4.5 ⭐


I have delved deeper into the ‘Tao Te Ching’ in my review of the more scholarly translation by D.C.Lau which you can find HERE.
In this space I just want to focus on what Ursula K. Le Guin brings to the table and what exactly makes her rendition of the classic, unique from the plethora of other translations and renditions that are available.


I have to commend D.C.Lau for his fantastic translation of the Tao, which includes a wonderful introduction as well as two very informative appendices. But as his expertise really shines through in these elaborate discussions on the history and meaning of the text, so too does Ursula’s incredible talent as a writer, a poet and a humble student of the Tao throughout the entirety of this 126-page book.


n  ”Most translations have caught meanings in their net, but prosily, letting the beauty slip through. And in poetry, beauty is no ornament; it is the meaning.”n


Le Guin’s rendition is one for the modern reader. Where some of the passages in other translations make it clear that this was, in many ways, a manual for rulers; Le Guin takes liberty in changing certain phrases to relate more to the everyday individual. I loved the confidence she showed in taking on and re-interpreting this ancient work, whilst always showing respect to the material and addressing, clearly, any amendments that she made. With regard to Chapter 24, Ursula says: ”My version of the first four lines of the second verse doesn’t follow any scholarly translations, and is quite unjustified, but at least, unlike them it makes sense without horrible verbal contortions”. Regarding Chapter 72, she says: ”I take the liberty of reading this chapter as a description of what we, we ordinary people, should fear. The usual reading is in the manual-for-princes mode”. I love this type of honest commentary from Ursula, and it’s prevalent throughout the Chapter Notes as well as the Footnotes at the bottom of most pages which are just phenomenal, short and sharp insights into the text, nearly as sagacious as the passages of the Tao themselves.


n  ”To those who will not admit morality without a deity to validate it, or spirituality of which man is not the measure, the firmness of Lao Tzu’s morality and the sweetness of his spiritual counsel must seem incomprehensible, or illegitimate, or very troubling indeed”.n


In addition to her fantastic commentary on the chapters of the Tao, Le Guin also brings her own insight to the questionable origins of the text through analysis of the poem structures within. At one stage, regarding Chapter 42, Ursula explains: ”The last stanza is uncharacteristic in it’s didactic tone and in assimilating the teaching to a tradition… I was inclined to dismiss it as a marginal note by someone who was teaching and annotating the text”.. Regarding Chapter 44, she states: ”The intense, succinct, beautiful language of the first verses of the poem is sometimes followed by a verse or two in a more didactic tone, smaller in scope, and far more prosaic. I believe some of these verses are additions, comments, and examples, copied into the manuscripts so long ago that they became holy writ”. What a keen mind. D.C.Lau comes to the same conclusion for similar reasons.


I thoroughly enjoyed this rendition of the Tao Te Ching and am pleased I started my Ursula K. Le Guin journey here. She reveals in the ‘Sources’ section that the title for her 1971 Science Fiction novel, ‘The Lathe of Heaven’ came from an incorrect translation of a passage from the Chuang Tzu(Another essential Taoist text) by James Legge. Joseph Needham, the great scholar of Chinese Science and Technology would later explain to her that when the Chuang Tzu was written, the lathe hadn’t been invented. I’m very curious to read ‘The Lathe of Heaven’ to see how much of an influence Le Guin’s lifelong study of Taoism had on the work.


n   “The way is more than the cycle of any individual life. We, rise, flourish, fail. The way never fails. We are waves. It is the sea.n

غلام همت آنم که زیر چرخ کبود
ز هر چه رنگ تعلق پذیرد آزادست
(حافظ)
کافی است چشمانت را ببندی و تاریکی محظی که بر کل هستی حکمفرماست می بببنی دیگر نور و یا خودی نمی بینی همه اش عدم هست و در این عدم جهانی را می بینی که تو هم جزوی از آن هستی دیگر نمی توانی خود را از آن جدا بدانی. این چشمانت تو را از هستی دزدیده است و منیت تمام وجودت را فراگرفته است.

