Q 01/05

What does the Chinese word 'Tao' (Dao) most literally mean?

A) Heaven

B) Emptiness

C) Way or path

D) Balance

Answer · why

C) Way or path

In the Taoist sense it is understood as an enigmatic process of transformation underlying all reality.

Q 02/05

What does the name Laozi, the legendary author of the Tao Te Ching, literally mean?

A) Old Master

B) Great Sage

C) Way-Finder

D) First Teacher

Answer · why

A) Old Master

Modern scholars think his biography is later invention and the book the work of several hands, the archaic name lending it anonymous authority.

Q 03/05

According to tradition, at whose request did Laozi write the Tao Te Ching before departing to the West?

A) Yinxi, keeper of the Hangu Pass

B) The King of Chu, his home state

C) The Duke of Zhou, regent of the realm

D) Confucius, his younger contemporary

Answer · why

A) Yinxi, keeper of the Hangu Pass

The story has him serving as an official in the imperial archives before riding off, never to be seen again.

Q 04/05

What is the personal name traditional accounts give to Laozi?

A) Zhuang Zhou

B) Kong Qiu

C) Li Er

D) Meng Ke

Answer · why

C) Li Er

A later imperial dynasty whose emperors were surnamed Li claimed him as an ancestor, and a legend ties his birth to a plum tree.

Q 05/05

Into how many chapters is the modern Tao Te Ching divided?

A) 81

B) 64

C) 108

D) 33

Answer · why

A) 81

Chapters 1-37 form the Daojing, the Classic of the Way, and 38-81 the Dejing, the Classic of Virtue.