Talk:Tao Te Ching

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Tao Te Ching article.
This is not a forum for general discussion of the article's subject.

Put new text under old text. Click here to start a new topic.
New to Wikipedia? Welcome! Learn to edit; get help.

Article policies

Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL

Archives: 1, 2: 3 months

Tao Te Ching is a former featured article. Please see the links under Article milestones below for its original nomination page (for older articles, check the nomination archive) and why it was removed.

Article milestones
Date	Process	Result
January 21, 2001	Brilliant prose	Nominated
January 19, 2004	Refreshing brilliant prose	Not kept
December 9, 2005	Peer review	Reviewed

Current status: Former featured article

Religious texts (defunct)

This article is within the scope of WikiProject Religious texts, a project which is currently considered to be defunct.Religious textsWikipedia:WikiProject Religious textsTemplate:WikiProject Religious textsReligious texts

China Top‑importance

	China portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject China, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of China related articles on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.ChinaWikipedia:WikiProject ChinaTemplate:WikiProject ChinaChina-related
Top	This article has been rated as Top-importance on the project's importance scale.

Taoism (inactive)

This article is within the scope of WikiProject Taoism, a project which is currently considered to be inactive.TaoismWikipedia:WikiProject TaoismTemplate:WikiProject TaoismTaoism

Philosophy: Literature / Eastern / Ancient High‑importance

This article is within the scope of WikiProject Philosophy, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of content related to philosophy on Wikipedia. If you would like to support the project, please visit the project page, where you can get more details on how you can help, and where you can join the general discussion about philosophy content on Wikipedia.PhilosophyWikipedia:WikiProject PhilosophyTemplate:WikiProject PhilosophyPhilosophy

High

This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale.

Associated task forces:
/
	Philosophical literature
	Eastern philosophy
	Ancient philosophy

source structure

Why is this not using a standardized source format, like SFN? This format is more difficult to work with.FourLights (talk) 09:39, 1 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Some of the citations are in {{sfnp}}, but I'd guess that the reason is that the article predates {{sfn}} (in fact, it predates citations on Wikipedia entirely) and no one has bothered to convert it yet. Folly Mox (talk) 10:28, 1 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The introduction to SNFP just says its like SFN but uses paranthesis for the year. I don't know about it, I was directed towards using SFN. Do we prefer SFNP here? Even if I don't get it perfect, would it sound good to convert the article to one or the other?FourLights (talk) 12:49, 1 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

A lot of them say harvp but don't all have page numbers. If people could agree to use a standardized format I could look for the page numbers. It's relevant for long term work to sort out the daodejing more.FourLights (talk) 13:04, 1 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I don't see any problem with standardizing sfnp here. Remsense诉 22:18, 4 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Ok, I'll try to put in the effort to standardize it to SFNP some time, hopefully check the sources at the same time.FourLights (talk) 18:24, 8 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

What are (and what's the difference between) received texts and transmitted texts?

In the section,Textual History-Principal versions, there's mention of 'Transmitted editions', but what does that MEAN (that they were 'transmitted'?

And then below that section, in 'Archaeologically recovered manuscripts', is mentioned archaeological discoveries, some of which are older than any of the received texts. So what ARE 'RECEIVED TEXTS' ?? UnderEducatedGeezer (talk) 02:08, 4 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I don't know. But I'd take "transmitted text" and "received text" to be synonyms, and to refer to text editions that are or have been widespread in a given tradition, school or culture, as opposed to the archeological finds. However, it's relative: The archeological versions may very well have been "transmitted/received texts" in an earlier period, and may become so again now that they have been unearthed.

There may be a better scholarly terminology than "transmitted/received texts"; I don't know. Received text redirects to an article about specific Bible texts, but I guess that neither strengthens nor weakens the case for that term. Nø (talk) 19:52, 4 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Tae to Ching

Tae to Ching 49.145.245.196 (talk) 13:15, 8 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

reference check

Although the references themselves are all there for it's present content, I will have to perform a reference check for proper placement in the "Chronological theories" section. That being said, there may not be anything out of place.FourLights (talk) 13:06, 14 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]