LibriVox recordings are Public Domain in the USA. If you are not in the USA, please verify the copyright status of these works in your own country before downloading, otherwise you may be violating copyright laws.

If you have troubles downloading files, please try again later. Technical problems usually resolve themselves quickly. If the problem lasts longer than 24hrs, please contact us.

The Tao Teh King, or the Tao and its Characteristics

by Laozi
Translated by James Legge (1815-1897)

Lao-Tze’s Tao Teh King illuminates The Tao: a guiding principle of the universe and all within it. By exploring the nature of dualities and complements, Lao-Tze dissects strength and weakness; presence and absence; life and death. The Tao Teh King has served as a foundation for centuries of philosophy and wisdom.
(Summary by Eric S. Piotrowski)

• Gutenberg e-text
• Wikipedia - Lao-Tze
• Wikipedia - Tao Teh King
• LibriVox’s The Tao Teh King, or the Tao and its Characteristics Internet Archive page
• Zip file of the entire book (45.6MB)
• RSS feed · Subscribe in iTunes · Chapter-a-day

Read by Eric S. Piotrowski

Total runtime: 1:34:53

mp3 and ogg files

• Chapters 1-9 - 00:08:56
  [mp3@64kbps - 4.2MB]
  [mp3@128kbps - 8.5MB]
  [ogg vorbis - 6.4MB]
• Chapters 10-18 - 00:10:19
  [mp3@64kbps - 4.9MB]
  [mp3@128kbps - 9.9MB]
  [ogg vorbis - 7.3MB]
• Chapters 19-27 - 00:10:48
  [mp3@64kbps - 5.1MB]
  [mp3@128kbps - 10.3MB]
  [ogg vorbis - 7.7MB]
• Chapters 28-37 - 00:11:13
  [mp3@64kbps - 5.3MB]
  [mp3@128kbps - 10.7MB]
  [ogg vorbis - 8.0MB]
• Chapters 38-45 - 00:10:25
  [mp3@64kbps - 5.0MB]
  [mp3@128kbps - 10.0MB]
  [ogg vorbis - 7.5MB]
• Chapters 46-54 - 00:10:16
  [mp3@64kbps - 4.9MB]
  [mp3@128kbps - 9.8MB]
  [ogg vorbis - 7.3MB]
• Chapters 55-63 - 00:12:09
  [mp3@64kbps - 5.8MB]
  [mp3@128kbps - 11.6MB]
  [ogg vorbis - 8.6MB]
• Chapters 64-72 - 00:10:21
  [mp3@64kbps - 4.9MB]
  [mp3@128kbps - 9.9MB]
  [ogg vorbis - 7.4MB]
• Chapters 73-81 - 00:10:26
  [mp3@64kbps - 5.0MB]
  [mp3@128kbps - 10.0MB]
  [ogg vorbis - 7.4MB]