Tao Te Ching
After Zhuangzi

Listed in the Outer Zhuangzi's history after Mozi but before Laozi and Zhuangzi, Shen Dao shares content with the Inner Zhuangzi, and can also be directly compared with the Tao Te Ching. Less technically complex than Shen Buhai, Shen Dao's current might theoretically even precede him, back to the fourth century BCE. Sinologist Chad Hansen does not consider the Outer Zhuangzi entirely accurate chronologically, but positioned Shen Dao under "Pre-Laozi Daoist Theory" for the theoretical framework of the Stanford Encyclopedia of Daoism's 2024 edition. With Shen Dao being comparable, his time would theoretically form a grounding for it, or might have existed by his time, if the Zhuangzi's (and other) indications are not chronologically accurate.
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