بلاشک دیدن شفاف جهان با چشمان خویش بزرگترین معجزه هستی است که از آن روزنه به جهان پیرامونی می نگریم ولی گاهی لازم هست چشمان خویش را ببندیم تا از جهان جدا نیفیتم جهانی در ما پنهان هست که عوامل بیرونی هر آن حواس ما را به ناکجاد آباد پرت می کند.

آنکس که برون را می‌نگرد رویا می بیند، آنکس که به درون می‌نگرد، بیدار است.
کارل گوستاو یونگ

این کتاب از مجموعه کتاب های شهودی که به نوعی خاستگاه عرفان چینی و دائوئیسم هم است کتابی حکیمانه به غایت زیبا و دلنشین حاوی نکات اخلاقی فرزانگان و تدبیر ملوکانه که به نوعی می خواهد ما را از این حصارها و زنجیرهای ذهنی رها سازد ایستگاه آخری که هر انسانی یک روزی بدان خواهد رسید

تا فضل و عقل بینی بی‌معرفت نشینی/ یک نکته‌ات بگویم خود را مبین که رستی
حافظ
------
گزیده:
تائويي كه بتوان آن را بر زبان آورد
تائوي جاودان نخواهد بود.
نامي كه بتوان آن را ذكر كرد
نامي ماندگار نخواهد بود.
آن چه نمي توان برايش نامي نهاد حقيقت جاويد است.
رها از آرزوها مي توان اسرار را درك كرد.
در بند آرزو تنها مي توان جلوه ها را ديد.
اسرار نهان و جلوه ها عيان
هر دو از يك منبع اند.
اين منبع را تاريكي ناميده اند.
تاريكي در تاريكي؛
دروازه ي ورود به دنياي شناخت

لینک متن کتاب:
http://taoteching.blogfa.com/category/1
مطالعه بیشتر درباره دائو
https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%AF%...

The Tao Te Ching is a timeless classic. This book is 100 odd pages of poetically distilled wisdom from the 6th century B.C. Chinese sage Lao Tzu. Although the Tao Te Ching has received much hyped attention in recent years from various modern-day gurus and charlatans alike, it is worthy of the great reputation that precedes it. Beneath the witty, pithy aphorisms, lies deep truth and profound insight into human behavior. Lao Tzu covers a wide spectrum of human experience from love and peace to war and governance. My favorite parts of the text were chapters 30, 41 and 67, which deal with approval and self-acceptance, the Tao itself and it's universality, and the three keys to the Tao (simplicity, patience and compassion). When reading this book I found myself often pausing as I went along to reflect on the various nuggets of wisdom imparted by Lao Tzu. Although one can comfortably read through the Tao Te Ching in an hour, I would recommend actually taking your time to let it sink in and marinate in your mind. Indeed it is a book I will definitely come back to from time to time. The Tao Te Ching is a beautifully written reminder of how we are all connected by a universal intelligent source or subconscious mind, which is often easy to forget in the hustle and bustle of our lives.

¡Qué belleza de libro! De verdad, léanlo.

Ethereal, philosophical spiritual . . . confusing. I had to read this twice. The notes in the back were helpful but also a bit confusing. This is an ancient lesson in how to think about life and oneself but not easily assembled for me. I think I get some of it with traditional ideas of humility, honesty, patience, tolerance, kindliness and love. Some of this however is hard for me to grasp. I am much better for having read this through a couple of times but will have to turn back to it at times to see if more will make sense.

The Tao Te Ching is essentially the Bible of Taoism, and unlike the actual Bible, Quran, or other religious texts, it is short enough to read in an evening. The practical wisdom contained is useful and poetic but not coded in allegory and mythology like most Western religions. The 81 verses contain balanced sage advice that one can spend a lifetime contemplating and will warrant many re-reads. There are many translations of this book from Chinese, but I have found the blunt, straight-forward translation by Ron Hogan to be the best I have read. I have personally made a free audiobook of this Tao Te Ching translation if anyone is interested you can listen/watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pcRX...

