The Four Lesser Classics
Khing Kang King · Yin Fu King · Yu Shu King · Zah Yung King
- Attributed to
- Taoist canon
- Translated by
- James Legge
- Chapters
- 4
- This translation
- 1891
Free of copyright worldwide. The translator died in 1897, and this translation was published in 1891. Even under the longest copyright term in the world — the author's life plus 100 years, which applies in Mexico — the text has been free since 1998. Source scan
Every chapter is free to read in Taoist Diary, with no account and no ads. Listening — the narrated chapters and the daily audio — is the subscription, at $1.99 a month.
How it opens
Lao the Master said, The Great Tao has no bodily form, but It produced and nourishes heaven and earth. The Great Tao has no passions, but It causes the sun and moon to revolve as they do.
The Four Lesser Classics · The Classic of Purity · translated by James Legge
Before you start
- Is The Four Lesser Classics free to read?
- Yes — all 4 chapters, with no account and no ads. James Legge's translation is out of copyright worldwide, so there is nothing to buy in order to read it. The paid part of Taoist Diary is listening: the narrated chapters and the daily audio, at $1.99 a month.
- Which translation is this?
- James Legge's, published in 1891. It is not modernised, paraphrased or trimmed — the sentences are his. The scan it was taken from is linked above, so any line here can be checked against it.
- How long is it?
- 4 chapters, listed in full below — The Classic of Purity through The Classic of the Directory for a Day. Most are short enough to read in a sitting, which is how the app serves them: one at a time, one a day.
The 4 chapters
- 1The Classic of Purity
- 2The Harmony of the Seen and the Unseen
- 3The Classic of the Pivot of Jade
- 4The Classic of the Directory for a Day