Tao Te Ching is the essential text of Taoism.
Composed by Lao Tzu or compiled by more than one hand (the sources don’t agree on this), TTC, or Dao De Jing, is the second most translated book in the world.
The translation by John Minford (2018) has been widely praised.
His translation with three commentaries (and a poem for each of the 81 chapters of 5000 words) is published by Penguin as a Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition (2019), which, to discerning readers, is a mark of endorsement.
However, John Minford is not learned in Taoism/Daoism. He is, however, an expert in the Mandarin language and was chosen as the translator of volumes 4 and 5 of The Story of the Stone when David Hawkes could not complete the full translation after volumes 1 to 3.
Readers looking for translations by a person who is steeped in Taoism should look at the translations by Bill Porter/Red Pine, Chan Wing Tsit, or Derek Lin.
Besides the learning of the translators, one should also read the text to see if one enjoys the English used.
For example, the beginning line is translated by John Minford as
“The Tao that can be Told
Is not the True Tao.”
You may prefer this—
The Dao that can be expressed is not the eternal Dao.
For a history of Taoism, you may read Taoism by Isabelle Robinet, a French professor of Chinese.
LWH, Manila, 28 Jan 2026.
ASEAN Summit 2026