are connected to the world at large, then,
happens via qi, through an all-pervasive energetic unity. There is
only one qi that functions on different levels. At the root of crea-
tion, it is primordial, prenatal, and perfect—intangible, invisible,
inaudible, dark, and mysterious. In the created world, it is manifest,
postnatal, and functional—constantly moving, perceptible in form,
sound, and light. Thus, it can be classified according to categories
such as temperature, density, speed and direction of flow, as well as
its overall impact on human and natural life.
The most fundamental classification of qi-flow is in terms of
movement, up or down, forward or back, rising or falling, and
so on. Yin and yang define this process. Originally indicating
the sunny and shady sides of a hill, they soon acquired a series of
associations: bright and dark, light and heavy, strong and weak,
above and below, Heaven and Earth, ruler and minister, male
and female, and so on. Commonly presented in the well-known
circle with two black and white curved halves, they represent the
interlocking of energy patterns in an ongoing process of balancing
and ordering, of continuous enfolding and unfolding.
Yin-Yang Cosmology strives to recreate social harmony in three
ways, through a universal law, a particular mode of thinking, and
a complex technical apparatus. First, the universal law of yin-yang
is that of energy dynamics, the ongoing, unceasing flow of circula-
tion. Qi flows in a constant rhythm: to and fro, forward and back,
in and out, rising and falling, giving and receiving. This natural
rhythm is present in all things, in our breath and in the beating of
our hearts as much as in night and day, summer and winter, and
so on. It is predictable, measurable motion, and all things, ideas,
and people keep on changing, ever moving along their course. Any
effort to stop or reverse it must fail: the law of circulation always
prevails. Appreciating this inescapable pattern makes it possible to
live flexibly and rule with proper regard to the needs and inherent
trends of all beings.
The particular yin-yang mode of thinking is correlative. Also
found in other traditional cultures, such as ancient Greece, it is
clearly present in the way we acquire language—building plurals
by adding the letter “s” or changing the vowel, for example, foot to
feet. In all cases, the organization of language is based on a simple
pattern that is correlated and repeated in different concrete cases.
Applying this to the understanding of reality, correlative thinking
sees similar patterns on various levels, often understanding them
as micro-and macrocosms. Thus, for example, the working of
the human body may be applied to politics, so that the heart is
the ruler and the other organs are government agencies. Society
and the family may similarly be likened to bodily or other natural
structures. Typically, people recognize similarities and differences
between patterns and understand reality in terms of the interaction
of different aspects that impact on each other in a parallel manner,

thus creating order and social stability.
Based on this understanding, Yin-Yang Cosmology also comes
with a complex technical apparatus, including most importantly
astronomy, natural observation, and divination. Since the patterns
of the celestial bodies (days, seasons, lunar phases, planetary
constellations) and of earthly rhythms (landscape features, weather
patterns, plant growth, earthquakes) immediately mirror reality on
the social and personal levels, their close observation provides an
indication of where the flow of energy is headed at any given point
in time. By the Han dynasty, Yin-Yang Cosmology, complete with
the five phases, had come to dominate Chinese thinking and cul-
ture. It determined the execution of all activities, including the daily
uses of food, garments, body movements, and social interactions as
well as major rituals and political measures. Medical diagnosis and
treatments are still firmly rooted in its system, allowing an in-depth
and pervasive way of classification and manipulation of physical
well-being.
Laozi
Within this overall social and philosophical setting, the Daode jing
offers a particular vision of reality and guidelines toward increased
harmony. The text is closely associated with Laozi, literally the “Old
Master.” Being a rather elusive figure, first information regarding
his life and work appears in chapter 63 of the Shiji (Historical
Records) by Sima Qian (154–80 bce), dated several centuries
after his lifetime. It says that he came from a village called Quren
in the southern state of Chu, also known by its Shang-dynasty
name Bozhou, today located in the town of Luyi on the border of
Anhui and Henan, about 100 miles east of Zhengzhou. He served
as a scribe in the archives of the Zhou capital in Luoyang, about
85 miles west of Zhengzhou. “Laozi cultivated Dao and virtue. He

taught that one should efface oneself and be without fame in the
world.” Thus he came to meet Confucius (see Fig. 1):
Confucius once traveled to Zhou because he wished to ask Laozi

about the rites. Laozi said: “The sages you speak about have long
withered along with their bones. Also, when a gentleman attains
proper timeliness, he rides in a carriage; when his time has not
come, he wanders about with the wind. I have heard that a good
merchant fills his storehouses but appears to have nothing; a true
gentleman is overflowing with virtue but looks as if he was a fool.
Give up your prideful airs and your manifold desires, get rid of
your stiff deportment and your lascivious thoughts. All these do
you no good at all. I have nothing else to tell you.”
Fig. 1. Laozi meets Confucius. Source: Statue at Laozi’s birthplace in

Luyi. Photograph by Helene Minot, 2011. Used by permission.
Confucius left and later told his disciples, “Birds, I know, can
fly; fish, I know, can swim; animals, I know, can run. For the run-
ning one can make a net; for the swimming one can make a line;
for the flying one can make an arrow. But when it comes to the
dragon, I have no means of knowing how it rides the wind and
the clouds and ascends into heaven. Today I have seen Laozi who
really is very much like a dragon.”
Assuming this meeting to be historical, Laozi was presumably older

than Confucius, who was born in 551 bce. Some scholars, such as
Chen Guying (2015), accordingly postulate an approximate birth
date of 570 bce. His status as senior cultivator of Dao and teacher of
Confucius—whom he possibly met variously, including also at his
house in Pei (Jiangsu)—also appears in several other, slightly earlier
documents. These include the Zhuangzi (Book of Master Zhuang),
a compilation of Daoist stories and philosophical vignettes dating
to about 300 bce, that refers to him by the name Lao Dan; the Lüshi
chunqiu (Spring and Autumn Annals of Mr. Lü), a political com-
pendium of about 250 bce; and the Liji, the Confucian Book of
Rites. In addition, the collection of Confucius’s sayings, the Lunyu,
contains several passages that show possible influence from the
Daode jing, including positive references to emptiness and fru-
gality, working without exertion or intention, ruling the empire as
if it were nothing important, and repaying harm with kindness.
In addition, the text also had some influence on the works
attributed to the philosopher Mozi, especially with regard to pru-
dent policies and beneficial attitudes of the ruler. Thus, echoing
the Daode jing, the Mozi says, “When advice has foresight and
sternness, a state can be secure for a long time” (1.1.3), and “The
flourishing is difficult to guard” (1.1.5), suggesting that it is best
to prevent things from becoming too prosperous or full and avoid
conditions of extremes. Along similar lines, the text recommends
not to take on too many tasks and not to pursue broad knowledge
(1.2.1). In addition, it makes use of similar water metaphors for
Dao and life, noting that “large rivers do not neglect smaller brooks
and streams, and are thereby filled, and become great” (1.1.6).
While most Chinese scholars, based on this and similar evi-
dence, place the Daode jing early and champion the historicity of
Laozi, claiming that he wrote the entire text himself, some see it dif-
ferently. Thus, D. C. Lau (1982) claims that the story of his meeting
with Confucius was apocryphal, unknown before the third century
bce. Rather than historical fact, it formed part of the folklore—
frequently polemical and often fictional—that surrounded ancient
philosophers, in this case, Confucius. D. C. Lau was the first to sug-
gest that the Daode jing itself had nothing to do with a spurious
Laozi, but grew over several centuries from remembered sayings
and only emerged as a comprehensive document around 250 bce.
A. C. Graham (1998), taking the middle ground and representing
the position of most Western scholars today, notes that the tale
might well indicate that a figure called Laozi was in fact a minor
official under the Zhou, well versed in matters of ritual. Rather than
having actually met Confucius, however, he was stylized as a hero
of the Confucians, showing the humility of the master. Only much
later was he claimed as a Daoist thinker and linked to the Daode
jing, whose compilation was a gradual accumulation of sayings,
starting in the mid-fourth century.
The Laozi Legend
The Shiji further mentions several other figures that may or may
not have been Laozi, revealing a fundamental insecurity about his
identity even in the first century bce. They include an otherwise
unknown thinker called Laolaizi, a figure of extreme longevity
venerated by health seekers, and a Grand Historian. The text says,
Some sources speak of one Laolaizi who also came from Chu. He
wrote a work in fifteen sections, which speaks of the practical uses
of the Daoist school. He, too, was a contemporary of Confucius.
Laozi, it seems, was over 160 years old, or even over two hun-
dred, according to some. This was because he cultivated Dao and
nurtured long life.
After the death of Confucius, 129 years passed. According
to historical records, the Grand Historian of Zhou, a man
named Dan, then had an audience with Duke Xian of Qin. He
said: “Originally Qin and Zhou were joined, then, after five
hundred years in unity, they separated. Seventy years after this
separation, a hegemon will be born here.” Some say that this
Dan was in fact Laozi. Others claim he was not. Nobody knows
whether this is so or not. Laozi, by most accounts, was mainly
a recluse.
According to A. C. Graham (1998), Laozi’s longevity and his link

