Tao Generating the Law: The Philosophy of Tao and the Law in the Four Texts of the Yellow Emperor
Author：Hsiao-Po Wang
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The Four Texts of the Yellow Emperor , unearthed 1973 in Mawangdui , leads the way of the study of Huang-lao thought since. And with it, the Huang of historian’s Huang-lao came to the eyes of scholars nowadays.
Contents of The Four Texts of the Yellow Emperor are exactly the description of Taoists by Tai Shi Gong (Historian of the Emperor) that “bending to the alternation of Yin and Yang, adopting the positive aspects of Confucianism and Mohism, summing up the essentials of the school of Min (Names) and Fa (Legalist).” Therefore the philosophy of Lao Tzu integrated thoughts of all school of Chung Qiu Era, and lading the foundation of the study of Huang-lao thought in the following Warring States period.
Zichan casted the Penal code, Jin Dynasty had the Penal Tripod, and Li Kui wrote Bible of Legalists, all spelled out the transformation of the society of patriarchal feudalism to that of legalist monarchy. In The Four Texts of the Yellow Emperor we see the thought of that era, that is thoughts of every school of that period integrated with Lao Tzu Philosophy, which had its effect on Shen Dao, Sheng Bu Hai and Han Fei, legalists of the Warring States Period .