Customer Reviews (5)

Wilhelm's translation is excellent.
The Tao Te Ching / Dao De Jing is said to be the second most printed, translated, and read book of the ages, surpassed only by the Bible. It is notably a challenging text to understand, even for the professional Sinologist or philosopher. It is not surprising that an ancient text that has been so recurrently translated and exposited, and which is so counterintuitive to most human culture--including the culture in which it was produced, and even to much other philosophy, should have produced quite divergent versions and exegetical opinions. Many translations and expositions travel wide of the mark (just ask anyone with a contrary view!) and this has been the case since distant antiquity. As with the Bible, schooled commentators have been happy to bend their expositions so as to conform the text(s) to their own views. The most popular `translation' of recent years is perhaps the worst (Stephen Mitchell's).

Like many people I've read a few translations of the Tao. The best I've read to date is probably Wilhelm's edition. Wilhelm's German translation is now almost a century old, and an English rendering of his translation was first printed less than thirty years ago. Wilhelm's sinological scholarship and philosophical sensitivity to the Dao and to the mysterious nature of its distant history, as well as his knowledge of other ancient Chinese texts, bring trustworthiness to this translation. His introduction, commentary and notes are excellent.

Insightful
This translation, along with two others (those of Wing-Tsit Chan and Paul Carus), provides the best explanitory introduction of this ancient Chinese classic. Wilhelm's Introduction and Commentary on Lao Tzu's teaching are unique in opening the English reader's eyes to the philosophy in the text that he might otherwise miss out on.It is also a good idea to read a translation based on more a recently discovered Chinese text. Still, here one will find the essential teachings of an ancient philosopher who had a remarkably good grasp of human nature and of the importance of our loving peace and co-operation and self-helpfulness/self-reliance over strife and competition and servile dependence.

Best Translation of this Ancient Text
By far this translation stands out as the absolute best in my eyes. We will never have a "word for word" translation of this old book, and so we are left with comparing one translation with another. I study and practice Zen, and although The Tao Te Ching in a technical sense is not considered a Buddhist work, I would dare say it should be included as a Buddhist Sutra. This translation, for those of us who speak primarily in English, is quite illuminating and very deep.

After having compared Richard Wilhelm's translation with 3 other sources, I've concluded that his is the most alive. I feel that my practice with Zen allows me to see this more clearly, so to me this work is synonymous with Zen Buddhism. I recommend that anyone, of any religious affiliation or philosophical background, grab this book immedietely. I don't think you will at all be disappointed.

Enjoy!:)

Lao Tzu's Dao is higher than GOD!!
Tao Te Ching : The Book of Meaning and Life by Lao Tzu, Richard Wilhelm

A Harvard Professor first introduced Lao Tzu to me in the late sixties. He translated the Tao Te Ching into American from the English. Tim's version of "Psychedelic Prayers," still stands as essential Tao. The Tao many of us will travel forever.

I came across the Ching in a completely different way. I had read the introduction to John Blofeld's translation of Richard Wilhelm's version of the I Ching; not knowing it could me used as an oracle. That night a few mystifying ladies from Yale University campus, took me home and in an incense & candle lit session, showed me how to enter the mysterious consciousness of the Tao.

My concern then as now has been the philosophy of Tao. Book two of Wilhelm's I Ching teaches of the philosophical background of the pattern of change. Everything changes but change has a design.

This probably led to my trading Commodities Futures for a living.

Recently I found this magnificent Wilhelm's Tao Te Ching.

Just as in Book Two, Wilhelm dives right into Lao Tzu's mind with clarity like no one else. "Lao Tzu's Dao is higher than GOD!!"

An edition for the more studiously inclined.
The title-page of my earlier Arkana (1985) edition of this book (which
does not include the later supplementary material by Darrell T. Liu)
reads: "TAO TE CHING - The Book of Meaning and Life - Lao Tzu -
Translation and Commentary by Richard Wilhelm - Translated into
English by H. G. Ostwald." Wilhelm's German translation was first
published in 1925 and appeared in Mr Ostwald's clear and vigorous
English in 1985.

Richard Wilhelm, of course, is better known for his
translation of the 'I Ching,' a translation that has had an enormous
influence.His remains the key edition of this classic for English
readers, and was so well done it is unlikely ever to be superseded.

In the present work, Wilhelm has given us a remarkably fine edition
of the 'Tao Te Ching,' a text whose author he feels was greatly
influenced by the 'I Ching.' His edition breaks down into three main
parts.

After a brief Preface we are given an interesting and
informative 20-page Introduction which covers The author, The text,
Historical context, and Content. Although relatively brief, Wilhelm
covers a lot of ground in this Introduction, and the general reader
might find the fourth part of it heavy going. It seems clearly
intended for the serious student who is prepared to come to grips with
some of the deeper philosophical implications of the text.

