Page 10 - Zen Tzu

The Chapter Order

In 1973, at Changsha, in the Chinese province of Hunan, a
tomb was opened in which was found, among other articles, two
nearly complete silk copies of the Lao Tzu. They became know as
the Ma-wang-tui texts, named after the “Horse King Mound” site
where they were unearthed.

These two texts, slightly different from each other, were
accompanied by an inventory slip that dated their entombment—
by the Western accounting—as April 4th, 168 BCE, making them
some 500 years older than any of the previous versions that have
been used as the source material for translations of the so-called
Tao Te Ching.

The glyphs of the Ma-wang-tui do not provide any insights
about Taoism that are significantly different from the other extant
versions of the Tao Te Ching. But, according to scholars, they do
eliminate some ambiguities and some editorializing that had crept
into the various versions of the Lao Tzu over centuries of copying
and re-copying the available source material. The order of the so-
called “chapters” varies somewhat from the traditional versions:
24 comes between 21 and 22, and 41 appears before 40. But the
most significant difference is the reversal of the first and second
halves of the text, a total restructuring that potentially changes
the traditional Tao Te Ching into the Te Tao Ching.

This reversal of the Tao and Te sections creates a problem
that can't be solved simply by renaming this venerable Chinese
classic the Lao Tzu or “Old Master”—the name by which it was
probably originally known. However, the apparent authority of
the Ma-wang-tui texts is not definitive. The discovery of two
different copies in the same tomb mean both can't be the source
manuscript. Meanwhile, a long history of tradition has placed the
Tao section ahead of the Te section, a consideration that weighs
heavily in any decision about its appropriate name. Furthermore,
all the traditional versions begin the first chapter with a principle
statement that is clear, unequivocal, powerful and iconic: the Tao
is “unnamable” and “unknowable”. The meaning of each thought
that follows is guided by this foundational description. Not even
the seniority of the Ma-wang-tui texts deserves to alter this order.
However, in recognition of their age, and for the convenience of
those who now prefer them, the second number identifying each
chapter refers to these oldest versions of the Lao Tzu.

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