


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.
