Lao Tzu, the legendary author of the
Tao Te Ching
, is also credited with the authorship of the
Hua Hu Ching
, which embodies some of his later teachings. During a time of political turmoil in the fourteenth century, all copies of this work were banned and ordered to be burned. Thus, few if any complete and accurate manuscripts exist today. Fortunately, the complete teachings of the
have been preserved through the oral transmission of generation after generation of Taoist masters to their disciples. In this book, Master Ni, heir to that orally transmitted wisdom, offers a superlative rendering of this reassured teaching.