The Dao that Can Be Spoken of as Dao

This chapter is the translation of chapter 1 of the Expository Commentary to the Daode jing by Cheng Xuanying. Cheng reads the ancient Daode jing in the light of early Tang dynasty Daoism. In the early medieval period up to the Tang, Daoism had developed in close contact with Buddhism, adopting and co-opting many concepts and ideas from Buddhism. Cheng brings these originally Buddhist concepts into the exegesis of the classic Daode jing. In addition, he ties the Daode jing closely to the Zhuangzi and to Confucian classics by citing them in his commentary to every chapter of the Daode jing. He also uses the Buddhist method of kepan to structure the text of the single chapter into smaller subunits and furthermore to create a framework explaining the specific sequence of the single chapters in the Daode jing.