| The Four Books of Huangdi is a Huang-Lao Taoism book. It is written by Huang-Lao Taoists of the Jixia Academy at Linzi, the capital of the state of Qi during the early years of the Warring States Period. The so-called Huang-Lao School is the general name for those who advocated Huang-Lao Taoism. Huang signifies Huangdi,the Yellow Emperor, the legendary founder of China, while Lao signifies Lao-tuz, the author of the well-known Daode Jing(Lao-tuz) and one of the philosophers later termed "Taoist". Huang-Lao Taoists honored Huangdi and Lao-tuz as the founders of their school.They also absorbed some Confucianist, Moist and Legalist thought. According to Records of the Historian (Shih Chi), the Huang-Lao School flourished in the early years of the Western Han Dynasty.The Four Books of Huangdi succeeded and developed the philosophy of Lao-tzu. On the one hand, The Four Books of Huangdi succeeded the ideas of Lao-tzu's Tao.Tao is the core concept of Lao-tzu's philosophy. Tao is the root and essence of all existence in the universe, and is also the origin of the universe, and is the invariable law of nature. Tao does all through wu-wei. Wu-wei is a crucial concept in Taoist philosophy. It means that one should not impose artificial values when acting, but instead should act in accordance with natural ones, the principles of Tao.In the Lao-tzu it is said:"Reversal is movement of Tao."When a thing reaches one extreme, it reverts from it. No absolute limit can be prescribed for all things under all circumstances.The limit of advancement for a given activity is also relative to objective circumstances.On the other hand, The Four Books of Huangdi developed the ideas of Lao-tzu's Tao.It absorbed Law into Tao, and deduced the human affairs by Tao.Law is not only the invariable law of nature but also the strict law of society. The Four Books of Huangdi puts forward a series of life and political and social philosophy. The author thinks the Taoism on The Four Books of Huangdi is passive realism.
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