John Minford used the received text for his translation, which dates to the Han dynasty.
There are 2 earlier versions of the text. They are—
The Mawangdui Silk Texts (2nd century BCE, discovered in 1973) and The Guodian Bamboo Slips (4th century BCE, discovered in 1993).
The Mawangdui version was found at Mawangdui in the suburbs of Changsha. Two copies were found written on silk and were almost complete. This version has a different arrangement from the received version and differs slightly in the text.
The Guodian version was written on bamboo slips and was more fragmentary. It was found at the village of Guodian in Hubei province.
Tao Te Ching: The Classic Book of Integrity and The Way, translated by Victor H. Mair (1990), is based on the Mawangdui text. It is annotated and has a substantial afterword.
Both translations will give us readers an idea of the richness of the text.
LWH, Saturday 14 Feb 2026