When people see things as beautiful, ugliness is created

When people see things as good, evil is created

The master leads by emptying people's mind

The Tao is like an empty vessel

It can never be emptied and can never be filled

Master doesn’t take sides

The spirit of emptiness is immortal

The location makes the dwelling good

Depth of understanding makes the mind good

A kind heart makes the giving good

Integrity makes the government good

Accomplishment makes your labors good

Proper timing makes a decision good

Can you love people and lead them without forcing your on them?

To grow, yet not to control: This is the mysterious virtue

Too much activity dangers the mind

Too much wealth causes crime

Success is as danger as failure

Love the whole world as if it were your self

Then you will truly care for all things

Look for it, and it can't be seen

Listen for it, and it can't be heard

Grasp for it, and it can't be caught

Unending, unnamable, it return to nothingness

Formless forms, imageless images

Subtle, beyond all understanding

Returning to the resource is tranquility

If you want to become whole first let yourself become broken

If you want to become straight, first let yourself become twisted

If you want to become full, first let yourself become empty

If you want to become new, first let yourself become old

Before the universe was born

There was something in the chaos of the heaven

The Tao follows only itself

A good traveler leaves no tracks

Know the masculine but keep to the feminine

Some are meant to lead and others are meant to follow

The Master accepts the things as they are

Those who know others are intelligent

Those who know themselves are truly wise

Those who master other are strong

Those who master themselves have true power

All of creation is born from substance

Substance is born of nothing-ness

Few in the world can comprehend the teaching without words

Which is more destructive, success or failure?

To understand the small is called clarity

Knowing how to yield is called strength

Those who know do not talk

Those who talk do not know

Act by not acting

Do by not doing

A journey of thousand miles starts with a single footstep

If you rush into action, you will fail

If you hold on too tight, you will lose your grip

Compassion is the protector of Heaven's salvation

Well, what can I say then? I like this translation. It unfolds in a smooth style that, to me, emphasized the spiritual nature of the book. I'm still a fan of Torode though, but also want to find a copy of the Barnes and Noble version because the language forms the quote, "The five colors make us blind" -- so simple, direct and full of depth. I probably should stop there so I don't risk being one who "does not know." :-)

4.24.19
I read this translation by Sam Torode every day on my phone, with a hard copy of another translation I will review soon. The simplicity of Torode's translation makes it my favorite so far and lines up with the Taoist philosophy of simplicity. I may consider other works translated by Torode. He has some interesting works out there, such as "The Song of Solomon."

Update: 3.14.18
Third translation I've read, my favorite of the three. I love this book of philosophy. It gives great common sense and helps pave new thought patterns not taught in American culture, paths that lead to peace and sanity. My favorite book of philosophy.

12-13-17: Great translation, helped me understand it. My favorite religious/ philosophical book aside from the Christian Bible. Shows a path of peace, contentment and subtle, quiet, managable power.

Update, 9/15/17:
I found this quote in my notebook, the only one I wrote down. Beautiful.
"Heaven is long-enduring and earth continues long. The reason why heaven and earth are able to endure and continue this long is because they do not live of, or for, themselves. This is how they are able to continue and endure."

----------------------------------

“Nothingness cannot be defined; the softest thing cannot be snapped.” – Bruce Lee

My favorite quote from Bruce Lee, thus far, stretches across this page, above. The quote has reminded me of the power of humility, and the deceptive and dichotomous nature of that power. Humility clothes itself in rags of weakness and frailty but draws superhuman strength, and the Tao Te Ching calls this an empty vessel being filled with another power.

Bruce Lee based much of his life and work on the Tao Te Ching, so I read it. I admire this amazing and deeply profound piece of religious literature. The philosophy coincides with my own faith. I hear echoes of teachings I’ve heard in Christianity. The book teaches, as already mentioned, the power of humility. It teaches the value of things considered meaningless, such as empty space. We build houses, form rooms with four walls, but the basis of this structure lies upon the importance of the empty space. Empty space provides room to live, to breathe, to walk, to make love, to work.

The author also likens the paradox (and there are many, sometimes frustrating paradoxes, confirming the understanding can’t be grasped in one simple read) to that of the empty space between the spokes of a wheel. The power and mechanics of a wheel depend on the empty space.

