Tao Te Ching is the fundamental work of Taoism, and not only points with poetic elegance to the mystery of Oneness, but provides practical guidelines for cultivating character, conducting war, and governing nations. As with most ancient texts, authorship is difficult to determine. It is commonly attributed to a specific person named Lao Tsu, who is said to have been a contemporary of Confucius, and may have been an archivist to the emperor. Some historians...