Scripture of Taoism
The Tao Te Ching.
Five thousand characters left at the western gate — the Way in eighty-one small chapters.
LanguageClassical Chinese
Composedc. fourth century BCE
What it holdsEighty-one short chapters of aphorism and paradox
How it is usedMemorized and quoted for two millennia; translated more than any book but the Bible
Understanding it — context, not catechism: how this passage is held
The Tao Te Ching is roughly 5,000 characters, is the most translated book after the Bible, and its authorship is genuinely unknown — Laozi may be a person, a title, or a composite. Its compression is what makes translations diverge so wildly: classical Chinese omits pronouns, number, and tense, so a single line can support a dozen defensible English readings. The 1993 Guodian bamboo strips pushed the earliest text back to around 300 BCE and showed it circulating in different arrangements.
The same ground, other faiths
claims that share this one's ideas
Taking it easy is a moral position.
Dudeism (The Church of the Latter-Day Dude) · core tenet
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Attention is the only offering anyone makes.
The Attention Order · core tenet
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