Thus, we consider worthless things, abased things, as meaningless. We say we live life to the fullest when we have what we want, and when we lose it all, we have no meaning, no purpose, no life. The book attempts to explain this. Balance. The Yin-Yang. The point of the argument concludes with something underlying the whole of existence. One constant, the Tao. I like to think of this, in my personal paradigm of faith, as God. The book says Tao came before the existence of God, which I believe refers to man’s interpretation or attempt to understand God. The Tao exists as the fundamental, underlying essence of the universe. Above the Tao, we have the evidence of “life,” the events, the good, the bad, acceptance, rejection, bliss, pain, heaven, hell, male, female – you get it. Under all these events we also have a soul, eternal and unchanging in nature.

The book changed my perspective. I’ve recently divorced. As I experience grief, the thoughts come: life has no purpose now. Right now, in the present situation, I’m in a low, one side of the Yin-Yang. If I look back, and as Sarah Mclachlan says, “don’t let life pass [me] by; hold on to the memories,” I see the whole Yin-Yang, the whole balance, the beauty, the essence of life itself. I see a proud mother, her warm, soft hand holding mine as she says, “Lord, we come now to the throne of God.” I see a shriveled woman with tubes in her nostrils taking final breaths and slurring the words, “My son.” I see triumph as a child pitching a no-hitting season of baseball. I see my mother’s tears, and hear her weeping as we came home from my first attempt and fail at college (because of partying). I see a Father who loves me, and plays baseball with me, fishes with me. I see a father choking to hold back tears by my mother’s casket. The high, the low. The wave. Up, down, up, down. I see a beautiful lady with sea-blue eyes lying on my chest of happiness. I see a house I’m leaving as I gather my last things, and a baby-dog I’ll never see again, crying upstairs because Daddy’s going away and he knows I won’t return to walk him again.

See it all. See life. See the beauty, the lesson. See the tenderness of a mother deer licking her baby. See the lion chasing and biting the bleeding neck of her prey. See it all. This is life. The wonder, the blessing. Life. We live. We experience. The experiences only flow through a constant medium, us. I believe we exist in a timeless place called soul, and this place holds it all, the good and bad, in memories. We extend from the underlying Principle, the “Tao,” or some call it the Universe, some God. I believe this God has a face and He wants to be seen.

The author points out the paradox of softness. He refers to women as feminine, or weak, but then turns to say weakness stands stronger than strength, because strength depends on the weakness, as the walls depend on the space for meaning.

He says maturity is the end, the death, and Tao has no place with this. When we master something, it ends. A full-grown tree has only to be full-grown, and eventually wither. A new tree has begun to grow, and has a softness, and in this potential to grow, most of life abounds, because the process has just begun.

My end becomes a new beginning, always, so long as air feeds oxygen into my lungs and body.

قرأت مقاطع من هذا الكتاب مسبقًا بترجمة مختلفة ومر علي كشيء عابر، أما مع تعليق وشرح فراس السواح للنص فكان الأمر مختلفًا كليُا بالذات في الفصول الأولى للكتاب الذي شرح فيها التاو والتي وجزئية تناغم الاضداد بين اليانج والين ونشأة كل شيء منهما.
أي عرض تبسيطي لهذا الكتاب أو توضيح لمعنى التاو لن يكون كافيًا.
واحدة من التجارب المهمة جدًا التي مررت بها مؤخرًا.

I read this text with a group over several months, and the following are some of the ideas and interpretations I have heard there, for which I do not personally claim credit. I quote from several editions, including Ursula K. Le Guin’s and Red Pine’s.

The word “tao” means “way,” but capital letter “Tao” refers to the “Way” spoken of by Lao Tzu in the Tao Te Ching (and later by other Taoists). Unfortunately, it is not exactly clear what this capital letter Tao consists of, as Lao Tzu will not provide a definition. As he says in the opening chapter, “the tao that can be named is not the eternal Tao.”

