Five thousand characters of wisdom that have shone for 2,500 years
How will I read today?

The new book 『Reading the Tao Te Ching Alone』 by Choi Jin-seok, a leading philosopher who has expounded Taoist philosophy and humanistic insights through numerous lectures and writings for over 20 years, presents a new way to read 『Tao Te Ching』, the essence of Lao-tzu's philosophy.
It is to read the 5,000 characters of wisdom called the Tao Te Ching, which has been a classic for over 2,500 years, alone, using only the original text and translation, without any commentary.
This can be said to be a reading of the Tao Te Ching that directly incorporates the attitude of standing as the true master of one's own thoughts, which Choi Jin-seok has emphasized.


"Reading the Tao Te Ching Alone" began with the meeting between Jinseok Choi and a reader studying the Tao Te Ching.
He collected the numerous questions and answers about the Tao Te Ching that he shared with this reader, along with the curiosities many people have had about the Tao Te Ching and the core points of the Tao Te Ching that he himself considers important. Using this content as a compass, he organized it into 40 questions and 40 answers so that anyone can challenge themselves to 'read it alone.'
The first part of 『Reading the Tao Te Ching Alone』, ‘Questions and Answers to the Tao Te Ching’, corresponds to these 40 questions and 40 answers, and the second part, ‘Reading the Tao Te Ching Alone’, consists only of the original text of the Tao Te Ching and Choi Jin-seok’s translation without any commentary.
In particular, the 40 Questions and 40 Answers are organized in oral form, allowing for reading as if you were having a direct conversation with Jinseok Choi.
Additionally, the 81 chapters that make up the Tao Te Ching are titled so that they can be read like 81 poems rather than as verses from scripture.

"Reading the Tao Te Ching Alone" will help anyone wander more easily and freely through the forest of wisdom that is the Tao Te Ching.
You can follow the table of contents and read the 40 questions and 40 answers in Part 1 first and then move on to the 『Tao Te Ching』 in Part 2, but you can also bravely read the 『Tao Te Ching』 first and then move on to the dialogue of the 40 questions and 40 answers.
For those who have found reading the scriptures difficult, it will make the Tao Te Ching more accessible, and for those already familiar with Lao-tzu's philosophy, it will provide an opportunity to read the Tao Te Ching in a more creative and challenging way.
No matter which path or step you take, the reader is the master of reading.
『Reading the Tao Te Ching Alone』 will allow you to experience how Lao Tzu's 『Tao Te Ching』 becomes a classic of wisdom that shines even brighter through such independent reading.

Even the most highly regarded classics don't need to be objects of worship.
It may be hard not to worship it, but somehow you must use it only as fuel to grow yourself.
Classics are better consumed than collected.
Consumers can read more independently and proactively than owners.
Let's call this 'reading alone'.
Now it's time to try reading on your own, without any friendly guidance or help. _From "Introduction"

History, in which humans take responsibility and lead, begins only when they turn away from God.
To say that philosophy began is to say that we passed from the age of belief to the age of thought.
It is a story about moving from an era where God was the master to an era where humans wanted to become the masters.
Human history begins with the ability to think.
The most advanced form of this ability is philosophy.
With the advent of philosophy, human history continues to move in the direction of diminishing the role and status of God and strengthening the role and status of humans.
---From "What is the meaning of the appearance of virtue?"

When we look at answers and questions, it is the question, not the answer, that is closer to the activity of virtue.
Answers are a functional activity that takes in existing theories and knowledge and spits them out again when someone asks for them, but questions are the power that comes from being yourself, that is, the curiosity and wonder that burst out.
It is close to virtue because it is a power that exists only within oneself and enables one to act.
It's important to remember that almost everything new and great in this world came about as a result of a question.
There is very little that comes out of the answer.
---From "What is the meaning of the appearance of virtue?"

Humans must learn to deal with the 'non-existent' and the 'invisible'.
‘Newness’, ‘creativity’, and ‘creation’ are all things that ‘do not yet exist’ or ‘are not visible’ made real.
If we only deal with things that are visible, tangible, and certain, it is difficult to produce new theories and we cannot have an attitude that pursues new things.
If that happens, curiosity and wonder will disappear.
Art is also disappearing.
Questions, wonder, curiosity, the production of knowledge, creativity, imagination—these are all dreams of an invisible and nonexistent world.
---From "How should we understand Lao Tzu's nothingness?"

Lao Tzu suggests that we apply the principles of nature that he discovered in nature to the human world.
However, if you misunderstand this, you may misunderstand it to mean that you should simply reject civilization and return to nature.
That's not Lao Tzu's idea.
Lao Tzu argued that rather than living in nature, we should implement the principles of nature that he had intellectually grasped in human life.
Because we do not have a clear understanding of this part, we misunderstand Lao-tzu's thought as anti-civilization, and mistake a life that denies civilization itself for a life of great enlightenment.
The statement that Lao Tzu pursues nature and rejects civilization is the result of a misunderstanding of Lao Tzu.
---From "What is nature to Lao Tzu?"