with the Grand Historian were central to the promotion of the
Daoist faction at court and the compilation process of the Daode
jing. As the western state of Qin conquered all the others in the late
third century bce, the various philosophical schools presented
their ideas to gain political influence with the up-and-coming
ruler. Followers of Laozi and his successor, too, entered into the
fray, arranging their various inherited sayings into a set text, simply
calling it the Laozi.
One of their key claims, moreover, was personal longevity or
even immortality, a theme close to the heart of the First Emperor,
who sent out expeditions to find the Penglai isles of the immortals,
employed various alchemists to concoct him an elixir of eternal
life, and build the humongous tomb complex known for its
Terracotta Warriors—all to stave off decline and death. Laozi’s
followers accordingly claimed not only that he was a contemporary
of Confucius, but that he was also identical with Grand Historian
Dan who, in 374 bce, supposedly predicted the rise of Qin, making
Laozi over two hundred years old. When the emperor wanted to
know why he was no longer around in person, the early Daoists said
that he emigrated, creating a story that became the root of many
later legends. The Shiji records,
After some time Laozi realized that the [Zhou] dynasty was de-
clining and decided to leave. When he reached the western fron-
tier, Yin Xi, the Guardian of the Pass, said: “You want to withdraw
forever. Please write down your ideas for me.” Thereupon Laozi
wrote a book in two sections dealing with Dao and virtue. It had
more than five thousand words. Then he left, and nobody knows
what became of him.
This explained why Laozi was no longer there and how the text Laozi
came into being. It also set the stage for its two other appellations,
Wuqian wen (Text in Five Thousand Words) and Daode jing (Book
of the Dao and Its Virtue).
Divinization
While they never quite gained the ear of the First Emperor, early
Daoists succeeded in attracting the attention of several rulers in
the early Han dynasty. Laozi at the time became a highly venerated
figure, rising to increasingly divine status, while the Daode jing
grew into a semi-sacred book widely recited and honored among
the upper classes. In addition, this growing fame led an up-and-
coming family named Li to claim Laozi as their ancestor. Thus the
Shiji notes that his surname was Li and concludes its record by
listing his descendants:
The son of Laozi, by the name of Zong, was a general in Wei and
enfeoffed in Duan’gan. Then came Zong’s son Zhu, Zhu’s son
Gong, and Gong’s great-grandson Jia. Jia served under Emperor
Wen of the Han [179–156 bce]. His son Jie was Tutor to Ang,
Prince of Jiaoxi. As a result, he moved to Qi [modern Shandong].
The genealogy of the Li clan is historical fact, but its connection

to Laozi is spurious. In relating themselves to a hero of old, the Li
family followed common practice at the time, when many local

clans strove for influence at the imperial court. It is also most likely
that Laozi’s formal first name Er and his birthplace Bozhou were
added at this stage.
An honored sage among Han aristocrats, Laozi together with
the Daode jing was adopted by three separate groups. First, the po-
litical elite, the imperial family and court officials, came to see in
him the personification of Dao and worshiped him as a represen-
tative of their ideal of political unity alongside the Yellow Emperor
(Huangdi) and the Buddha. This is most cogently expressed in the
Laozi ming (Inscription for Laozi), by the official Bian Shao. Dated
to 165, it contains a record of the imperial sacrifices to Laozi by
Emperor Huan in Bozhou. It presents a summary of the Shiji ac-
count, then gives a concrete description of Laozi’s birthplace, and
cites the Daode jing as the major expression of his ideas. In addi-
tion, the text praises Laozi as the central deity of the cosmos: born
from primordial energy, he came down to earth, and eventually
ascended back to heaven as an immortal.
Second, self-cultivation practitioners and masters of methods
(fangshi) took him as their patriarch and idealized him as an im-
mortal. This led to his first hagiography in the Liexian zhuan
(Immortals’ Biographies; first century bce), followed later by the
Shenxian zhuan (Biographies of Spirit Immortals) by the would-be
alchemist Ge Hong (283–343). The former says:
Laozi’s family name was Li, his first name Er, and his style Boyang.
He was from Chen. He was born under the Shang dynasty
and served the Zhou as an administrator. He was very fond of
nurturing his vital essence and qi, valuing the art of accumulating
and not dispersing them. Eventually he reached the position of
archivist. . . .
Once Confucius traveled to Zhou [City] to see Laozi.
Recognizing him as a sage, he asked him to be his teacher. Later
the Zhou dynasty went into decline and Laozi left, riding a black
ox. When he came to the border pass in the Greater Qin state, the
guardian of the pass, a man by the name of Yin Xi, received him.
He realized that Laozi was a superior being and urged him to re-
cord his teachings in writing. As a result, he wrote the Daode jing
in two sections.
According to this, Laozi lived not just the two hundred years re-
corded in the Shiji, but from the Shang all through the seven hun-
dred years of the Zhou before emigrating to the west. The Shenxian
zhuan, written a few hundred years later and integrating further
legends, enhances his divinity further. Originally part of Dao, here
he comes to life in every dynasty, from prehistoric sage rulers to the
present. Under the Zhou, when he arises as an archivist and phi-
losopher, he passes through seventy-two years of pregnancy and
emerges from his mother’s armpit, with strange signs on his body,
and possessing supernatural wisdom. In the course of this life time,
moreover, he becomes a successful practitioner of immortality and
ascends to heaven in broad daylight.
The third group that adopted Laozi under the Han included
members of popular, millenarian cults who identified Laozi as the
personification of Dao, a deity who transformed himself through
the ages and would save the world yet again to bring about the
age of Great Peace (taiping). Called Lord Lao (Laojun) or Yellow
Lord Lao (Huanglaojun), this deified Laozi was a personification
of cosmic harmony not unlike heaven under the Zhou, yet he was
also equipped with tremendous revolutionary power. As a messiah,
he could overturn the present and reorganize the world, leading the
faithful to a new state of heavenly bliss in this very life on earth.
The main document here is the Laozi bianhua jing (Scripture of
the Transformations of Laozi), which describes Laozi as the body
of Dao and the savior of humanity, mixing mythical motives such
his celestial stature, supernatural birth, and divine appearance with
core concepts of the Daode jing, such as nonaction and freedom
from desires. Unlike in other accounts, Laozi at the end of his life
does not vanish but continues to reappear in China under the Qin
and Han. For example, “In the second year of Vigorous Harmony
[148 ce], following a serious landslide, he appeared in Chengdu
[modern Sichuan] near the Gate of the Left Quarter.” Just as the god
is present in a concrete and practical dimension, so the text takes
on a religious role. To approach Laozi, members must visualize dif-
ferent colors in the body, then learn to “concentrate on the One, and
soon will see a yellow glow within.” Also, they should venerate the
Daode jing and recite it vigorously. Then the deity will assist them
in all troubles.
Further Readings
Chen, Guying. 2015. Rediscovering the Roots of Chinese Thought: Laozi’s
Philosophy. Translated by Paul D’Ambrosio. St. Petersburg, FL: Three
Pines Press.
Graham, A. C. 1986. Yin- Yang and the Nature of Correlative Thinking.
Singapore: Institute for East Asian Philosophies.
_____. 1998. “The Origins of the Legend of Lao Tan.” In Lao Tzu and the Tao
Te Ching, edited by Livia Kohn and Michael LaFargue, 23–40. Albany: State
University of New York Press.
Jaspers, Karl. 1953. The Origin and Goal of History. New Haven, CT: Yale
University Press.
Kohn, Livia. 1998. God of the Dao: Lord Lao in History and Myth. University of
Michigan, Center for Chinese Studies.
Lau, D.C. 1982 [1959]. Chinese Classics: Tao Te Ching. Hong Kong: Hong Kong
University Press.
Lewis, Mark Edward. 1990. Sanctioned Violence in Early China. Albany: State
University of New York Press.
Liu, Xiaogan. 2015. “Did Daoism Have a Founder? Textual Issues in the Laozi.”
In Dao Companion to Daoist Philosophy, edited by Xiaogan Liu, 25–45.
New York: Springer.
Ong, Walter J. 2002 [1982]. Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the
Word. New York: Routledge.
Wang, Robin R. 2012. Yinyang: The Way of Heaven and Earth in Chinese
Thought and Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
2
Textual Development
Language
The Daode jing is not an analytical philosophical document, it does

