Editing Tao Te Ching (section)

== Contents ==
=== Themes ===
{{See also|Laozi#Tao Te Ching}}
{{expand German|title=Daodejing|fa=yes|section=yes|date=June 2022}}
{{#section:Laozi|DDJ themes}}

=== Internal structure ===
The ''Tao Te Ching'' is a text of around 5,162 to 5,450 [[Chinese characters]] in 81 brief chapters or sections ({{lang|lzh|章}}). There is some evidence that the chapter divisions were later additions—for commentary, or as aids to rote memorisation—and that the original text was more fluidly organised. It has two parts, the ''Tao Ching'' ({{lang|lzh|道經}}; chapters 1–37) and the ''Te Ching'' ({{lang|lzh|德經}}; chapters 38–81), which may have been edited together into the received text, possibly reversed from an original ''Te Tao Ching''.<ref name="Austin 2010 158">{{Citation |last=Austin |first=Michael |title=Reading the World |date=2010 |page=158 |place=New York |publisher=W. W. Norton |isbn=978-0-393-93349-9}}</ref>

The written style is laconic, and has few [[Chinese particles|grammatical particle]]s. While the ideas are singular, the style is poetic, combining two major strategies: short, declarative statements, and intentional contradictions, encouraging varied, contradictory interpretations. The first of these strategies creates memorable phrases, while the second forces the reader to reconcile supposed contradictions.<ref name="Austin 2010 158"/> With a [[Reconstructions of Old Chinese|partial reconstruction]] of the pronunciation of [[Old Chinese]] spoken during the ''Tao Te Ching''{{'}}s composition, approximately three-quarters rhymed in the original language.<ref name=":13">{{Citation |last=Minford |first=John |title=Tao Te Ching: The Essential Translation of the Ancient Chinese Book of the Tao |pages=ix–x |year=2018 |place=New York |publisher=[[Viking Press]] |language=en |isbn=978-0-670-02498-8 |author-link=John Minford}}</ref>

The Chinese characters in the earliest versions were written in [[seal script]], while later versions were written in [[clerical script]] and [[regular script]] styles.<ref>{{cite journal <!-- Citation bot no -->|last=Henricks|first= Robert G. |title=Examining the Ma-Wang-Tui Silk Texts of the ''Lao-Tzu'': With Special Note of Their Differences from the Wang Pi Text|work= T’oung Pao|volume =65|issue= 4/5 |date=1979|pages= 166–199 at 167 | jstor= 4528176}}</ref>