Reddit reviews Disputers of the Tao: Philosophical Argument in Ancient China

Here's some further reading!


The best and most academically accepted translation of the Dao De Jing

Here, A.C. Graham is an intensely clever and erudite Sinologist - Disupters is definitely a "classic" in the literature of early Eastern philosophy.

Great book on a lesser known section of the Zhuangzi, which Roth shows to be the origin of meditative practice in Daoism. Roth is also my Prof!

A great translation by the same A.C. Graham of most of the chapters of the Zhuangzi. The Zhuangzi, different from the Laozi, uses narratives and short essays in deeply stratified, humorous, and incredibly profound ways well ahead of its time.

Source: I've been studying contemplative practices, cultural anthropology, and Chinese philosophy for most of my undergrad

Keep in mind that at that time, nobody was going around saying "I am a Taoist" or "I am part of the Confucian school" etc, because these distinctions were created by later generations as a way to categorize these philosophies. So you can find elements of Taoism in Confucianism, Legalism, or The Art of War. The ideas are more mixed together earlier than they came to be now. This book does a good job of describing that sort of concept.