not record dialogues between thinkers or rulers, nor does it pre-
sent a systematic outline of doctrines or practices. It is not a re-
vealed scripture or a compendium of ritual chants, nor yet is it an
account of mythical times and divine actions. Quite different from
most other sacred texts, it consists largely of verses, often in lines of
four characters, frequently rhyming, interspersed with a few prose
passages. There is no narration, no argumentation, no presenta-
tion, no one topic systematically explored.
The text does not mention specific people, places, dates, or
events, but makes general reference to the situation of the times, as
for example, “The people starve because the ruler eats too much tax-
grain” (ch. 75). Speaking anonymously, it most commonly engages
in general statements of wisdom. This wisdom involves three major
areas: cosmology and universal patterns (“Heaven endures, earth
is long-lasting”; ch. 7), society and leadership (“The sage embraces
oneness and becomes the model for the world”; ch. 22), and per-
sonal cultivation (“Compassionate, I can have valor”; ch.67).
The Daode jing formulates its teachings in a rather tight and
terse language, often using short and powerful aphorisms to make
a point. Aphorisms are proverb-like sayings that tend to reflect
common experience while evoking a new perspective on it. They
typically have a “target,” a particular attitude or belief they wish to
highlight; an “image,” a vision or simile they evoke; and an “atti-
tude,” a value-orientation they serve to promote. For example, “A
Chapter 2: Textual Development 27
thousand-mile journey begins with the first step” (ch. 64) targets
the idea that things can be done quickly and effortlessly and
promotes an attitude of patience and steady progress. In this it
matches the English saying, “Rome wasn’t built in a day,” but
evokes a different image—a long journey ahead versus a big con-
struction project.
In its heavy use of sayings, as well as the tendency toward short,
additive statements, the Daode jing closely matches the basic char-
acteristics of oral thinking. This is further evident in its application
of repetition, which comes in two forms: chain repetition that uses
the same word at the end of one line and the beginning of the next
(ch. 59) and line repetition which repeats the same word in the
same position in each line (ch. 19). It is also manifest in its heavy
application of parallelism, using the same grammatical structure
over three to five lines, as well as in its vibrant rhymes—endowing
its words with strong rhythm and clear dynamics. For example,
chapter 81 has:
信言不美美言不信
xin yan bu mei mei yan bu xin
true words not beautiful beautiful words not true
善者不辯辯者不善
shan zhe bu bian bian zhe bu shan
good person not argue arguing person not good
知者不博博者不知
zhi zhe bu bo bo zhe bu zhi
wise person not erudite erudite person not wise
聖人不積
sheng ren bu ji
sage man not accumulate
Continued
既以為人己愈有既以與人己愈多

ji yi wei ren ji yu you ji yi yu ren ji yu duo
when use do for people, self more when use give to people, self more
have lots
天之道利而不害聖人之道為而不爭

tian zhi dao li er bu shan sheng ren zhi dao wei er bu zheng
heaven’s way benefit yet not harm sage man’s way do for yet not
compete
Both in terms of language in contents, this chapter is fairly typ-

ical for much of the text. It has repetition of individual words, lines
of four or seven characters, parallel construction, as well as some
rhymes—in archaic Chinese, the words bian and shan in the second
line were *bjen and *gjen. Other chapters have as many as three
or four lines rhyming, in addition to chain repetition and parallel
sentence construction. Another typical feature of the text is that it
clusters generic wisdom statements, followed by a separate, single
line, often introduced by a word meaning “thus” or “therefore,”
which indicates the shift to a more specific or concrete way of be-
havior. This behavior, moreover, activates all three levels of cosmos,
society, and self-cultivation.
The language of the Daode jing with these particular character-
istics is very similar to that of the Shijing (Book of Songs), an an-
thology of songs and poems that go back to 1000–600 bce. There
are some changes in rhyme pattern, which has to do with the evolu-
tion of language, and the usage of four-character lines is somewhat
less. However, especially when contrasted with the third-century
poetic anthology Chuci (Songs of Chu), the similarities to the
Shijing are striking, placing the sayings of the text circa the very
early Warring States period. While it is entirely possible that it was
transmitted orally for quite some time, it was certainly recorded
by the fourth century and has survived in manuscripts found
in tombs.
Texts in Tombs
Although literacy had spread, written works were not common

during the Warring States, and only institutions or people of
means—governments, aristocrats, local rulers—could afford the
luxury of having materials committed to writing, procuring expen-
sive base materials and hiring professional scribes. Written texts,
moreover, were regarded with awe, since they could transmit know-
ledge without personal contact, and were in themselves carriers of
power. They could also potentially fall into the wrong hands, and
their owners protected them accordingly, either stashing them
away safely in a treasury or transmitting them only in conjunction
with various reliability tests, pledges of valuables, and serious vows
of trust—not unlike the blood covenants of antiquity, sworn to es-
tablish fighting alliances.
Aristocrats with an interest in government, health, and personal
cultivation thus collected relevant materials. Some searched out
already written works and had them transcribed; others invited
knowledgeable people to their estate and had them dictate their
philosophical sayings and medical recipes to an experienced scribe.
This explains why teachings were written down, but it does not ex-
plain why they were buried in tombs.
To understand this, we have to realize that the ancient Chinese
understood death as the separation of two essential spirit aspects
or “souls” that form the nucleus of primordial qi and make up the
living person: the spirit soul (hun) of celestial origin and the mate-
rial soul (po) that belongs to the earth. As the embryo forms in the
womb, the two souls join together to give it life and consciousness.
When the person dies, the souls separate: the hun returns to the
heavens in the form of an ancestral spirit; the po returns to earth as
the decaying body and its ghost.
Both gradually, over five to seven generations, merge back into
their original element. But especially during the first several years
the deceased spirits remain close to the living, require human-style
sustenance, and are potentially dangerous. Essentially uninterested

in the affairs of the living, both spirit components after death have
to be mollified and controlled. With a series of complex rituals and
the creation of often artificial lineages, they are enticed to support
the living. Corpses are accordingly buried with extensive grave
goods—the real thing in high antiquity, clay images since the Han,
paper replicas today. The ancestral spirits receive regular offerings
of food, drink, and incense at special altars in the home.
In Han understanding—as also in later Daoist view—the newly
buried person was thus still thought to be present. At this stage,
with the two souls just starting to separate, the qi would still be
active in the body, and it might be possible that in this new state,
removed from the sensory involvements and passions of the world,
the person could still undertake the refinement of qi and transfor-
mation necessary to enhance life and attain a heavenly state.
This is also borne out by various other death practices of tra-
ditional China. First, there is the practice of “calling back the
soul” (zhaohun) right after death, a formal ritual chanting to en-
tice the soul to desist from its wanderings and come home. Then
there is the equipment of the grave as the new home of the dead,
formally deeded to the deceased in a legally phrased tomb con-
tract. Then, of course, there is the enormous range of grave goods,
both to make the dead comfortable and to bribe otherworldly
bureaucrats. And finally there is the option to continue worldly
activities from the grave, such as, for example, Moneylender Zuo’s
vigorous suing of his clients, documented in sixteen contracts
buried with him.
The fact that philosophical, cosmological, and medical treatises
were buried in tombs of local aristocrats in Warring States and Han
China may, therefore, show a strong family dedication to related
ideas and practices during life. It may also reflect the close personal
connection the tombs’ occupants had to their books, to what de-
gree their identity was linked with them. Beyond that, it might in-
dicate the hope that the deceased, taken from his life’s work, might
continue to pursue self-cultivation and life-enhancing methods in

