Laozi is a philosophical work centered on politics, and it also involves the principle of personal standing in the world. But this book combines the two with the universal nature of nature-
"Tao" is linked together, so "metaphysics" is very strong. Politically, Lao Tzu advocates "doing nothing without doing anything", that is, opposing people-oriented means-including various cultural etiquette-to interfere in social life and respecting the "natural" state of life; Regarding the attitude towards life, Lao Tzu also advocates quietness, yielding and weakness, but this is not as negative as later generations understand, because the "femininity" advocated by Lao Tzu is actually a long-term way and a way to win.
The style of Laozi is neither a quotation like the Analects of Confucius nor an "article" in the general sense. There are about 5,000 words in the book, all of which are short and pithy philosophical aphorisms, which rhyme well and are particularly easy to remember. Each chapter has a certain center or coherence, but the structure is not strict and often repeats before and after. Its language is unpretentious, but its truth is profound, which often reveals the law of things changing to their opposites, the changing relationship between things, and the method of winning from the opposites, and embodies the thoroughness of China's philosophical thoughts in the pre-Qin era. It has a far-reaching impact on the development of China culture. For example, Chapter 36 says: "If you want to be trapped, you must open it;": : if you want to be weak, you must be strong; If it is to be abolished, it must be consolidated; If you want to take it away, you must be solid with it-it's called twilight. "Pretending to be weak and motionless, maintaining a kind of elasticity, prompting the hostile party to expand, exaggerate and even become fragile, that is, to produce a reversal of ups and downs, which is really profound.
Laozi is the basic classic of Taoism in the pre-Qin period. Zhuangzi, written by Zhuang Zhou and his disciples, is a masterpiece promoting Taoism.