Tzu, Lao Books

Tao Te Ching: A New English Version (Perennial Classics)

Lao Tzu

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 179 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

BEWARE OF CLUELESS REVIEWERS! 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

The naysaying reviewers did not bother to read this book through. Nowhere does it claim to be a literal translation, and following the lessons are the author's notes, explaining exactly what he did or didn't add, and why, as well as references to what was replaced from the original -- much of which is as wonderful as the lessons themselves. There is so much beauty and depth in this "new version" that this reviewer can see no reason for the downright fury it seems to provoke in these other readers. Perhaps they should keep reading the Tao -- ANY version.

Tao Te Ching 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

If you buy this book and accept the knowlege bestowed upon you, it will transform you life forever.

Editorial Review:

In eighty-one brief chapters, Lao-tzu's Tao Te Ching, or Book of the Way, provides advice that imparts balance and perspective, a serene and generous spirit, and teaches us how to work for the good with the effortless skill that comes from being in accord with the Tao—the basic principle of the universe.

Stephen Mitchell's bestselling version has been widely acclaimed as a gift to contemporary culture.

Tao Te Ching (Skylight Illuminations)

Lao Tzu, Derek Lin

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 24 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Reportedly written by a sage named Lao Tzu over 2,500 years ago, the Tao Te Ching is one of the most succinct--and yet among the most profound--spiritual texts ever written. Short enough to read in an afternoon, subtle enough to study for a lifetime, the Tao Te Ching distills into razor-sharp poetry centuries of spiritual inquiry into the Tao--the "Way" of the natural world around us that reveals the ultimate organizing principle of the universe.

Derek Lin's insightful commentary, along with his new translation from the original Chinese--a translation that sets a whole new standard for accuracy--will inspire your spiritual journey and enrich your everyday life. It highlights the Tao Te Ching's insights on simplicity, balance, and learning from the paradoxical truths you can see all around you: finding strength through flexibility (because bamboo bends, it is tough to break); achieving goals by transcending obstacles (water simply flows around rocks on its way to the sea); believing that small changes bring powerful results (a sapling, in time, grows into a towering tree).

Now you can experience the wisdom and power of Lao Tzu's words even if you have no previous knowledge of the Tao Te Ching. SkyLight Illuminations provides insightful yet unobtrusive commentary that describes helpful historical background, explains the Tao Te Ching's poetic imagery, and elucidates the ancient Taoist wisdom that will speak to your life today and energize your spiritual quest.

Tao Te Ching: The New Translation from Tao Te Ching: The Definitive Edition (Tarcher Cornerstone Editions)

Lao Tzu

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Poetic Tao 4 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

This is a beautiful version of the Tao Te Ching, most well understood when read alongside a more literal translation. This one is a bit more modern & poetic than a starker literal translation, but when read together the deeper meanings come through.

Editorial Review:

In the hands of Jonathan Star, the eighty-one verses of the Tao Te Ching resound with the elegant, simple images and all-penetrating ideas that have made this ancient work a cornerstone of the world's wisdom literature.

Tao Te Ching (Barnes & Noble Classics)

Lao Tzu

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Tao Te Ching, by Lao Tzu, is part of the Barnes & Noble Classics series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of Barnes & Noble Classics:

New introductions commissioned from today's top writers and scholars Biographies of the authors Chronologies of contemporary historical, biographical, and cultural events Footnotes and endnotes Selective discussions of imitations, parodies, poems, books, plays, paintings, operas, statuary, and films inspired by the work Comments by other famous authors Study questions to challenge the reader's viewpoints and expectations Bibliographies for further reading Indices & Glossaries, when appropriateAll editions are beautifully designed and are printed to superior specifications; some include illustrations of historical interest. Barnes & Noble Classics pulls together a constellation of influences—biographical, historical, and literary—to enrich each reader's understanding of these enduring works.

Epigrammatic, enigmatic, intensely poetic, the Tao Te Ching is the mystical, spiritual soul of Taoism, one of the three great religions (along with Confucianism and Buddhism) of ancient China. The Tao is usually translated as “the way” or “the path,” but it is better understood as a universal life force that flows around and through all things. The Tao Te Ching teaches us that happiness is found in becoming one with the Tao, which enables us to live in harmony, balance, and peace and to develop the virtues of humility, moderation, and compassion.

Taoism emphasizes “non-dualistic” thinking and the interconnectedness of all life. The “dualistic thinker” looks at the world and sees differences, comparisons, and contrasts. The Taoist sage knows that all such judgments depend on the person making them, not on the reality of what is being judged. Unlike theistic (God-centered) religions, Taoism does not involve prayer to a deity. Instead, Taoists meditate on the wisdom in the Tao Te Ching, seeking to unravel the paradoxes and understand the complexities that lie within its simple language.

Yi-Ping Ong graduated with a B.A. in Philosophy from Columbia University and a second B.A. in Philosophy and Theology from Oxford University. She is currently completing her Ph.D. in Philosophy at Harvard.

Tao te Ching

Lao Tzu

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 28 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Disappointing 2 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

At a superficial level, this book looks amazing; introductory notes, translation, verbatim translation, notes on the translations, a long commentary on the first verse, and a collection of early translations of the first verse.

