Tao Te Ching Time Table

[ChiDragon]

LaoTze was born around 571 BCE and wrote the DDJ in his seventy's.
孔子(Confucius): 551 - 479 BCE.

Tao Te Ching Time table
老子 LaoTze Born: Around 571 BCE.
道德經 Wrote DDJ: 500 - 491 BCE.

郭店 Guodian 476 – 278 BCE; Unearthed:1993; Published: May 1998

馬王堆-甲本(MWD-A) 206 – 195 BCE; 篆書(Seal style); Unearthed:1973
馬王堆-乙本[MWD-B] 194 – 180 BCE; 隸書(Official Style); Unearthed:1973

河上公(Heshang Gong) 179 – 157 BCE
王弼(Wang Bi) 226 – 249 CE
傅奕(Fu Yi) 555 – 639 CE


漢朝 - 皇帝 Emperors of Han Dynasty
高祖 - 劉邦 Liu2 bang1 206 – 195 BCE
文帝 - 劉盈 Liu2 ying2 194 – 188 BCE
惠帝 – 劉恆 Liu2 heng2 180 – 157 BCE

Note: These two characters 恆 and 恒 are the synonyms.

Edited March 21, 2013 by ChiDragon

[ChiDragon]

The first ruler of the Han Dynasty was followed the principles of the Tao Te Ching, 無為而治(Rule with Wu Wei). Some of the characters were changed due to a tabu that the name of a ruler cannot be used in any document to honor him.

馬王堆-甲本(MWD-A) 206 – 195 BCE; 篆書(Seal style); Unearthed:1973
馬王堆-乙本[MWD-B] 194 – 180 BCE; 隸書(Official Style); Unearthed:1973

高祖 - 劉邦 Liu2 bang1 206 – 195 BCE
文帝 - 劉盈 Liu2 ying2 194 – 188 BCE
惠帝 - 劉恆 Liu2 heng2 180 – 157 BCE

Therefore, all three of these characters 邦, 盈, 恆 were changed to 國, 傾, 常 respectively.
As we can see in Chapter One, 恆(恒) was changed to 常.


1. The definition of the character 傾 is very limited. The change cannot be made in all area where the character for 盈. Thus some of the areas was left as is. Besides, the ruler, 劉盈, die at the age of seven. His mother, the queen, took over the throne. I guess people didn't care much about him then.

2. 馬王堆-甲本(MWD-A) 206 – 195 BCE; 篆書(Seal style); Unearthed:1973
This copy was written before the first ruler of the Han Dynasty, 劉邦, the character '邦' was used throughout the TTC.

3. 馬王堆-乙本[MWD-B] 194 – 180 BCE; 隸書(Official Style); Unearthed:1973
This copy was written after the first ruler of the Han Dynasty, 劉邦, the character '邦' was changed to '國' throughout the TTC.

Edited February 3, 2013 by ChiDragon

[ChiDragon]

Various copies(not versions) of Chapter One:
A copy of MWD-A

206 – 195 BCE; 篆書(Seal style); Unearthed:1973
1. 道可道也非恆道也
2. 名可名也非恆名也
3. 無名萬物之始也
4. 有名萬物之母也□
5. 恆無欲也以觀其眇
6. 恆有欲也以觀其所噭
7. 兩者同出異名
8. 同胃玄之有玄
9. 眾眇之□

A copy of MWD-B
194 – 180 BCE; 隸書(Official Style); Unearthed:1973
1. 道可道也□□□□
2. □□□□恆名也
3. 無名萬物之始也
4. 有名萬物之母也
5. 故恆無欲也□□□□
6. 恆又欲也以觀亓所噭
7. 兩者同出異名
8. 同胃玄之又玄
9. 眾眇之門

In classic, the character 也 was an auxiliary character to act as a comma or a period. Indeed, there was no question about it; it was very obvious as a comma or period as shown in the later copies of the TTC.


NOTE: Please keep in mind, I had specified these are various copies of the Tao Te Ching. They are not different versions as most people thought they were. There are many questionable items we have to consider to make corrections for the mistakes and errors made by the scholars in the past.

Edited February 1, 2013 by ChiDragon

[ChiDragon]

惠帝 – 劉恒 Liu2 heng2(180 – 157 BCE)
The character 恆 was changed to 常 in the copies below because of the name of the ruler 劉恆(恒) in the Han Dynasty(漢朝).

A copy of 河上公(Heshang Gong)
179 – 157 BCE
1. 道可道，非常道。
2. 名可名，非常名。
3. 無名，天地之始。
4. 有名，萬物之母。
5. 故常無欲，以觀其妙；
6. 常有欲，以觀其徼。
7. 此兩者，同出而異名，
8. 同謂之玄，
9. 玄之又玄，
10. 眾妙之門。

A copy of 王弼(Wang Bi)
226 – 249 CE
1. 道可道，非常道。
2. 名可名，非常名。
3. 無名天地之始。
4. 有名萬物之母。
5. 故常無欲以觀其妙。
6. 常有欲以觀其徼。
7. 此兩者同出而異名，
8. 同謂之玄。
9. 玄之又玄，
10.眾妙之門。

A copy of 傅奕(Fu Yi)
555 – 639 CE
1. 道可道，非常道。
2. 名可名，非常名。
3. 無名天地之始，
5. 有名萬物之母。
6. 故常無欲以觀其妙。
7. 常有欲以觀其徼。
8. 此兩者同出而異名。
9. 同謂之玄。
10.玄之又玄，
11.衆妙之門。

NOTE: Please keep in mind, I had specified these are various copies of the Tao Te Ching. They are not different versions as most people thought they were. There are many questionable items we have to consider to make corrections for the mistakes and errors made by the scholars in the past.

