The Way to Life: At the Heart of the Tao Te Ching is Benjamin Hoff

Benjamin Hoff

Benjamin Hoff is an author based in the United States. Two of his books on Taoism, The Tao of Pooh and The Te of Piglet, were on best seller lists. Hoff grew up in Sylvan, Oregon, where he acquired a fondness of the natural world that has been highly influential in his writing.Hoff obtained a...

's first novel about Taoism

Taoism

Taoism refers to a philosophical or religious tradition in which the basic concept is to establish harmony with the Tao , which is the mechanism of everything that exists...

. It was published in 1981 by Weatherhill (ISBN 0-8348-0156-6).

The work is a unique interpretation of the Tao Te Ching

Tao Te Ching

The Tao Te Ching, Dao De Jing, or Daodejing , also simply referred to as the Laozi, whose authorship has been attributed to Laozi, is a Chinese classic text...

, an ancient Chinese text ascribed to Lao Tsu. In it, Hoff weaves his translation and interpretation of the original texts with his own photographs of nature in Oregon

Oregon

Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...

. The included essay, Taoist Principles Today, provides an explanation of how the principles of Taoism can be applied to people's lives in order to obtain happiness through non-egotistical methods.

The book has been out of print for a number of years.