his more spiritual state.
Guodian
The oldest extant written version of the Daode jing is such a tomb
manuscript. It was unearthed in October of 1993, when local
archaeologists at Guodian near Jingmen (Hubei) opened a tomb
after grave robbers had invaded it several times and water began
to come in. They found a single male skeleton in a two-layered
coffin accompanied by bamboo manuscripts as well as two pottery
vessels, a lacquer box, a wooden comb, a square bronze mirror, a
bronze bowl, several bird-shaped staff handles, and a lacquer cup
that bore the inscription “Teacher of the Eastern Palace.” Since the
site was only a few miles north of Ying, the capital of the ancient
state of Chu, this led to the speculation that the tomb’s occupant
was the tutor of the heir-apparent, who commonly resided in the
Eastern Palace. Because the state of Chu was conquered by the
rising Qin in 278 bce and the capital moved at that time, the tomb
must have been closed earlier, pointing to Xiong Yuan as the heir-
apparent in question. The son of Xiong Heng, aka King Qingxiang,
became crown prince upon the latter’s ascension in 298 bce, and
ruled the kingdom from 262 bce until his death in 238 bce, to be
later canonized as King Kaolie.
His tutor, then, would have been a member of the lower aristoc-
racy, one of the scholar-knights who served to instruct and guide
rulers. He obviously took his studies of ideal government and best
moral attitudes very seriously, since he was buried with a phil-
osophical library, consisting of 804 bamboo slips with roughly
16,000 characters of text, dated by radiocarbon to around 350–
300 bce. Bamboo or wood slips were the preferred medium of
writing at the time, dried and flattened to create a surface about two
inches wide and a foot long. Characters were written in black ink,
and text—here in characteristic Chu script—would run from top

to bottom and right to left with minimal punctuation. That is to
say, there are some markers that show the ends of sentences (short
lines) as well as repeated and combined phrases (double lines).
In addition, some slips also have marks that look like a black nail,
followed by an empty space, possibly indicating a chapter or major
section division. Typically covered on both sides, the slips would
then be tied together with cords or string to make a readable text.
The slips at Guodian were floating in water, in great disarray
since their ties had long since disintegrated. Upon close anal-
ysis, they were found to present sixteen different texts (trans.
Cook 2012), for the most part Confucian-inspired writings about
Fig. 2. The bamboo slips at Guodian. Source: www.hubei.gov.cn. Public

