Commentary on the Laozi

A line-by-line commentary on the Daodejing by Wang Bi, who died in 249 in his early twenties. It is a founding work of Xuanxue, the 'Learning of the Mysterious', a Wei–Jin movement that read the Daoist and Confucian classics through questions about being and the source of things. Wang Bi's central idea is that everything that exists depends on a root that has no form or name, which he calls nonbeing (wu). Because the root cannot be named, the sage holds to it by not forcing things, and lets each thing follow its own nature. The ruler who honours the root lets the branches flourish; one who multiplies laws, rewards and moral demands produces the very disorder he fears. Wang Bi also wrote a short outline of the Laozi's main points. His edition became the standard received text of the Daodejing, and for centuries most readers met the work through his reading.

It is a classic example of Chinese philosophical commentary at work, and offers one of the most rigorous readings of the Daodejing, built around the relation between being and nonbeing.