Tao Te Ching

The Tao is the Way, and the Way is the Tao. But if you expect the "Tao Te Ching" to get much more specific than that, then I’m afraid you’re likely to be disappointed. The Tao Te Ching is not a how-to – or, if you’ll forgive the phrase, a Tao-to. Author Lao Tzu is a highly revered figure in modern China – making it all the more interesting that, as scholar D.C. Lau of the Chinese University of Hong Kong points out in an informative foreword, there is no real way of proving the historicity, even the actual historical existence, of a monk who lived in the 6th century B.C. and was named 老子, Lao Tzu. Therefore, stories about Lao Tzu – like the one in which Lao Tzu supposedly told a young Confucius to “Rid yourself of your arrogance and your lustfulness, your ingratiating manners and your excessive ambition. These are all detrimental to your person” (p. viii) – must be taken with the proverbial grain of salt. What cannot be denied is that the "Tao Te Ching" – whoever its author(s), whatever the circumstances of its composition – provides the basis for one of the world’s great philosophical and religious traditions. In its 81 short, poetic chapters, the "Tao Te Ching" invites the reader to approach life in a spirit of acceptance and humility. That emphasis is no accident, as the book was written during the Warring States period – a singularly turbulent and unstable time, when both ordinary citizens and powerful leaders were only too aware of the uncertainty of human affairs. Small wonder, then, that so many passages from the "Tao Te Ching" emphasize contentment, caution, endurance: “Know contentment/And you will suffer no disgrace;/Know when to stop/And you will meet with no danger./You can then endure” (p. 51). On my first reading of the "Tao Te Ching," I found myself focusing upon areas where I could see the document’s influence on Western culture. In Chapter V, for example, Lao Tzu writes that “Heaven and earth are ruthless, and treat the myriad creatures as straw dogs; the sage is ruthless, and treats the people as straw dogs” (p. 9). Sure enough, it turns out that Sam Peckinpah’s violent and controversial film "Straw Dogs" (1971), with its own thematic focus on ordinary people in a ruthless world, takes its title from this chapter. And then there is Chapter XLVII, the chapter that may be my favorite from the entire "Tao Te Ching": “Without stirring abroad/One can know the whole world;/Without looking out of the window/One can see the way of heaven./The further one goes/The less one knows” (p. 54). Fellow Beatles fans will recognize at once that this passage from the "Tao Te Ching" provides the lyrical inspiration for “The Inner Light,” a 1968 George Harrison composition that originally served as the B-side for the hit single “Lady Madonna.” George’s interest in the great religious traditions of the East is a matter of record, and it makes perfect sense that, amid the chaos of being a Beatle, he would have been drawn to the Tao Te Ching’s message of letting go of the pursuit of material things in favor of seeking spiritual sustenance. To my mind, one of the passages that is most explicit in defining the Way comes in Chapter VIII, when Lao Tzu writes that “Because water excels in benefiting the myriad creatures without contending with them and settles where none would like to be, it comes close to the way” (p. 12). Part of understanding the Way seems to involve the idea that the Way cannot be pinned down like a dead butterfly in a glass case; indeed, attempting to seize control of the Way will only take one further from the Way. “Go up to it and you will not see its head;/Follow behind it and you will not see its rear” (p. 18). In a way, Lao Tzu’s Way reminds me of physicist Werner Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle from quantum mechanics – the idea that one can accurately measure the position or the momentum of a subatomic particle, but not both. The only way to achieve some measure of knowledge is to let go of trying to know everything. How scientific, and how Taoist. One can also, if one looks, find connections with the great religious traditions of the West. When Lao Tzu writes in Chapter 53 that “The great way is easy, yet people prefer by-paths” (p. 60), readers acquainted with the Judeo-Christian heritage might find themselves thinking of one of Jesus Christ’s admonitions from the Sermon on the Mount: “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (Matthew 7:13-14). And Lao Tzu’s call in Chapter 63 for his disciples to “do good to him who has done you an injury” (p. 70) will similarly bring to mind Jesus’ call for his disciples to “Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you” (Luke 6:27-28). Helpful appendices to this edition of the "Tao Te Ching" deal with the problem of Lao Tzu’s authorship of the "Tao Te Ching," as mentioned above, and with the nature of the work. There is also a glossary of authors and works from the tradition of classical Chinese philosophy, along with a chronological table that takes one all the way from the beginning of the Eastern Chou Dynasty in 770 B.C. through the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty in 225 A.D. – all very helpful for any reader for whom all this history may be relatively new. I read the "Tao Te Ching" while my wife and I were in Beijing; touring the Temple of Heaven complex, a magnificent group of religious buildings associated with the Taoist faith, I wondered how many believers, during the 600 years since the complex’s construction, had walked to or from a ceremony of harvest prayers reciting a favorite chapter from the "Tao Te Ching." I felt very fortunate to be acquainting myself with this world classic of literature, religion, and philosophy while traveling in the land from which it came.