domain.
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“But why did he hasten to inform you?”
“He feared that I might be involved in some way because of my relations
with Darling, so he came to put me on my guard,” Kate glibly explained.
“But there was no occasion, not the slightest occasion.”
“Indeed?”
“Not the slightest,” Kate forcibly repeated.
“Who is this man, Dacey, and where does he hang out?” Nick then
inquired, not yet in a position to contradict the woman. “Why was he going
to the Darling residence? What is his interest there? Why did he——”
“Stop a moment!” Kate exclaimed, lurching forward in her chair. “What
do you think I am, Carter, an information bureau? I’ll stand for this no
longer. I don’t know what you suspect, nor care, and you evidently don’t
intend to enlighten me. It’s a mighty poor rule that won’t work both ways.
I’ve told you all I’m going to tell you. If you want to learn more of Cyrus
Darling, or of Jim Dacey, or of Sheldon and Floyd—go and question them.
You’ll get no more out of me.”
Nick saw that she meant it.
“Wait and see,” he remarked, rising.
“I can wait,” Kate retorted. “Go elsewhere with your questions.”
“That is precisely what I shall do.”
“Go ahead, then. It’s up to you. Go where you please—I’m going to bed.”
CHAPTER VI.
BIRDS OF A FEATHER.
Nick Carter had an object in not revealing his suspicions to Kate Crandall
and attempting to force a different story from her. He had seen plainly that
such an attempt would be useless, that the woman felt secure in the position
she had taken and was prepared to stick to her statements.
Nick believed very few of them, however. He keenly realized,
nevertheless, that they ordinarily would appear perfectly plausible, that a
woman is always given the benefit of a doubt in such cases, and that her
story would be very generally accepted unless he could find positive
evidence with which to refute it.
“There is only one way it can be done. That’s by producing the supposed
suicide himself,” Nick decided, a bit grimly, after leaving her. “She was
expecting my visit and had prepared herself for it. That was as plain as twice
two. I scored one point on her, nevertheless, that she was not expecting, and
which may prove to be her undoing.
“She certainly was rattled for a moment when she learned that I knew of
Dacey’s doings. It forced her to come across with a plausible explanation.
Not having anticipated that contingency, however, there may be a weak spot
in her arrangements with Sheldon, or Floyd. I’ll try to find it. I’ll hunt up
Sheldon before she can communicate with him and put him on his guard. I’ll
see whether he will tell precisely the same story. Rear corridor, suite number
ninety-four, eh? This must be the way.”
Hastening through several diverging corridors, Nick had entered one
leading to the rear of the house. He would not delay to hunt up Chick and
Patsy, being anxious to find the subject as quickly as possible, and it was less
than five minutes after his parting from Kate Crandall, when Nick arrived at
the door of Ralph Sheldon’s apartments. He listened vainly, then knocked. It
brought an immediate response.
“Come in!”
Nick entered the parlor of an attractively furnished suite. A table covered
with books and newspapers occupied the middle of the room. Amid them
stood a library lamp with a large, drooping silk shade of nile-green color,
which deflected the light upon, and immediately around the table, leaving
other parts of the room in semi-obscurity, causing Nick to think at first sight
that it was only dimly lighted.
In the bright glow close to the table, however, sat the solitary occupant of
the room. He was lounging in a large armchair, with his slippered feet in
another, and his tall figure wrapped in a long house robe. He seemed to be a
man of fifty, of refined appearance, with hair and beard slightly shot with
gray. He wore black-rimmed glasses and was reading a book, over which he
gazed inquiringly when the detective entered.
“Sheldon himself,” thought Nick, recalling Nancy Nordeck’s description
of the man. “Alone and absorbed in a book. It’s odds, then, I’m ahead of any
warning from Kate Crandall. She certainly has not been here since I left
her.”
These conclusions flashed through Nick’s mind while he bowed and said:
“I am looking for Mr. Floyd, or Mr. Sheldon. You are one or the other, I
infer.”
“My name is Sheldon,” he replied, drawing up in his chair. “Mr. Floyd is
out just now, but he may return at any moment. What is your business?”
“I want a little information which I think you, or Mr. Floyd, can give
me.”
“Certainly. Sit down, Mr.——”
“Carter,” put in Nick. “I am a detective.”
“Not—not Nick Carter?” faltered Sheldon inquiringly, with a look of
surprise.
“Yes. I see that you have heard of me.”
“Who has not?” and Sheldon smiled significantly. “But I do not recall
having seen you before. I am glad to meet you.”
He certainly spoke as if pleased, but his smile appeared forced and his
cheeks were pale. When he extended his hand without rising, moreover,
Nick detected that it was trembling slightly and then noted that it felt
abnormally cold and clammy.
“I am glad to find you here,” he replied, taking a chair near the table.
“You were, I am told, a friend of the late Cyrus Darling.”
“Yes, in a way,” said Sheldon, settling back in his chair and fixedly
eyeing the detective.
“In a way?” echoed Nick. “What do you mean by that?”
“I mean that I met him only a few times,” Sheldon explained. “I called
once at his residence in company with Mr. Floyd, but we did not find him at
home.”
Nick could not deny that this coincided exactly with what Nancy Nordeck
had told him.
“I did not know him well,” Sheldon added. “Floyd was much better
acquainted with him. What about him, Mr. Carter, that you are seeking
information?”
“I have been employed to do so.”
“By whom?”
“His wife.”
“For what reason? What is the occasion?”
“Have you no idea?” Nick inquired, with sharper scrutiny.
“I—not the slightest.” Sheldon quickly shook his head. “I knew nothing
about Darling’s personal affairs. I know only that he shot himself, and—ah,
here is Floyd, now,” he abruptly digressed. “You are just in time, Phil. Shake
hands with Mr. Nicholas Carter, the famous detective. He is after
information about Cyrus Darling. You can tell him, perhaps, what he wants
to know.”
Floyd had entered while Sheldon was speaking, and Nick detected an
accent of relief in the latter’s voice.
Floyd appeared to be about thirty, a compactly built man, under medium
height, clad in a stylish plaid suit and a soft felt hat. He was very dark, his
hair thick and curly, his mustache long and drooping, completely hiding his
mouth. He wore gold-rimmed glasses, through which he fixed a pair of
searching black eyes upon the detective, bowing indifferently and not
tendering his hand.
“Pleased to know you, Mr. Carter,” he said, sitting directly opposite Nick
at the table. “Information about Cyrus Darling, eh? He’s dead. What’s the
big idea? What do you want to know about him?”
There was a sinister flippancy in this man’s voice and manner that Nick
did not fancy. Like Nancy Nordeck, too, he somehow felt that he had seen
Philip Floyd before, but he could not even vaguely determine when, or
where.
Nick did feel positive, however, that Floyd was bent upon putting up a
bluff, that he was by far the more nervy man of these two, and that Sheldon
was much relieved by his timely arrival. All this presently impelled Nick to
venture a counterbluff, which proved more effective than he anticipated.
“I want to know anything about him, Mr. Floyd, that you can tell me,” he
replied.
“But what’s the big idea?” Floyd repeated, staring steadily at Nick. “Why
are you seeking information about a dead man? Is there anything wrong with
his record?”
“That’s what I wish to learn.”
“Who put you on the job?”
“His wife.”
“Why so? Why has she gone up in the air? What does she suspect?”
Floyd glibly inquired.
“It does not much matter what she thinks,” Nick slowly answered.
“That’s neither here nor there at this stage of the game.”
“Humph! Is that so?”
“What I suspect is much more material. I came here to ask a few
questions, Mr. Floyd, not to answer a string of inquiries from you. Please
bear that in mind.”
Nick’s voice had taken on a subtle and somewhat threatening ring. He
gazed at his hearers with a sharper gleam in his impressive eyes. He saw
Floyd frown quickly, while Sheldon’s bearded face grew quite haggard and
ghastly in the greenish light cast upon it through the drooping silk shade.
“Bear it in mind, eh?” Floyd curtly questioned.
“That’s what I said,” Nick returned.
“Why do you speak like that? I’m not likely to answer questions put to
me in that fashion.”
“Oh, yes, you are,” Nick retorted. “Otherwise, I shall take steps to compel
you to answer them. Bear that in mind, also.”
Floyd jerked his chair nearer the table.
“See here, Mr. Carter, what’s the meaning of this?” he demanded
aggressively. “What do you suspect, that you come here and——”
“Never mind what I suspect,” Nick interrupted. “What I want to know,
Mr. Floyd, is what sort of a game you and Sheldon and Kate Crandall are
playing? How does Jim Dacey figure in it? What are you scheming to get
from Cyrus Darling by——”
“Get from him be hanged!” Floyd cut in sharply. “You’re talking through
your hat. Cyrus Darling is dead and buried——”
“No, he isn’t.”
“Not dead?”
“Not by a long chalk!” Nick sternly declared. “He is alive, very much
alive, as I shall presently convince you. I know that without your informing
me. I know, too, that you fellows are responsible for his supposed suicide. I
know that you——”
Nick stopped short at that point.
Floyd’s right hand suddenly appeared above the edge of the table. It held
a revolver—aimed point-blank at the detective’s breast.
“You know too much, Carter, for your own good,” he hissed viciously
between his teeth. “If you move foot or finger, I’ll send a bullet through your
heart. Sit quiet, Sheldon, and keep your mouth shut.”
Nick Carter did not appear at all disturbed by the sudden threatening turn
of the situation. He had deliberately invited it, in fact, though it came so
much more quickly than he expected, that it found him partly unprepared.
Without stirring from his position, he gazed across the table at Floyd’s hard-
set face, replying sternly:
“Your threat is equivalent to a confession. You have decided, then, to fly
your true colors. That is what I wanted.”
“True colors be hanged!” snapped Floyd. “You’ll never discover my true
colors, Nick Carter, nor get me under your infernal heel. Keep your hands
where I can see them, or you’ll get all that’s coming to you.”
Nick saw that the hand gripping the weapon was as steady as the voice
uttering the threat. He saw, too, that the scowling rascal meant what he said,
though his confederate, Sheldon, had gone as white and mute as a corpse.
“I shall do nothing to invite a bullet, Mr. Floyd,” he coolly answered,
though watchful to seize the slightest opportunity to reverse the situation. “I
value a whole skin too highly. But matters cannot remain as they stand.
What do you propose doing, now that you have held me up, and——”
“You’ll soon see,” snapped Floyd, interrupting. Then, with voice raised:
“Hurry up, Martin! Get a move on! Come here, and——”
Nick cut him short in characteristic fashion. For the hundredth part of a
second Floyd’s eyes were diverted from him. Nick saw the opportunity, and
seized it. He heard hurried steps in an adjoining room. He lifted his knees as
quick as a flash and upset the table—just as a portière behind him was cast
aside and two brawny, powerful men bounded into the room.
What followed was of brief duration.
The table and books went crashing to the floor.
Sheldon caught the lamp as it was falling.
Nick reached over the toppling table, and, with a lightninglike move,
snatched the revolver from Floyd’s hand.
At the same moment came a blow from behind, dealt with the weapon of
one of the ruffians who had entered. It was impossible for the detective to
avoid it. It fell squarely on the back of his head, knocking him senseless on
the instant. He dropped without so much as a groan, face forward over the
table.
Floyd seized the ribbons again.
“Quick!” he cried fiercely. “Take him to my room. The crash must have
been heard. Some one may come to investigate it. Wait here, Sheldon, and
explain. State that you fell against the table and upset it. This way, Martin,
this way! We must get him out of the house, Jim, or our game will go by the
board.”
Meantime, Nick was being hurriedly removed from the suite, through a
rear door.
CHAPTER VII.
A STARTLING DISCOVERY.
Nick Carter had accomplished his object, but at some little cost. He had
aimed to force the suspects into some impetuous move that would fully
