A Sufi Commentary on the Tao Te Ching: The Way and Its Virtue

In 1974, the oldest copy of Lao Tzu' s Tao Te Ching was unearthed at Xi' an along with the ceramic warriors guarding the tomb of the first Chinese Emperor Qin Shi Huang. By 1979, Professor Toshihiko Izutsu- the Japanese Islamicist, philosopher and linguist- collaborated in Tehran with Seyyed Hossein Nasr to translate this treasure into English. Dr. Nasr went on to put it into Persian adding a Sufi commentary which was recently published in Iran. This has now been translated into English with annotations by Mohammad H. Faghfoory.

Imagine having a foundational world scripture like the Tao Te Ching explained by such a renowned Sufi scholar and internationally recognized spiritual authority as Dr. Syed H. Nasr. Passages whose subtleties are normally inaccessible to the Western mind become clear. Through Dr. Nasr' s insightful use of verses from such Persian luminaries as Rumi, Hafiz, and Attar, the reader is introduced to the " world" behind this world.

The scholar recognized as the " Father of World Religions" , Huston Smith, refers to the Tao Te Ching as a " Testament to humanity' s at-home-ness in the universe, [which] can be read in half an hour or a lifetime… .T