The Tao Te Ching is a gateway to the real world of which we are all an integral part, of which we live and die with. In other words, the world we have forgotten, and are destroying in our blind murder-suicide we are running fast to accomplish. I own seven different translations, and this is the last one I check. Like someone else said, It's time for a new version Penguin! Many of us eagerly awaiting a new taoistic translation of Tao Te Ching.

If Studying Taoism (Daoism) this a must read.

It's a classic translation, beautiful, and lucidly introduced and annotated. Still, much has happened in the decades since this edition was composed, in terms of archaeology and scholarly debate about this book. Time for a new edition, Penguin.

Masterpiece.

How to be a better you.

I've been using this translation since 1965 and have found no better. When I want to clarify something, I struggle with a Chinese language edition - my knowledge of Chinese is sufficient to know at least the 'raw' meaning of the characters. Some thoughts and discoveries I've had... 1. D.C.Lau's translation comes closest to the actual Chinese most of the time. 2. I believe he does not consider himself a Taoist, and thus brings less 'pro' bias to his translation. Many other translations (not all) I've seen are written by 'pro Tao' folks who, to one degree or another, unconsciously bend their translations to agree with the 20th century cultural paradigm (values) in which they were conditioned. 3. It is not what a particular translation says, or how it says it, that is 'enlightening'. How you interpret what you read (hear or see) reflects who you really are at that moment. In other words, what you perceive the book to say is actually your own mind's reality. The notion that one translation or another is going to impart 'knowing' is wishful thinking. The knowing lies in the eye of the beholder. Thus, the disclaimer in chapter 1 of the Tao Te Ching, "The way that can be spoken of is not the constant way; The name that can be named, is not the constant name." This sentiment speaks to just how very inward and personal a Taoist journey is. For me, D.C.Lau's translation gets in the way of this journey less than others I've seen over the years.

Lived the cover art. Still need to read.

Excelente para leitura diária para quem busca viver em equilíbrio

Very stoic and mindful - easy bite sized info to consume - right for any up and coming philosophers

Bra, men inte i närheten av Stephen Mitchell's version av Tao Te Ching.

Horrible translation, I've read 3 more version 1 in English 2 in Turkish this was the worst translation I see between those

Confío en Penguin, no soy tan quisquillosa como parece, sin embargo, este ejemplar me hace bastante ruido. Me sorprende demasiado la calidad, pero supongo que no para bien, aunque el papel se ve más blanco y satinado que el color crema de siempre, la impresión es rara, hay capítulos muy marcados en negro y otros donde las palabras son tenues, incluso en las señalaciones del idioma chino se ven diferentes. No sé si es paranoia mía, pero tiene pinta de impresión pirata, aunque doy el beneficio de la duda al no tener noción total de las ediciones anglosajonas de Penguin. Lo que sí me molesta es el acabado, no es que haya llegado golpeado, directamente parece mal cortado de la parte inferior, se siente áspero, irregular y descuidado. Y eso que llegó completamente sellado.