Water in Lao Tzu's eyes does not compete.
This is the characteristic of water that does not fight.
Because they don't compete, they choose to take a completely different path than the one no one else takes, rather than trying to fit into the existing system.
So, instead of being in a place that others have already taken, you end up in a place that still seems strange and awkward to others.
It's not a place where anyone rushes in to take over first.
It is in these strange places that no one rushes to occupy, that the seeds of innovation grow secretly.
The spirit of creation does not begin in a place that everyone knows, but in a strange place that is still hidden and secret.
Water has the power to reach those strange places.
---From “What are the characteristics of water in Lao-tzu’s thought?”

Confucius said that we must define 'us' and incorporate 'me's' into it, so 'me's' must become 'me's' that fit the ideology of 'us', and Lao-tzu said that we pursue a 'us' that 'me's' create autonomously, so some people say lightly that Confucius affirms 'us' and Lao-tzu denies 'us'.
This is a big mistake.
We just have different perspectives on 'us'.
It's similar to the misunderstanding that Confucius affirmed civilization and Laozi denied it.
Both Laozi and Confucius affirmed civilization.
It's not that they denied civilization, they just tried to build different civilizations.
---From "What does the body mean to Lao Tzu?"

The phrase 'doing nothing and doing nothing' really encapsulates Lao Tzu's philosophy.
Doesn't this mean, "Do nothing, and everything will go well"? Lao Tzu's gaze is focused on "do nothing" rather than "doing nothing."
But people usually don't look at 'no-action', they only look at 'no-action'.
It's as if we're stubbornly trying to see Lao Tzu as a thinker who emphasized retreat, giving, and bending over getting ahead, having, and becoming whole.
Lao Tzu was not someone who did not want to do work, but someone who wanted to do work well.
To send an arrow far forward, you have to pull the bowstring back.
These two movements are a set of movements for shooting a bow well.
Lao Tzu was not a thinker who tried to shoot his bow haphazardly, but a thinker who tried to shoot accurately.
---From "Does bending follow nature?"

The saying '名可名非常名' means that the truth of the world cannot be contained by using concepts without margins or gaps.
Isn't the world about dividing space between us and allowing for gaps? It's about the coexistence of the ubiquitous and the non-ubiquitous.
[…] the poet rearranges language, shifts its position, and leaves gaps and spaces between concepts.
Let's plant sound between those gaps and spaces.
The gaps and spaces left between languages ​​give elasticity to concepts that have been given sound, allowing truths that are not yet revealed or not yet there to emerge.
[…] How much more moving are things like cooperation and inclusion than exclusion and division? And how much new paths can they create? These are all emotions born from the margins and gaps.
---From "What Does a National Ruler Need?"

When playing golf, the most important thing is to keep your eyes on the ball until the very end and not look up.
Lifting your head means you're trying to see where your ball is going before it even hits the club.
Everyone shows this kind of foolishness.
But if you suppress your desire to see how far the ball will fly and just focus on the club hitting the ball, you will hit the ball more accurately and it will go farther.
If you try to look at where the ball is going before the club even hits the ball, you will never hit the ball properly.
Moreover, the moment you decide to hit the ball far away or hit it hard to send it far away, your whole body becomes tense and it doesn't go well.
The basic principle of exercise is to release strength.
That is inaction.
That is why Lao Tzu says that if you practice inaction, there is nothing that cannot be achieved.
Or you could just engrave it that everything will be fine as long as you do nothing.
---From "What does it mean to throw that away and take this?"

We usually see children as not yet adults.
Adults are an ideal state to be reached, and children are still lacking and insufficient adults, so they must strive to become adults.
Looking at it this way, children are destined to always live in a state of lack.
You just have to strive to become an adult.
As a child, you can never be happy.
How can a child who has never experienced happiness develop self-esteem, confidence, or pride as an adult? Without confidence and self-esteem, there can be no creativity or questioning.
You will become good at just following and answering.
We must return the happiness of children to children.
A child is not yet an adult, he is just a child.
The happiness of childhood is a goal in itself for a child.
---From "How are the states of inaction and newborn babies connected?"

What Laozi ultimately tried to dismantle was all structure.
That is, it dismantles essentialism.
In my view, the deconstructive nature of Lao-tzu's thought, that is, its relational nature, is an important factor in demonstrating its modernity.
If Lao-tzu's thought has a much older origin than Confucius's and exhibits relational characteristics, I wonder if the prototype of our civilization might have had a much more relational aspect.
So I see Lao Tzu as a modern philosopher.
It is the needs of society that call for ideas.
I believe that we are summoning Laozi now because we, living in the 21st century, can benefit from his thought and find something worth referencing.
---From "What is the deconstructive aspect of Lao-tzu's thought?"

If the Tao can be spoken, it is not the true Tao.
If a name can be conceptualized, it is not a true name.
Mu points to the beginning of this world
Oil is a general term for all things.
Always with nothing
To show the mysterious realm of the world,
Always have milk
It is intended to indicate a specific visible area.
These two appear together but have different names.
It is said that being together is mysterious.
It's so mysterious and mystical.
This is the door through which all things pass.

---From the full translation of "Chapter 1: The Door to All Things"