confirm his suspicions.
He had expected it to follow his assertion that Cyrus Darling was alive,
and that the supposed suicide was but part of a knavish scheme, including
Kate Crandall, Jim Dacey, and Cyrus Darling himself. The speedy effect of
his declarations, however, as well as the resources of the rascals, had
exceeded his anticipations.
But there was still another reason for the sudden aggressive move made
by Philip Floyd, a reason that Nick could not possibly have anticipated, yet
which alone necessitated the desperate step Floyd had taken.
Patsy Garvan was responsible for it, though not because of any fault on
his part. Following the instructions that Nick had given them, Patsy and
Chick arrived at the Ashburton Chambers about ten minutes after Nick,
separating before entering, Patsy to look up Sheldon and Floyd, while Chick
undertook to identify the suspect seen by Danny in company with Kate
Crandall that afternoon.
Nick had remarked, before leaving home, that, with three strings to their
bow, there certainly should be something doing—and there was.
Patsy entered the house about ten minutes after Nick went up to Kate
Crandall’s suite, and, as luck would have it, he shaped the same course that
his chief had taken. He began his work with buying a cigar and interrogating
the girl clerk with precisely the same question.
“Have you seen Ralph Sheldon here this evening?”
The girl laughed while giving Patsy his change.
“You’re not alone,” she remarked. “Another man just asked the same
question.”
“That so?” queried Patsy, knowing it must have been Nick. “How long
ago was that?”
“Not more than ten minutes,” said the girl. “Sheldon must be in demand
this evening. He was talking with the clerk a short time ago. I guess you’ll
find him in his suite, third floor, rear corridor, number ninety-four.”
“Thanks,” said Patsy, with a smile. “It’s not material.”
“That’s just what the other man said,” replied the girl, laughing.
“Gee! I must be walking right in the chief’s tracks,” thought Patsy,
moving away. “That denotes that I’ve got a long head, at least; but I must cut
it out, all the same, or some one may get wise to what we are doing. It’s odds
that the chief took the elevator, so I’ll vary the program by hoofing it.”
Patsy knew, of course, that Nick had gone to seek an interview with Kate
Crandall, as he had stated.
“I’ll look up Sheldon’s suite,” he said to himself. “If he still was with the
Crandall woman, it’s odds that he left when the chief showed up. He may be
with a confederate in his apartments by this time, in which case their
conversation might enable me to clinch the chief’s suspicions, if I can
contrive to overhear it. I’ll locate the suite, at all events, and find out what’s
doing.”
Patsy climbed the stairs to the second floor, then sought a corridor leading
to the rear of the house. He found it with no great difficulty, but upon
entering the corridor adjoining the rear rooms, he turned in the wrong
direction to find the main stairway.
He brought up in a narrow, dimly lighted hall, instead, and at the narrow
stairway already mentioned.
“Gee, I’m in wrong!” he muttered, glancing at several doors in the dim,
uncarpeted entry. “I ought to have gone the other way. These stairs will take
me up to the next floor, however, and the rear corridor must run parallel with
one of this floor. These doors must be rear exits from some of the side and
back suites. I’ll go up and have a look.”
Patsy started up the stairs with the last.
The long corridor through which he had just come was deserted. The
narrow entry and stairway appeared to be for the use of servants only, and
entirely out of use at that hour.
Nevertheless, while still only part way up the stairs, Patsy suddenly heard
the rustle of skirts and hurried footsteps in the narrow entry on the third
floor.
He stopped short and listened.
The sounds ceased in a moment, and Patsy thought he heard the cautious
closing of a door. Uncertain as to the last, however, he remained motionless
on the stairs, holding his breath, and listened intently for several moments.
“By Jove, that’s mighty strange,” he said to himself. “I certainly heard a
woman’s steps and the rustle of skirts. She was in a hurry, too, yet was
moving stealthily. That ought to signify something. Have I stumbled upon a
rear entrance to Kate Crandall’s suite? Has she eluded the chief by stealing
out of a back door? Gee! I’d better look into this.”
Patsy’s suspicion was perfectly natural under the circumstances. It acted
upon him like a spur, moreover. He crept quickly up to the third landing and
glanced through the narrow hall.
It was unoccupied. The several doors were closed. A short side entry
around a corner, and several feet from the stairs, caught Patsy’s eye. That
also was deserted. It contained only a single door, also closed, and Patsy
stole nearer to it and listened.
He could hear no sound from within, nor detect any sign of light on the
threshold. He stole away, retracing his steps, and listened at one of the other
doors, then another and still another.
Patsy paused longer at the last, then suddenly crouched and tried vainly to
peer through the keyhole. He had heard a man’s voice from within, crying
curtly:
“Come in!”
“Gee! he’s not addressing me,” thought Patsy. “He couldn’t have heard
my catlike tread.”
Then other words reached his ears, and a familiar voice.
“Holy smoke! it’s the chief himself,” he muttered. “He just inquired for
Sheldon, or Floyd. He has just arrived in Sheldon’s suite, as sure as I’m a
foot high, instead of interviewing Kate Crandall. He already has seen her,
mebbe, and——”
Patsy’s inference was correct, but his rapid train of thought ended
abruptly. He heard a sound from the direction of the stairs. He thought some
one was ascending them.
“Gee! I must not be caught playing the spy here,” flashed through his
mind. “Nor must I lose the chance of doing so later. I’ll hide in the side
entry.”
He darted toward it on the instant, eager to round the corner before the
approaching person could arrive at the head of the stairs—on which Patsy
still supposed him to be.
He had, however, mistaken the precise direction of the sound. He moved
like a flash, yet as noiselessly as a shadow. He turned the corner at nearly top
speed and collided violently with another—none other than Mr. Philip Floyd.
Patsy needed no introduction to him. The description of him provided by
Nancy Nordeck and Mrs. Darling was fresh in his mind. There could be no
mistaking him under the circumstances—his dark face, his piercing black
eyes, and his drooping black mustache.
Yes, Patsy recognized him instantly—but with an unexpected discovery
and a thrill that went through him like an electric shock from head to foot.
For the figure with which he had collided, that he had seized in his arms
to prevent a fall, that at once began to struggle to free itself from his
involuntary embrace, was not the figure of a man.
It was the supple, yielding figure of—a woman!
Patsy guessed the truth on the instant. There was no need for
explanations. He knew, now, why Nancy Nordeck had distrusted her
master’s visitor, why she felt sure that she had seen him before, and why he
had involuntarily betrayed his recognition of her when she first admitted him
to the Darling residence.
It was a discovery that clinched all of Nick Carter’s suspicions. For Patsy
now plainly recognized the cleverly disguised face. It told him on the instant
that Philip Floyd and Kate Crandall were one and the same.
The recognition was mutual, moreover, and a half-smothered oath broke
from the lips of the dismayed woman.
“Let me go!” she hissed, struggling viciously. “Let me go, I say!”
“Not much!” muttered Patsy exultantly. “I know you, now, and I’ve got
you for keeps.”
His arms closed more tightly around her. He had seized her, by chance, so
that her arms were confined to her sides and she could not free them, could
not use them to scratch and tear him, as she fain would have done.
But she writhed from side to side like an eel in his powerful grasp, her
eyes glowing like balls of fire, her breath coming in quick, sharp gasps and
falling hot on Patsy’s cheeks.
“Let me go! Let me go!” she repeated in fierce, frantic whispers. “Curse
you, let me go!”
“Not by a jugful,” said Patsy. “I know you now. You’re Kate Crandall.”
“Let me go!”
“You’ll go, all right—but you’ll go with me.”
“You devil! You——”
“Oh, cut out your struggling. You can’t get away,” Patsy interrupted,
though content to let her exhaust herself with her furious efforts. “I’ve got
you and I’m going to hold you.”
“I’ll kill——”
“Here, none of that! You’ll be roughly handled if you try to pull a gun.”
Patsy had felt her working one hand behind her to reach a hip pocket. He
seized her wrist and held her closer, almost crushing her in his embrace; for
not for an instant had she ceased her fierce, frantic struggles, and she was
possessed of more than ordinary womanly strength and was giving him quite
a battle.
She muttered a vicious oath again when foiled in her attempt to draw a
weapon. Then, while they still swayed to and fro in the narrow entry, she
took another course. She suddenly bowed her head and tried to set her teeth
in Patsy’s neck.
Patsy expected no less. He forced her quickly away, then swung her
around, to crowd her against a wall, rendered a bit impatient by her fury, and
now determined to handcuff her and end her struggles.
Instead of forcing her against the wall, however, Patsy forced her against
the only door in the narrow side entry—the rear door of her own suite.
It was an unfortunate move on his part. The struggle was now heard from
within. The door was suddenly opened—by the man whom Danny had seen
with Kate Crandall that afternoon.
All this proved disastrous for Patsy Garvan. He partly lost his balance
when the door opened, and he fell against the casing.
A gasp of relief came from the woman, and then a fierce cry.
“Down him! Down him, Jim, for God’s sake!”
Dacey needed no bidding. He had guessed the truth upon hearing the
noise of the struggle. He had drawn a weapon while approaching the door—
the same weapon that felled Nick Carter a quarter hour later.
It fell like a flash when Patsy reeled against the casing, and while the
frantic appeal was still on the woman’s lips.
The sandbag caught Patsy squarely on the head, dropping him as it
dropped Nick a little later. Without a groan, even, he sank in a crimped and
senseless heap on the threshold of the door.
It was a brutal blow, dealt by the hand of a brutal man. It was this man
who had been smoking a cigarette in Kate Crandall’s suite just before the
arrival of Nick Carter, but who had stolen into the rear entry before the
detective entered, returning after his departure. Safely enough, indeed, the
woman had given Nick permission to search her apartments.
“Quick!” she now said curtly. “Drag him in here, Jim.”
“Do you know him?” questioned Dacey, hastening to obey.
“Know him—I should say so!” snapped Kate. “He’s one of Carter’s
assistants. His name is Garvan.”
“The devil!” Dacey exclaimed. “Things are looking bad.”
“We can right them, or get what’s coming to us, at least,” Kate hurriedly
replied. “Come what may, Jim, these dicks will have nothing on us. We must
stave off arrest and exposure, however, if possible. Cut one of the window
cords and bind this whelp.”
Dacey hastened to do so, asking, in the meantime:
“How did you run foul of him?”
“We met in the entry.”
“What was he doing there?”
“Give it up,” said Kate tersely. “There must be more doing than we have
suspected. There is only one course for us, Jim, until we can land the coin.”
“What’s that?”
“We must get Nick Carter, also, if he has gone to Sheldon’s suite, as I
suspect,” Kate hurriedly explained. “We must get away with both of these
dicks and hold them at your place until we can bring Sheldon to our terms.
There’s nothing else to it.”
“Can it be done?” questioned Dacey doubtfully.
“It must be done,” Kate insisted. “Is Moran in the side street with your
limousine?”
“Yes.”
“Open the window. Whistle him up here. He will aid us.”
“Surest thing you know,” cried Dacey, darting to the window.
“Note me, Jim, and follow my instructions,” Kate quickly added. “I’ll go
at once to Sheldon’s suite, as planned, and find out whether Carter is there.”
“I get you.”
“If he is, and appears likely to give us further trouble, I’ll hold him up
with a gun in about ten minutes. In the meantime, with Martin Moran to aid,
gag this whelp and tie his hands together. Then steal into Sheldon’s suite
through the rear door. He left it unlocked for me.”
“I’m on,” Dacey nodded.
“Come quietly, mind you, and be ready to lend me a hand,” Kate directed.
“If we can get away with Carter and this fellow and confine them in your
