Tao Te Ching ( []) is the Chinese name of a book by a man named Laozi (or Lao Tzu, which literally means "old master"). Laozi was a sage (a wise man) and he was a record-keeper. The title can mean "The Book of the Way and its Virtue." People believe the book was written around 600 BC.

It is an important text to Chinese culture. It is very important in Chinese philosophy (way of thinking) and religion. It is the main book for Taoism, which is both a philosophy and part of Chinese folk religion. It also influenced other philosophies in and around China.

The title 

There are many ways to translate the book's title, because each Chinese word has a few meanings:

 Dào/Tao 道 means "way", "road", "path", or "route," but was given the extra meaning "path ahead", "way forward", "method", "principle", or simply "the Way". This word was also used in different ways by other Chinese philosophers (including Confucius, Mencius, Mozi, and Hanfeizi). It has special meaning in Taoism, where it means the basic way of the universe (that can not really be explained).
 Dé/Te 德 means "virtue" as in "personal character" or "inner strength". People who followed the teachings of Confucius used it to mean "morality". A long time ago in English, "virtue" could mean "power" (as in the phrase "healing virtue of a drug"). The same thing was true in Chinese: the word meant "power" a long time ago but now means "virtue".
 Jīng/Ching 經 originally meant "norm", "rule", or "plan", was given the extra meaning "scripture", "great book", or "classic".
The three words together gives the meaning "Virtue Way Rules".

The book is constructed of a series of poems, each  containing a rule, way or belief to becoming successful.

Structure of the book 

The Tao Te Ching is a short book of about 5,000 Chinese characters. It has 81 short chapters. It has two parts: Part One is the Tao Ching (道經) "Way Rules", which is chapters 1–37; Part Two is the Te Ching (德經) "Virtue Rules", which is chapters 38–81.

Translations 

The Tao Te Ching is one of the most translated books in history, alongside the Bible and the Quran. Why are there thousands of translations? The text is short, the meaning is difficult. There are many interpretations, or ways to understand what the book says.

Online English versions 
 老子 Lǎozǐ 道德經 Dàodéjīng verbatim + analogous + poetic; deep analysis: Chinese + English + German
 Tao Te Ching, James Legge
 Tao Te Ching, John H. McDonald
 Tao Te Ching , Stephen Mitchell
 Daode jing , Charles Muller
 Lao Tsu's Tao Te Ching Online, Elyxr
 Tao Te Ching , Stan Rosenthal
 Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu, 3 translations: James Legge, D.T. Suzuki, and Dwight Goddard
 Dao De Jing (Way Power Book) by Lao-zi, Sanderson Beck
 Tao Te Ching – The Way of Life, Raymond B. Blakney
 The Daode Jing (Tao Te Ching) of Laozi (Lao Tzu) , Chad Hansen
 The Dynamic Tao and Its Manifestation. Wayne L. Wang
 The Tao Te Ching, Frederic H. Balfour
 The Tao Te Ching, Ron Hogan (in several formats, including iPod )
 The Tao Te Ching, Lin Yutang
 The Tao Te Ching , Stan Rosenthal
 Tao Te Ching audio edition , narrated by Michael Scott
 The Tao Teh King, Aleister Crowley
 Jade Purity: Dao De Jing , Siji Tzu (far from a word-for-word translation)

Online multilingual versions 
 Das Tao Te King von Lao Tse  28 Chinese versions (Wang Bi, Heshang Gong, Fu Yi, Mawang Dui, Guodian), translations in 24 languages (84 in English), including side-by-side comparison of two or four translations, Lao Zi Projekt
老子 Lǎozĭ - 道 德 經 Dàodéjīng Romanian Version, Serban TOADER PhD, PDF black and white and colour
 老子 Lǎozĭ - 道 德 經 Dàodéjīng Chinese-English-German, Hilmar KLAUS, The Tao of Wisdom. verbatim + analogous + poetic, 2009, 600 p.
 Dao De Jing, comparison of Chinese versions (Pinyin, Wang Bi, Heshang Gong, and Mawangdui), Nina Correa
 Laozi Daodejing , English and German translations, Chinese in seal script
 The Tao by Lao-tse, Rick Harbaugh
 The Way and Its Power - Dao De Jing Chinese, English (Waley, Lau), French (Julien), and German (Wilhelm), Association Française des Professeurs de Chinois

Religious texts
Taoism