Tao Te Ching (Penguin Great Ideas) Paperback – October 26, 2010

This was as a gift. Was well received.

Great!

This is the book that introduced me to the Tao back in the 1960s. I was immediately much attracted to its contrarian and paradoxical nature. I can even recall being especially "enlightened" when reading Chapter XXXIII. (Lau uses old-fashioned Roman numerals.) I still have the Penguin Classics paperback from 1970 (5th printing) with its now yellowed pages. Here's that chapter as Lau expressed it:"He who knows others is clever;He who knows himself has discernment.He who overcomes others has force;He who overcomes himself is strong.He who knows contentment is rich;He who perseveres is a man of purpose;He who does not lose his station will endure;He who lives out his days has had a long life"I kind of liked the tautology in the last line, but now believe that "He who overcomes himself is strong" is an understatement.The "Center Tao" on the Web has the following as a word for word translation:"Knowledge of people is resourceful,Knowledge of self is honesty.Victory over others is power,Victory over self is striving.Being content is wealth.Striving to prevail is will.Not losing place is endurance.Dead, but not gone,This is longevity."Notice the contradictory sense in the last couplet: this is why something is always lost and/or gained in translation!Here's how the gifted Stephen Mitchell handles the chapter (from his books "Tao Te Ching" (2006) and "Tao Te Ching Lao Tzu: An Illustrated Journey" (1999):"Knowing others is intelligence;knowing yourself is true wisdom.Mastering others is strength;mastering yourself is true power.If you realize that you have enough,you are truly rich.If you stay in the centerand embrace death with your whole heart,you will endure forever."I like the "true wisdom" and "true power" of knowing and mastering yourself best.Lau's book includes a 46-page Introduction; two appendices, one on "The Problem of Authorship," the other on "The Nature of the Work"; a list of passages for comparison; a chronological table; a glossary and several pages of endnotes. Lau refers to the book as "the Lao Tzu" and writes "...in Chinese there is no linguistic distinction between the two and so it is impossible to know whether it is the man or the book that is referred to when the name `Lao Tzu' occurs." (p. 15)I want to add that if you're reading the Tao for the first time (or even the tenth) and find it a bit confusing and contradictory you are not alone. The exaggerations and understatements, the seeming contradictions and the sometimes outrageous claims fairly shock the intellect. But that is part of what the Tao is all about. Like Zen the "Lao Tzu" seeks to get us out of our ordinary minds and into a vaster, broader, more freewheeling and open-minded, more spontaneous grasp of things. And remember the Tao Te Ching is a poem and employs poetic devices to overcome the linear nature of prose. Therefore you should as a reader always consider that the denotative words you are reading may have multiple meanings and they may be being used symbolically. The famous "ten thousand things" can be much more than 10,000 or even less. They are "many." And the Way can be a path, a road or a way of life or something mysterious beyond all comprehension, or simply a wise rule of thumb. It can (and is) all of these and more.So to really appreciate "Lao Tzu" takes a bit of time. So take your time. Savor it. Come back to it. Read other translations. Read the commentaries. You will be enlightened.--Dennis Littrell, author of "Yoga: Sacred and Profane (Beyond Hatha Yoga)"

Said to be the defining book of the Taoist philosophy. I'm still wondering how and where exactly to place this work; It's short and talks about the Way, ethics, politics and government, guide to living (actually surviving) and a touch of cosmogony. It advices you to follow the Way and the Way, though difficult to put down in words, is identified by attributes like humility, no-action, stillness, suppleness, contentment and more. There are parts of it one can employ in their lives and there are parts which I find a bit confusing. For example, it talks about returning to one's roots and following one's nature. But towards the beginning it also says the following, "Therefore in governing the people, the sage empties their minds, but fills their bellies, weakens their wills but strengthens their bones. He always keep them innocent of knowledge and free from desire, and ensures that the clever never dare to act"Perhaps this work is mostly of a political nature and intended for the ruling class of the period? I'm not sure if purely reading the Tao Te Ching in isolation will provide a genuine and deep understanding of the Taoist philosophy.D.C. Lau's introductory analysis is helpful and comes across as objective. Though Chinese is Greek to me, it appears, based on the footnotes and analysis, the translation is something one can depend on.

Whether one enjoys reading the Tao Te Ching depends on the extent to which one believes that the deepest truths are inexpressible in ordinary language. The philosopher Daniel Dannett has usefully coined the term “deepisms” to refer to sayings that one must meditate over to understand and that allow a plurality of meanings. Dennett refers to such phrases in a derogatory fashion because he does not think that these sayings point to deep truths which are beyond the power of human language. But there have been many modern philosophers, including Wittgenstein, who disagreed.If one does agree with Dennett you will find the Tao Te Ching largely meaningless because most of it is full of deepisms. In a more western context, if one finds the sayings of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount inspiring and worthy of profound contemplation then one will probably find the Tao Te Ching similarly worthy of study.Obviously, one could read this book simply for cultural enrichment but if one is looking for spiritual guidance be prepared to thoroughly chew over the text if one wants it to be properly digested.