As for the text itself, I've
no idea what Wilhelm's original German is like, but Mr Ostwald is to
be congratulated on having given us a brisk and lively English
translation.Much of it somehow seems more readable than other
versions, possibly because Wilhelm himself found a certain amount of
drama in the 'Tao Te Ching' that other translators have either
overlooked or tended to ignore, and one often gets more of the feel of
a real person speaking. Here is a
brief example from Chapter
30, with my slash marks added to indicate line breaks:

"Whosoever in true DAO helps a ruler of men / does not rape the world by
use of arms, / for actions return onto one's own head. / Where armies
have dwelt thistles
and thorns grow. / Behind battles follow years of hunger" (page 40).

The translation is followed by a 30-page
Commentary on 'The Teaching of Lao Zi [Tzu]' which covers the DAO
[TAO], The phenomenal world, On the attainment of DAO, Worldly wisdom,
State and society, and Daoism after Lao Zi.The book is rounded out
with 28-pages of detailed chapter-by-chapter Notes, and a brief
Bibliography of Chinese and Western sources.

All in all, and
although the translation could be read with pleasure and profit by
anyone, Wilhelm's is a scholarly edition for the more studiously
inclined who are interested in such things as the historical and
philosophical context, and who may already have a certain amount of
background.

The general reader who is new to the 'Tao Te Ching,'
and who would prefer a more straightforward edition, might be better
served by the text-only editions of Gia-Fu Feng or John C. H. Wu.
These too read very well, and there's something to be said for the
immediate exposure to the text that such editions offer.I don't
think Lao Tzu would have had any quibbles.
... Read more

Book Description

Tao Te Ching, also commonly known asLao Tzu, is perhaps the most important of Chinese classical texts, with an unparalleled influence on Chinese thought. This bilingual edition consists of two parts. The English text in Part One is a reprint of the earlier translation of the so-calledWang Pi text, first published by Penguin Books in 1963. Part Two is the fresh translation of a text which is a conflation of two manuscripts of theLao Tzu, dating at the latest from the early Western Han and discovered at Ma Wang Tui in December 1973. The result is a text with a fuller use of particles, free from the scribal errors and editorial tampering of subsequent ages.

Customer Reviews (22)

ANCIENT WISDOM FOR CONTEMPORARY PEOPLE
Stepping Off the Edge: Learning & Living Spiritual Practice
Traditionally ascribed to Lao Tzu, an older contemporary of Confucius, the work is more probably an anthology of wise saying compiled in about the fourth century, "says the rear cover of this book. Whoever did it, the Tao Te Ching is wonderful. I have this version.

Kick the New Age right out of your DDJ...
I love this translation.Not so much for the translation but for the introduction in the original edition.Lau was really the first critic of the traditional story of Laozi and the Dao De Jing to bring it to the English masses.The DDJ is a composite work, not the work of one author, as romantic as the story of Laozi may be.It was the work of many and thus the reason for some of its inconsistencies.Sure the work can be made to fit into one's particular scheme (the Dao obviously has plenty of flexibility to accommodate) but quite often this reflects the reader/translator/interpreter more than it does the actual DDJ which makes sense as the 'mirror' is a latent symbol in this work.

Lau grounds this translation.Though he notes there may be hints of an ancient cosmology and perhaps traces of a guide to lengthening one's life through mystical practice, he notes that in reality the DDJ does not emphasize these at all.Any hints of these are reinterpreted and recontextualized due to the multiple layers of sayings represented here.It's just one particular view of the multitude of views of the Daoism school.If anything, such views are actually stripped away.Contrary to the belief (and translation) of many, the DDJ does not emphasize long life.In fact, it even points out that those who emphasize life too much surely come to an early end.

In all my years and in all my readings (from at least a dozen different translations) I too have come to a similar conclusion.This isn't a mystical treatise; it isn't an otherworldly spiritual guidebook; it isn't even a philosophy.It is a guidebook that teaches us how to live here and now, on earth, in the dirt,with the people.No fortune telling, no mystical visions, no otherworldly gurus, no escapism, nothing transcendent here.

Lau's translation reflects this spirit.Don't expect a poetic, mystical, New Agey translation tailored toward a Western audience nor one that embodied in the Perennial Philosophy.Too often the book is viewed as exotic, as "the Other", an alternative to the overly analytical, linear and often overbearing Western religious traditions.

But as the DDJ reminds us:

"Beautiful words aren't true; true words aren't beautiful."

"When people hear the Dao they think: How bland it is."

Not your average fortune cookie
My first reaction was negative to the fatalism of
"doing nothing"
that is a major theme of this mystic path philosophy,
but I realized that this was contemporary to the Hebrew biblical wisdom books
like Proverbs. The dualismseems more Persian as in Zorasterism
thanwould be expected for such an early Chinese document.
I actually think the translation trys more for poetic form
than actual meaning. One gets a feeling of Vulcan like stoicism
than seems out of place in an era that is mostlypolytheistic.
The author was a well respected wise man who advised the kings of his time.
The result is a blending of wisdom, politics, philosophy and mysticism
with the religious origins of both Taoism and Zen Buddhism.

