This book considers important words used in the Dàodéjīng as terms that are inter-related with each other throughout the text as well as other important texts from the period in which the Dàodéjīng was written to bring out a more comprehensive perspective on what is being said as well as a deeper and more meaningful understanding. In doing so, over two hundred different terms were revealed. When viewed accordingly, they were then organized into five simple patterns: (1) a definition of Dào, (2) the Manifestation of Dào into the World, (3) Human Nature and ancient psychology, (4) how Dào is lost and suffering begins, and (5) how we can restore Dào and its accompanying peace and harmony into the world on the inner levels of the Body, Mind, and Spirit as well as on the outer levels of the social, political, and economic interactions we all have.

In approaching the translation of the Dàodéjīng from this perspective, a worldview is revealed that forms the basis for all the Body/Mind/Spirit healing that was discovered in ancient China and that still has the enormous potential for being applied today. This application exists on the lower symptomatic level, the middle preventive level, and the higher level of Fulfilling Inner Potential. According to the worldview of the Dàodéjīng, if we are able to Fulfill this Potential, we will never get sick and if we don’t Fulfill this Potential, we will get sick no matter what else we do. Moreover, fulfilling this potential is also the foundation for world peace and sustainability. Therefore, this worldview connects individual healing with the healing of society as a whole. This unique perspective is desperately needed in the world today and this book provides the principles through which it can be attained.

Many Paths, One Center is a massive and impressive magnum opus on all things Dàodéjīng.There are over 800 commentaries on Laozi, but this one is truly unique —a lifetime labor of love and brilliant research that sets a new standard in this field.

Its primary focus is how Lǎozi’s Great Dào is embedded within acupuncture and Chinese medicine, but goes much further. It compares how other paths—Confucian classics, Tibetan and Chan Buddhism, Hindu Upanishads, Christianity, fields of philosophy, psychology, dietetics (macrobiotics), inner alchemy, Qìgōng/Tàijí, Yìjīng, and meditation deal with issues raised within the Dàodéjīng. This perspective gives a breathtaking overview of the historical and thematic context of Lǎozi’s classic that cannot be found elsewhere.

Of great strength in this work are detailed translations from other Chinese classics like the Zhuāngzǐ and obscure Daoist texts that Willmont juxtaposes with masterful ease. He peers under the hood of Daoist cosmology and shines his light into little or wholly misunderstood corners such as the true meaning of virtue ( Dé), how the “ten eyes” of its ideogram relate to medical and spiritual health, the difference between faith and belief, the root causes of suffering, and the drivers of good and evil.

Readers can expect to spend years browsing its breadth (divided into convenient short sections, with dozens of helpful diagrams), and probing its depths to find the pearls most useful on one’s path. I own dozens of translations and commentaries on Lǎozi yet was surprised by how much I did not know despite my decades of study. Every lover of Dào should give themselves this gift of re-discovering Lǎozi.

—Michael Winn, author of ten courses on Daoist Inner Alchemy & Qìgōng, editorial board member of the Journal of Daoist Studies, and founder of HealingTaoUSA.com.