Sincere, succinct, and laconic so its no surprise that this is one of the most translated texts.Tao Te Ching is an ‘every person’ book because everyone who reads it will take something from it, and everyone will resonate with at least one of the beautiful, reflective phrases within the book.Take the phrase “If you aren’t free of yourself, how will you ever become yourself.” – how true and if you think about it, this couldn’t be expressed any better.I also loved those texts that almost seemed lik...

"If you realize that all things change, there's nothing you will try to hold on to." Things arise and she lets them come;things disappear and she lets them go.She has but doesn't possessacts but doesn't expect.The Tao Te Ching clarifies the concepts of Taoism, an ancient school of philosophy that continues to be relevant today. In the 6th century BCE, Lao Tzu created Taoism, passed down through the generations.This book definitely is not a one-time read. Something to keep coming back to once ...

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. B...

4 ⭐The Tao is definitely the most beautifully elusive and intangible philosophy that I've had the pleasure of trying to wrap my head around. Everything about it drips with mystery and mysticism, right down to it’s purported author, the enigma that is Lao Tzu. I really made an effort to understand what was meant by each and every poem. I read Ursula K. Le Guin’s rendition alongside this, more scholarly translation, by D.C.Lau and I listened to multiple audio versions, driving to and from work, bu...

“The Tao is always nameless” (Chapter 71)Trying to narrow down the philosophy of the Tao Te Ching with limiting words is to violate its primordial essence. How can one describe the Universe, the natural order of things, the incessant flowing from being to non-being, the circular unity of a reality traditionally mismatched in dualistic terms? The Tao Te Ching doesn’t provide answers because there needn’t be questions, just the harmony of moulding to the landscape rather than trying to impose a p...

This version irritates me a lot, largely because of Stephen Mitchell's arrogance in writing it (I'll go into that in a bit). This is not a translation (which Mitchell was at least gracious enough to make clear in the back of the book); it's a translation of various translations. The problem with this is that a translation of a translation turns out the same way that a copy of a copy does: while some of the original words and phrases are identifiable, there's a lot that's lost or skewed.For examp...

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,...

I'm an unbeliever and have been since the first time I played hooky from Sunday services and the Eye in the Sky didn’t say boo. So it may seem strange that I’m reviewing the Tao Te Ching, the widely known and influential Taoist text, written by Lao-Tzu and poetically translated in this edition by Stephen Mitchell. For me, the Tao Te Ching is more folk wisdom than religious treatise and is more useful than a million sermons.Where the Tao Te Ching parts company with religious attempts at morality ...

- قرأت الكثير عن المعتقدات الصينية خلال حياتي، لكني بكل تأكيد ما كنت اعتقده فهماً تاماً لتلك المعتقدات هو فهم مقصور وخاطئ. هذه النتيجة اتضحت جلية خلال وبعد انتهائي من هذا البحث.- التاو-تي شينغ، جذر المعتقدات الصينية، كتبه لاو – تسو ما بين اواسط القرن السادس والخامس قبل الميلاد بلغّة مكثّفة ومختصرة، و"التاو" ترجمه السوّاح على انه "الطريق" لكنني اظن ان ترجمة "المسلك" كانت لتكون ادّق بناء على المعنى.- "التاو" أثّر في مجمل الحياة الصينية اللاحقة:"رغم ان الميثولوجيا الصينية حافلة بالآلهة من شتى الأشك...

آيين تائو"تائو" مبدأ و جوهر نهانى جهان را نوعى ظلمت و بى شكلى مى داند كه توصيفش از آن به قدرى به "عدم" نزديك است كه سخت بتوان آن را منطبق بر مفهوم رايج "خدا" دانست.بر اساس حكمت تائو سالك با رسيدن به اين ظلمت و عدم است كه به آرامش مى رسد: با رها كردن انديشيدن و همۀ دانش هايش، با واگذاشتن "ذهن" و رسيدن به "بى ذهنى" و يكسره متحد شدن با "عين". تائو مى گويد همۀ بلايا و رنج ها و تيره بختى هاى بشر، به خاطر همين "ذهنيت" و توهم "تشخص" است، و در صورتى كه بشر تشخصش را كنار بگذارد، آرامش طبيعت بر زندگى بشر ...