The central figure in the Tao Te Ching, we are told in Mitchell's Introduction, is the "man or woman whose life is in perfect harmony with the way things are. It is a fundamental text for philosophical and religious Taoism, which today is one of five religions recognized by the Chinese communist government.
The text purportedly dates to about the 6th century BC, written by Lao Tzu, a Chinese sage. The text consists of 81 brief chapters/sections, some only a few lines long, most only a page. The title is often translated into English as "The Book of the Way." It is a small book literally, this version of the book is 3.5 x 5 inches. The Tao Te Ching (or more appropriately translated into English as Dao De Jing) is one of the classic Chinese texts. I shared with him my interest in reading the world's scriptures and canonical texts. In his words: he discovered the book during college it had a powerful impact on him and he found himself returning to it more and more as time went on. I decided to read the Tao Te Ching because a friend recommended it. (UPDATE January 2015: Added the Tao Te Ching.)
Every reading is helping me go a bit deeper and wider into man's search for God and, through that, meaning in this life. After that The Bhagavad Gita and the Analects of Confucius. I also wanted to get a better understanding of the world's major religions so that I could be more in tune with people, their language and their culture, and current events.
I started with my own, reading the Bible in two different translations-first the Hebrew-Greek Word Study Bible by Spiros Zodhiates, and then the KJV-to gain a better grasp on my spirituality and to think critically about why and what I believed. (Background: Over a couple of decades' time I planned to read the scriptures of the world's great religions/philosophies.
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