Questions to ask when thinking about the Tao Te Ching

Questions concerning the project itself

• How is it possible to "analyze" a text which seems to say that analysis is beside the point?
• What is being "analyzed": the Tao, the Tao Te Ching, Taoism, Lao-Tzu's version of Taoism?
• Are there other translations that give another angle on the original writing?
• Are there other resources that could shed some light on the text?
• What other philosophical or religious systems does the Tao Te Ching bear a resemblance to?

Questions concerning content of the text

• What does the term "Tao Te Ching" mean?
• What is the place of knowledge? Is Tao anti-intellectual?
• Why can the Tao not be spoken of?
• How can one "express the inexpressible"?
• How does the sage live?
• Is action possible, given the notion of passivity?
• If the Tao cannot be spoken of, what is Lao-Tzu doing in writing the Tao Te Ching?
• Is Tao a thing? Is Tao God?

Metaphysical questions about the Tao Te Ching

• What is Being and non-being in this text? How do they relate?
• Is reality itself paradoxical?
• What is permanence and what is change? How do we live in light of what these are?
• What is the person here?
• When Lao-Tzu refers to "heaven", what is he talking about?
• What is "the One", and how does it relate to Tao?
• The text speaks of a "force" (e.g., 21). What is this force?
• How are the contraries, or opposites, part of reality?