crib, we’ll jump this house and remain at your place until we can bring
Sheldon to his milk. He’ll be so rattled up by this turn of affairs, that I think
he will weaken.”
“But how——”
“I’ll explain later,” Kate interrupted. “There is no time at present. I must
hike to Sheldon’s suite, in case Carter is already there. Follow me with
Moran as soon as possibly. The rear door, mind you. I must go round to the
front.”
“I understand,” Dacey replied. “But how can we get them out of the
house?”
“There’s a lift for trunks and merchandise just beyond the back stairs,”
Kate hurriedly explained. “We can use it without being detected. We’ll lower
them both down and get away with them in your car. It can be done, all right.
Take my word for that.”
“Your word goes with me, Kate,” Dacey declared significantly. “Be off,
then, to Sheldon’s suite. I’ll be on hand with Moran in less than ten
minutes.”
As already has appeared, Jim Dacey proved to be as good as his word.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE THIRD STRING.
Chick Carter was not idle while Nick Carter and Patsy Garvan were
engaged as described. Chick had, of course, a very good description of the
man whose identity he had undertaken to discover, and it soon proved
sufficient for his need. For the man had been a frequent visitor to the
apartments of Kate Crandall, and he was quite well known by Tom Carson,
the clerk, with whom Chick had a confidential interview soon after entering
the house.
“Know him—sure!” Carson declared, after Chick had introduced himself
and stated his mission. “That description fits just one man to a nicety. His
name is Jim Dacey.”
“Capital!” said Chick earnestly. “Jim Dacey, eh? What do you know
about him, Mr. Carson?”
“Well, nothing very bad, Mr. Carter, nor so good that he’ll be sought for a
Sunday-school superintendent,” laughed the clerk. “He’s a man about town
and a good deal of a rounder.”
“Is he in business?”
“I don’t think so.”
“What does he do for a living?”
“Anything that comes his way, I guess, or anybody. He must have means
enough to sport on in a quiet way, and I think he gambles frequently when he
finds an easy game. I can’t put you wise to much more.”
“Is he quite friendly with the Crandall woman?” Chick inquired.
“He certainly is,” said Carson.
“How long has she been living here?”
“About two months.”
“What’s her reputation?”
“None too good. She’s pretty fly, I reckon, if the whole truth were told.
We have been thinking of asking her to move out. That tells the story.”
“Quite right,” Chick replied. “Do you know where Jim Dacey lives?”
“Not exactly,” said Carson. “But you can easily find out.”
“How so?”
“Go out and question Tony Hogan. He has a taxicab stand around the
corner. He has frequently taken Dacey home from here. He can tell you more
about the man and just where he lives.”
“Thanks,” said Chick approvingly. “Not a word about this to others, mind
you.”
“Trust me, Carter. I’m dumb.”
“You haven’t seen Dacey this evening?”
“No, not since yesterday.”
There was a very good reason for it. Leaving his limousine in the side
street in charge of his chauffeur, Martin Moran, who was a bird of the same
shady feather, Jim Dacey had entered the side door of the house when he
went up to Kate Crandall’s apartments.
Chick thanked Carson again and repaired to the street. He soon found the
man he was seeking, a shrewd, keen-eyed Irishman, who already knew
Chick by sight and reputation. Hogan needed only a hint from the detective,
moreover, to cut loose and tell all that he knew about Dacey.
But Chick soon found that Hogan could add but little definite information
to that already obtained, which of itself was quite sufficient to convince
Chick that he was on the right track. This was further confirmed by the fact
that Dacey dwelt in a somewhat isolated place, that was less than a mile
from the Darling residence, where he employed only a deaf housekeeper and
the chauffeur already mentioned.
Chick paused only briefly to determine what course he would take.
“Nick and Patsy can look after things here,” he said to himself. “They
will not need me. There is a bare possibility, on the other hand, that Darling
is in the clutches of this bunch of blacklegs, as Nick suspects, and that he is
confined at the Dacey place. I’ll go out there and look it over, at all events,
and communicate later with Nick.”
Then, turning to the cabman, he said abruptly:
“Take me out there, Hogan, and drop me a couple of hundred yards from
the place. I’ll decide later whether I have further use for you.”
“That’s good enough for me, Mr. Carter,” Hogan said readily. “Tumble in,
sir.”
Less than half an hour brought them to their destination, a crossroad from
which could be seen, in the near distance, quite an old wooden dwelling half
hidden amid the trees flanking one side of the narrower road. It could be
discerned only dimly in the starlight, though some lighted lower windows
could be plainly seen through the trees. It was the only dwelling in the
immediate locality, and Chick came to a quick conclusion.
“Drive on about a quarter mile, Hogan, and wait till I come,” he directed.
“I cannot say just how long you may have to wait.”
“My time is yours, Mr. Carter,” said Hogan. “You’ll find me there when
you come.”
“Good enough,” said Chick. “You’ll get all that’s coming to you.”
“I know I can bank on that, sir.”
Chick waited until the taxicab had disappeared around a curve in the
main road. He then followed the other for a short distance, presently vaulting
a low wall and crossing a strip of rough land, from which he could steal into
the grounds at one side of the Dacey dwelling.
They were unattractive in appearance, denoting that the owner was far
from being a man of means. Chick sized them up correctly, and was about to
steal nearer the house to peer through one of the windows, when the side
door was opened and a woman appeared in the lighted hall. She lingered
briefly, gazing out toward the road, and then closed the door and vanished.
“The deaf housekeeper,” thought Chick, who had easily seen her tall,
gaunt figure. “She is evidently expecting some one, probably Dacey himself.
There would be lights in more than that one room if he were at home. By
Jove, if she is as deaf as Hogan stated, and also is alone there, I can easily
enter unheard through one of the windows and search the house from cellar
to roof. I could find Darling, all right, if he is confined there.”
Not yet convinced that Dacey was absent, however, Chick still proceeded
cautiously, approaching one of the lighted windows on all fours, then
stealthily rising to peer between the curtain and the casing.
He could see part of a cheaply furnished sitting room. An oil lamp burned
on the table. The housekeeper was seated near by, absorbed in reading a
newspaper. It was half past nine by a small oak clock on the mantel.
Chick watched the woman for a few moments, then gently tapped once
on the windowpane. The woman did not stir. Chick tapped louder, then
knocked quite sharply, but the sounds brought no sign from the reading
woman.
“As deaf as a hitching post,” thought Chick. “I’ll force a window in the
opposite side of the house. She might detect the chill of the night air, if I
were to open a door.”
Stealing around the house, Chick selected the side window of a front
room, then shrouded in darkness. Thrusting his knife blade between the
sashes, he easily forced the lock aside and was about to lift the lower section,
when a flash of light deterred him.
He saw it again in a moment. It flashed between the trees in the distance.
It came from the lamps of an automobile running at high speed over the
main road. Suddenly it diverged and a steady glare fell upon the road
approaching Dacey’s place.
“By Jove, it may be coming here,” Chick muttered, watching. “Dacey is
returning, perhaps, just in time to prevent my search. Yes, by thunder, I am
right—it is coming here.”
The car was slowing down. The outlines of a limousine now could be
seen. It swerved into a driveway approaching the house—and Chick dropped
flat on the ground, close to the foundation wall, lest he might be seen in the
glare of the headlights.
He now saw that there were several men in the car, but he could not
distinguish their faces. The number surprised him.
“Great Scott! there are six, at least,” he said to himself. “I’m up against
more of a gang than I expected. Where the deuce are they going?”
The car had passed a side door and was rounding a rear corner of the
house. Chick crept out from his concealment far enough to see that it had
stopped directly back of the dwelling. Presently, too, he saw four of the men
alighting—for he naturally supposed that all of them were men.
One of them hastened to open a bulkhead door leading into the cellar. The
chauffeur extinguished the lights of the car. Then a cry came from Dacey, as
he returned from the cellar with a lighted lantern.
“All ready for them, Martin,” he said curtly. “Lend a hand, Sheldon. You
stand aside, Floyd, and hold this lantern; we can lift them out and lug them
into the cellar. We’ll lock them in the laundry till we have settled this
business. I’ll send Sarah to bed, though she’s as deaf as an adder.”
“Would she squeal, Jim, if she knew?” questioned Kate Crandall.
“Never a squeal,” Dacey declared. “But she’s best out of the way, for all
that.”
“By Jove, that was a woman’s voice, as sure as I’m over seven,” thought
Chick, when he heard Kate’s question. “A woman in male attire, eh? Great
guns! I begin to scent the rat in the meal. This bunch of rascals have in some
way got the best of Nick and Patsy. But there still is a third string to the
chief’s bow. It’s always safe to bank on one of us.”
Chick had not long to wait for his suspicion to be confirmed. He saw
Nick and Patsy lifted from the limousine and carried into the cellar, both
conscious then, but gagged and securely bound, and Chick stole quickly
back to the window he had unlocked.
“I’ll get into the house while the coast is clear,” he said to himself. “I’ll
find out what business is to be settled by these rascals. Then I’ll settle them
and their business—or know the reason why!”
Noiselessly lifting the window, Chick crept over the sill and stood in a
gloomy front parlor, reclosing the window and locking it. There he paused
for a moment, listening. He could hear the men inside, the muffled sound of
their voices, and the bang of a closed door.
“The bulkhead door, or that of the laundry,” he muttered. “Got Nick and
Patsy, eh? I must contrive to liberate them. I’ll try to locate the cellar stairs.”
Chick did not find it difficult to do so. He tiptoed to the door leading into
the hall, which ran straight through the house to a rear door and the kitchen.
It was lighted only by a feeble oil lamp and the glow that came through the
open door of the sitting room.
Pausing, Chick peered cautiously in that direction—then quickly drew
back.
A door near the main stairway was suddenly opened.
Jim Dacey had come up from the cellar and was striding through the
dimly lighted hall.
CHAPTER IX.
THE INNER WHEEL.
Chick Carter stepped back of the parlor door and peered between it and
the casing, shifting a revolver to his side pocket.
Jim Dacey turned abruptly, however, and entered the sitting room.
Chick heard him shout to the deaf housekeeper and order her to go to bed.
She came out with a lamp in a few moments, and Chick saw her disappear
up a back stairway.
She scarce had vanished when Floyd, or Kate Crandall, still in male
attire, came through the cellar doorway and was joined in the hall by Dacey,
who asked abruptly, with a look of grim misgivings:
“Where is Sheldon? What’s turned him so sour and——”
“Cut it!” Kate sharply whispered, audible to Chick. “He must not hear us.
I have something to say to you. I have ordered him to watch the laundry door
till Moran returns.”
“Where has he gone?”
“To house the car. He’ll not show up for several minutes. That will give
me time to explain.”
“Explain what?”
“Come into the sitting room. I’ll soon tell you.”
“You’ll tell me, also, you jade, and I’ll wager I will make the most of it,”
thought Chick, watching the couple enter the room and noting that they only
partly closed the door. “Unless I am much mistaken, by Jove, I shall now get
the key to the whole mystery.”
Chick lingered only a moment, then stole into the hall and found
concealment under the rise of the main stairway. That brought him within
ten feet of the sitting-room door, and within easy view of that opening upon
the landing at the head of the cellar stairs. He scarce had concealed himself
in the dark corner he had selected, when he made another discovery.
The cellar door was slowly swinging open. A stealthy hand was
cautiously moving it. Presently, not only the hand, but the spy himself could

