Religions of Ancient China by Herbert A. Giles

Lao Tzu. -- Meanwhile, other influences had been helping to divert the / attention of the Chinese people from the simple worship of God and of / the powers of nature. The philosophy associated with the name of Lao / Tzu, who lived nobody knows when, -- probably about B. C. 600 -- which is / popularly known as Taoism, from Tao, the omnipresent, omnipotent, and / unthinkable principle on which it is based, operated with Confucianism, / though in an opposite direction, in dislimning the old faith while / putting nothing satisfactory in its place. Confucianism, with its / shadowy monotheistic background, was at any rate a practical system for / everyday use, and it may be said to contain all the great ethical truths / to be found in the teachings of Christ. Lao Tzu harped upon a doctrine / of Inaction, by virtue of which all things were to be accomplished, -- a / perpetual accommodation of self to one's surroundings, with the minimum / of effort, all progress being spontaneous and in the line of least / resistance. Such a system was naturally far better fitted for the study, / where in fact it has always remained, than for use in ordinary life.

In one of the few genuine utterances of Lao Tzu which have survived the / wreck of time, we find an allusion to a spiritual world. Unfortunately, / it is impossible to say exactly what the passage means. According to Han / Fei (died B. C. 233), who wrote several chapters to elucidate the sayings / of Lao Tzu, the following is the correct interpretation: --