"The Way that can be spoken of is not the constant Way..."
TAO TE CHING is ascribed to Lao-Tzu ("The Old Boy"), an approximate contemporary of Confucius, who when asked to summarize his own philosophy, produced this incredible little volume before vanishing into the trackless wastes of central Asia. Long considered by Westerners to be the very essence of Oriental inscrutability, TAO TE CHING attempts to quantify the immeasurable and speak the ineffable. The Old Boy is far less opaque than he is accused of being; it is simply that human language is too limited to concretize the ideas of TAO TE CHING. Many people have attempted to describe the Tao (pronounced "Dow" or "Taw" depending on the local dialect). No one has yet succeeded. The mere act of description is a delimitation. Conceptually linked to flowing water or a candle flame, Tao is the natural order of things (but even that fails to suffice). The Tao, like Quantum Physics, must be grasped intuitively.

The Book of the Way had a grand effect on Chinese Confucianism, on Japanese Shinto, and on Indian Buddhism as they spread throughout the Far East. Lao-Tzu's spare, clear and indescribable vision ultimately gave rise to Zen, with which it shares the necessity of direct experience. Neither religion nor philosophy, TAO TE CHING is one of the most brilliant and enigmatic writings to come from the mind of man.

This edition of TAO TE CHING was the first I ever read as a zealous young seeker after the Mysteries (i.e., a self-important, pompous high-schooler, circa 1977). Although there are many, many translations of the Old Boy's book, and even though some of them are less academic, more accessible, and more contemporary, the smell of aloeswood permeates this slim paperback. This particular take on the Tao has an elegance and an erudition that is very much in keeping with the Orient.

One of the possible alternatives to a religion.
Tao Te Ching is not only a philosophical outlook on life, it is also a religious philosophy. Written around 4th and 5th centuries BCE, Tao Te Ching gives us the glimpse of the ancient non-Western philosophy, with D.C. Lau's in-depth introduction, it is a very inspiring and eye-opening read. The translation captures the essence of the work and gives the reader the ability to truly appreciate it. One of the main topics of the Tao Te Ching is the idea of non-action. "One who knows does not speak; one who speaks does not know", it is kind of an intellectual trap trying to write this review with the Tao philosophy in mind. If you know then do not teach, if you are ruler then rule as less as possible, if you are warrior then do not fight, etc. These examples are all representatives of non-action attitudes presented in Tao Te Ching. The best way to appreciate this work is to stop reading this review and purchase the book and be amazed. ... Read more

Product Description
1971 printing of this Chinese Classic. ... Read more

Book Description
A classic of both military strategy and Eastern philosophy from the fourth century BC. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Ian Myles Slater on: A Welcome New Edition
So far as I have been able to tell, this volume is a re-designed version of "Sun Pin: The Art of Warfare," by Lau and Ames, originally published in 1996 by Ballantine Books, and, like too many of the "Classics of Ancient China" series, allowed to go out of print.

Besides the change in the title from Wade-Giles to Pinyin transliteration (pronounced the same way), Pinyin has been used throughout (except in citing other works), and the Chinese and English sections have been rearranged to eliminate the enormous amount of blank space in the original edition. This sacrifices convenience of layout (the Chinese text originally faced the translation, with, if necessary, only a few lines on each page) for economy. The index has likewise been revised in arrangement as well as page references. If there have been other modifications, corrections, or additions to the bibliographic references, I have missed them.

There is one major omission: sixteen pages of photographs are missing (except for one, reproduced as a cover illustration). These are useful, but not essential. This was presumably in the interest of economy. Given that the previous edition is becoming more difficult to find, SUNY is to be praised for bringing the book back into print, even if this fact is somewhat obscured, and their version is slightly truncated.

For those not familiar with it already, "Sun Bin" was long thought to be a bibliographic ghost, or even a lost forgery, a supposed long-missing counterpart to the existing "Art of War" of the elder Sun (Sun-tzu). It was one of the texts described in Han Dynasty bibliographies and histories, but not reliably reported as existing for well over a thousand years. The conclusions that it probably hadn't existed, or wasn't authentic if there was such a work, had to be abandoned when substantial fragments of it, and other texts, turned up in 1972, during the excavation of early Han Dynasty tombs.

There have been several other translations into English during the last decade, but the co-authors of this volume make a distinguished combination of an eminent senior Sinologist, with a long career working with the problems of early literary texts (Lau) and a sophisticated modern interpreter of Chinese intellectual history (Ames). As a result, the reader is assured of first-rate technical scholarship, and clearly-expressed explanations.

The emphases, not unexpectedly, are on textual and linguistic problems, and the place of the text in the development of Chinese military and political theory. Of the several other translations of the fragmentary, and in part enigmatic, text which are now available, Ralph D. Sawyer's version, as "Military Methods of The Art of War," may be the most satisfactory alternative, or, better, companion volume. It is somewhat more popular in presentation, but the most important difference is Sawyer's attempt to place the text in the military (and political) history of China, as against the history of Chinese military thought. ... Read more