There are thus many interpretations of what the Tao might be, none of them exhaustive. The one that makes most sense to me is “awareness.” The Tao Te Ching says not to go out the door or look through the window, but to look inward. Presumably, doors and windows are your senses, while the Tao is pure awareness without phenomena. The Tao has given rise to all things, but we must not confuse things (manifestations) for the source, like we do not confuse the branch for the root. There is a strong anti-intellectual strain in Taoism – as one group member said, “our intellect is our tragedy as well as our glory.” Instead of exploring the world through our intellect - going out the door, looking through the window - we must try to return to the source, from intellect back to awareness. Pursuing knowledge is a process of increasing, while Taoism is a process of decreasing.

One of the main principles of Taoism is “wu-wei” or non-action. Converting wu-wei into a mantra might sound like, “there is always less you could be doing!” In practice, we-wei means interfering as little as possible. If you’re doing the dishes, put in only the minimum effort required and no more. If you’re teaching, stay silent and let the student figure it out. If your children are fighting, refrain from breaking them up (unless it gets really serious). Taoism runs on the faith that, if left alone, life’s upsets tend to return to equilibrium. Interference, it’s believed, usually brings about negative consequences.

Applied to government, wu-wei means not doing much by way of ruling, law-making, taxing, or policing. Unsurprisingly, the philosophy appeals to anarchists and libertarians. Reagan even quoted a line from Lao Tzu in a speech – “Govern a large nation as you would cook a small fish” – to which Reagan added, “don’t overdo it.” Taoism is fundamentally conservative, refraining from innovation or agitating for change:

For the world is a sacred object.
Nothing is to be done to it.
To do anything to it is to damage it.

Is Taoism the same as pacifism? Does it prevent us from interfering even when we see evil taking place? Not exactly.

Weapons are unhappy tools,
not chosen by thoughtful people,
to be used only when there is no choice,
and with a calm, still mind,
without enjoyment.

It is right that the murder of many people
be mourned and lamented.
It is right that a victor in war
be received with funeral ceremonies.

Lao Tzu generally exalts the defensive position over the offensive. When it comes to war, he exhorts us to mourn for our enemy even as we are fighting.

of two sides raising arms against each other,
It is the one that is sorrow-stricken that wins.

Taoism privileges the passive, the low, the mundane, the empty. Whatever room we are in, whatever things it contains, most of the room is empty space - that is what allows us to exist inside of it. Vases, cups, pockets are useful only because they are empty inside. Wei wu-wei (act non-action) can be seen as the view that we must stop focusing exclusively on creating more things, and focus instead on creating more nothingness, for nothingness is also functional and useful.

I cannot sign on to Taoism fully, but I do find it a useful corrective for certain excesses in my thinking. My (Western) values lean towards agency and action - so I often feel badly whenever I am purely passive or unproductive (thanks, internalized capitalism!) But there are certainly moments when NOT SAYING and NOT DOING is best. When was the last time you truly congratulated yourself on NOT saying the wrong thing, for instance? Or NOT bombarding someone with information, but ceding space to let them figure it out? By not overcooking the pasta, I allow it to remain al dente. By not pushing myself, I get enough rest to try again. An anecdote about Joseph Heller is the best illustration I’ve heard about the benefit of this philosophy: asked how he feels about a billionaire making more money in a single day than he had over his entire career, Heller said, “Yes, but I have something he will never have — enough.”

This is, by far, my favorite translation of the Tao Te Ching. I own a few others and they're all well and good, but this one is the one I continually read from and refer to when people ask me about the Tao.

The translation is well done, it captures the nature of the text well, and it flows fairly evenly. It's not overly flowery or ornate, it gives you the basics of what you need to understand the various entries and assist in understanding what Tao is (i.e. the the Tao named Tao is not the great, eternal Tao).

It's a book that changed my life. I learned of Taoism in a world history class in high school, and when my friends took their Philosophy 101 course at the local university this was the text they worked with. My copy came second hand from the U's bookstore and I have had it ever since. It has taught me to understand a lot of the things in the world that otherwise would baffle me and lends a lot to my own personal philosophies.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who is lost on their path through life. It doesn't have all of the answers, but it does have a LOT of perspective.