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The Daode Jing Commentary of Cheng Xuanying : Daoism,

A novel TiO2 nanotube arrays/MgTixOy multiphase-

SARS-CoV-2 turned positive in a discharged patient with

New Development Assistance: Emerging Economies and the

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CIP data is on file at the Library of Congress

Paperback printed by LSC Communications, United States of America

1. Times and Authorship 7

5. Communities and Politics 93

Clarity and Stillness 169

9. China Today 179

1. Laozi meets Confucius 18

What is a sacred text? The Oxford English Dictionary offers a def-

practices. Its philosophy centers on the concept of “Dao” or “Way,”

situation of their time. Their goal is to align themselves with Dao

dietary and sexual moderation, as well as—​most importantly—​

The Axial Age

abstraction philosophically than the Chinese character script, a

rather than abstract, empathetic rather than detached. The Daode

The Warring States

stable and better integrated society. Philosophically inclined, they

Confucianism goes back to Master Kong Qiu (551–​479 bce),

minutes of birth or organizational membership, defining their re-

This inner reform is described in Confucianism in terms of the

Yin-​Yang Cosmology, in contrast, does not have a specific founder,

of different aspects that impact on each other in a parallel manner,

85 miles west of Zhengzhou. “Laozi cultivated Dao and virtue. He

Confucius once traveled to Zhou because he wished to ask Laozi

Fig. 1. Laozi meets Confucius. Source: Statue at Laozi’s birthplace in

Assuming this meeting to be historical, Laozi was presumably older

The Laozi Legend

According to A. C. Graham (1998), Laozi’s longevity and his link

The genealogy of the Li clan is historical fact, but its connection

family followed common practice at the time, when many local

The Daode jing is not an analytical philosophical document, it does

既以為人 己愈有 既以與人 己愈多

天之道 利而不害 聖人之道 為而不爭

Both in terms of language in contents, this chapter is fairly typ-

Although literacy had spread, written works were not common

sustenance, and are potentially dangerous. Essentially uninterested

continue to pursue self-​cultivation and life-​enhancing methods in

and text—​here in characteristic Chu script—​would run from top

Fig. 2. The bamboo slips at Guodian. Source: www.hubei.gov.cn. Public

THE THIRD STRING.

THE INNER WHEEL.

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9. China Today 179

dietary and sexual moderation, as well as—most importantly—

Confucianism goes back to Master Kong Qiu (551–479 bce),

Yin-Yang Cosmology, in contrast, does not have a specific founder,

既以為人己愈有既以與人己愈多

天之道利而不害聖人之道為而不爭

continue to pursue self-cultivation and life-enhancing methods in

and text—here in characteristic Chu script—would run from top