ABSTRACT

We have already encountered the word dao in chapter 13. Confucius had made the intriguing assertion that “If a man hears about Dao in the morning, and dies in the evening, his life has not been wasted.” For Confucius, though, the word Dao apparently referred only to the right way of conduct—the right way for a person to live. For the Daoists, it would mean much more. *