Tao Te ChingIn what may be the most faithful translation of the Tao Te Ching, the translators have captured the terse, enigmatic beauty of the original masterpiece without embellishing it with personal interpretation or bogging it down with explanatory notes. By stepping out of the way and letting the original text speak for itself, they deliver a powerfully direct experience of the Tao Te Ching that is a joy to come back to again and again. And for the first time in any translation of the Tao Te Ching, now you can interact with the text to experience for yourself the nuanced art of translating. In each of the eighty-one chapters, one significant line has been highlighted and alongside it are the original Chinese characters with their transliteration. You can then turn to the glossary and translate this line on your own, thereby deepening your understanding of the original text and of the myriad ways it can be translated into English. Complementing the text are twenty-three striking ink paintings brushed by Stephen Addiss and an introduction by the esteemed Asia scholar Burton Watson. |
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Common terms and phrases
ancient attaining Banish learning brightness Burton Watson called original centuries ch'ang ch'i Ch’u ch’ung cheng chien chih chih China Chou ruler Chuang-tzu comes from emptiness compassion Confucians Confucius contend country’s Crippled becomes whole dark death desire engenders eternal Tao followed Tao hearing the Tao Heaven and Earth Heaven's Tao honor hsiang hsin hsüan human ill-omened tools Lao-tzu Lo-yang lords lose master Mawangdui means ming move muddy water need to act Neolithic Not-Tao soon ends people’s pronounced pu chih rejects Return rituals root Sage scholar hearing schools seems Shang Shang dynasty shen sheng Shih wei yüan soft and weak Stanley Lombardo Stephen Addiss straw dogs T'ien chih tao T’ien hsia t’un Tao called Tao Tao endures Tao Tao Tao Te Ching Tao under heaven Taoist thousand things trust valley Weapons are ill-omened wei wei wu ming Wu wei Yellow River