[ChiDragon]

A copy of MWD-A 206 – 195 BCE; 篆書(Seal style); Unearthed:1973
1. 道可道也非恆道也
2. 名可名也非恆名也

A copy of 河上公(Heshang Gong)
179 – 157 BCE
1. 道可道，非常道。
2. 名可名，非常名。

The HSG copy shows the comma and period where the character 也 is at in the MWD-A copy.

Edited February 1, 2013 by ChiDragon

[ChiDragon]

Let's look at the last character in Line 6 of both copies for MWD-A and HSG:
MWD-A: 6. 恆有欲也以觀其所噭
HSG: 6. 常有欲，以觀其徼。

These two characters 噭 and 徼 are homonym.
噭: yell; scream
徼: boundary

MWD-A
6. ......觀其所噭
6.......observe its screams.

HSG:
6. ......觀其徼。
6. ......observe its boundary.

It is obvious that line 6 of HSG makes more sense. Thus the character in the MWD-A was a mistake.

Edited January 31, 2013 by ChiDragon

[ChiDragon]

Ｉt is interesting to look at the fifth character at line 8, Chapter One, for both copies of MWD-A and MWD-B.
MWD-A: 8. 同胃玄之有玄
MWD-B: 8. 同胃玄之又玄

有and 又 are homonyms.
有: to have
又: again; in addition to, even more

MWD-A:
8. 同胃玄之有玄
8. Both considered to be profound and have profound

MWD-B:
8. 同胃玄之又玄
8. Both considered to be profound and even more profound.

By logic, it is obviously that line 8 of MWB-B is more correct.

[alleswasderfallist]

Various copies(not versions) of Chapter One:

A copy of MWD-A

206 – 195 BCE; 篆書(Seal style); Unearthed:1973

1. 道可道也非恆道也

2. 名可名也非恆名也

3. 無名萬物之始也

4. 有名萬物之母也□

5. 恆無欲也以觀其眇

6. 恆有欲也以觀其所噭

7. 兩者同出異名

8. 同胃玄之有玄

9. 眾眇之□

 

A copy of MWD-B

194 – 180 BCE; 隸書(Official Style); Unearthed:1973

1. 道可道也□□□□

2. □□□□恆名也

3. 無名萬物之始也

4. 有名萬物之母也

5. 故恆無欲也□□□□

6. 恆又欲也以觀亓所噭

7. 兩者同出異名

8. 同胃玄之又玄

9. 眾眇之門

 

In classic, the character 也 was an auxiliary character to act as a comma or a period. Indeed, there was no question about it; it was very obvious as a comma or period as shown in the later copies of the TTC.

 

 

NOTE: Please keep in mind, I had specified these are various copies of the Tao Te Ching. They are not different versions as most people thought they were. There are many questionable items we have to consider to make corrections for the mistakes and errors made by the scholars in the past.

 

Hi ChiDragon. The way I understand 也, it is more like an equivalency marker when two are used. A single 也 at the end of a thought puts emphasis on what is said. A noun phrase followed by 也 followed by another noun phrase and 也 is usually saying that the first is a subclass of the second, to my understanding (but it's been a few years since I've taken classical Chinese).

 

Maybe you clarified this elsewhere.

 

That said, I'm thankful for the in-depth information you've provided here. Looks like I have someone I can ask about ancient Daoist texts

[ChiDragon]

Hi ChiDragon. The way I understand 也, it is more like an equivalency marker when two are used. A single 也 at the end of a thought puts emphasis on what is said. A noun phrase followed by 也 followed by another noun phrase and 也 is usually saying that the first is a subclass of the second, to my understanding (but it's been a few years since I've taken classical Chinese).

 

Maybe you clarified this elsewhere.

 

That said, I'm thankful for the in-depth information you've provided here. Looks like I have someone I can ask about ancient Daoist texts

 

Hi, alleswasderfallist

Yes, you are right about that.

 

In the example below, Line 1 with the 也, it would make the two phrases become an IF-THEN statement.

1. 道可道也非恆道也

If Tao can be spoken, then it is not the eternal Tao.

Edited April 17, 2013 by ChiDragon

[lienshan]

子貢曰：我不欲人之加諸我也，吾亦欲無加諸人。

子曰：賜也，非爾所及也 。

 

Zi Gong said: "What I do not wish men to do to me, I also wish not to do to men."

The Master said: "If a gift, then it is not you who offer."