deathmtn

DC Lau on the Lao Tzu (called the Tao Te Ching in the west):

Another feature of the works of this period is the increasing use of rhyming passages. In the case of the Lao tzu these amount to considerably more than half of the whole work. Such passages must have been meant to be learned by rote with the meaning explained at length in an oral commentary. Hence the cryptic nature of most of the sayings.

So, reading the Lao Tzu is like reading a slide deck without the presentation or presenter notes!