Laozi and the Dao
A counter-tradition argues that the best action is often none.
- When
- —
- Duration
- 50 years
- Known to
- ± 100 years
- Era
- Iron Age, Holocene
The Daodejing, attributed to Laozi and traditionally dated to the sixth century BCE though probably compiled later, proposes that the underlying way of things cannot be named, that opposites define each other, and that wu wei — acting without forcing — accomplishes more than striving. It is a direct counterweight to Confucian emphasis on ritual and hierarchy, and the two together frame most subsequent Chinese thought.