A Sufi Commentary on the Tao Te Ching: The Way and Its Virtue Paperback – August 1, 2025

In 1974, the oldest copy of Lao Tzu’ s Tao Te Ching was unearthed at Xi’ an along with the ceramic warriors guarding the tomb of the first Chinese Emperor Qin Shi Huang. By 1979, Professor Toshihiko Izutsu— the Japanese Islamicist, philosopher and linguist— collaborated in Tehran with Seyyed Hossein Nasr to translate this treasure into English. Dr. Nasr went on to put it into Persian adding a Sufi commentary which was recently published in Iran. This has now been translated into English with annotations by Mohammad H. Faghfoory. Imagine having a foundational world scripture like the Tao Te Ching explained by such a renowned Sufi scholar and internationally recognized spiritual authority as Dr. Syed H. Nasr. Passages whose subtleties are normally inaccessible to the Western mind become clear. Through Dr. Nasr’ s insightful use of verses from such Persian luminaries as Rumi, Hafiz, and Attar, the reader is introduced to the “ world” behind this world. The scholar recognized as the “ Father of World Religions” , Huston Smith, refers to the Tao Te Ching as a “ Testament to humanity’ s at-home-ness in the universe, [which] can be read in half an hour or a lifetime… .T Read more