After reading the introductory notes, I was looking forward to what promised to be a very beautiful and insightful translation. Unfortunately, I found this translation to be contradictory at times (as opposed to paradoxical; there is a difference!) and, quite frankly, dull. Most of the notes on the translation and commentary on Verse One seemed to push an alternative view to Tao as being the consciousness behind all human beings which is consistent with Hindu religion, NOT a Taoist philosophy. Indeed, the vast majority of the "notes" in this book are quotes taken from Hindu texts such as Bhagavad Gita, and rather than noting, for example, interesting parallels between the two, Star seems to suggest that Tao Te Ching supports the other texts, which is similar to how Blakney seemed to use his translation to support the Christian faith. Personally, I don't think this is appropriate.

As for the positives, this book is definitely value for money. It is nicely printed, and contains a large verbatim translation of each character in Tao Te Ching. While it would be foolish to think you could interpret your own meanings based on this system (as the blurb claims), it still is quite interesting to get an insight into how the various translations of Tao Te Ching may have developed. Unfortunately (for me anyway, although a lot of people seem to really dig this translation) the bad points outweigh the positives, and, to be honest, if this was the first translation of Tao Te Ching I had read, I would have been turned off.

Editorial Review:

This unique edition of the Tao Te Ching features:

* the first comprehensive verbatim translation of the entire text of the Tao Te Ching;
* literal character definitions that allow the reader to create his or her own interpretation;
* a concordance section that enables the reader to track the different ways a single character is used throughout the work;
* grammatical and interpretive notes on individual terms and verses; * a unique commentary on the first verse, which represents a complete spiritual teaching in itself; and
* a literary translation of the Tao Te Ching that can be read on its own or compared with the verbatim translation.

Tao Te Ching (Penguin Classics)

Lao Tzu

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 24 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Kick the New Age right out of your DDJ... 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

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."

Editorial Review:

Printed throughout in two colors is this new, definitive version of one of the great books of world literature--comparable in its sales and influence to the Bible, the Bhagavad Ghita, and the Koran.

Tao Te Ching

Lao-Tzu, Burton Watson

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 18 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

pristine translation 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I was very impressed with this version of the Tao Te Ching...it avoided modern-day vernacular and felt much closer to the original text. Furthermore, the translator's addition of lines of the text in Chinese (as well as the glossary of Chinese characters in the back) helps readers see how the translator came up with the right words for the book. 5 stars

Editorial Review:

With this edition of the Tao Te Ching, an unlikely team of a Japanese art expert and a Greek translator pull off a uniquely powerful version of the text. If one thing marks the language of the original Tao Te Ching, it is linguistic spareness. Stephen Addiss and Stanley Lombardo are the first to succeed in duplicating the language in English, and although their search for just the right word occasionally goes far afield, they are mostly successful. The effect can be quite liberating as the full ambiguity of meaning comes through and you are afforded the freedom to interpret in a variety of ways. The translators also enhance the atmosphere of the book with Addiss's expressive calligraphy and the two lines in the original Chinese that are retained in each chapter. Addiss and Lombardo's rendering of the Tao Te Ching gets you right down into the primary source, and from there you're free to wander where you will.

Lao Tzu : Tao Te Ching : A Book About the Way and the Power of the Way

Ursula K. Le Guin, Lao Tzu

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 26 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

The Way this is Not 2 out of 5 stars.
2 of 7 people found this review helpful.

This book gives alot of information about the Tao Te Tching, however, it does not do anything more than further distance people from the true meaning. I bought this book a couple of years ago and it was then a little helpful. The more that you explore minds like, Osho, Bodhidharma, and Chang Tzu, the more distancing this book becomes. To those who are pursuing enlightenment, take heed, this is the way to knowledge, not the way to knowing. Do what I did and read some Osho, Sun Tzu, Chang Tzu, and more Lieh Tzu and come back to this book...you will see what I am talking about.

Editorial Review:

Like Stephen Mitchell, acclaimed author and poet Ursula K. Le Guin has attempted a nonliteral, poetic rendition of the Tao Te Ching. She brings to it a punctuated grace that can only have been hammered out during long trials of wordsmithing. The wisdom that she finds in the Tao Te Ching is primal, and her spare, undulating phrases speak volumes. By making the text her own, Le Guin avoids such questions as "Is it accurate?" By making it her own, she has made it for us--a new, uncarved block from which we are free to sculpt our own meaning.

The Tao Te Ching of Lao Tzu

Lao Tzu, Brian Browne Walker

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 11 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Among the Best 5 out of 5 stars.
8 of 8 people found this review helpful.

This is one of my favorite translations of the Tao Te Ching. However, note that, like the author says, this is by no means a strict translation (athough in the case of the Tao Te Ching, there are so many varied translations / interpretations available that it is diificult to say if there is a strict translation). I would recommend this version of the Tao Te Ching it as a supplement to another translation.

Editorial Review:

The Tao te Ching of Lao Tzu is one of the most widely read and deeply cherished books in the world, a work many consider the wisest book ever written. In his introduction, translator Brian Browne Walker says, "It is less a book than a living, breathing angel."

In his new translation, Walker stays close to the direct literal accuracy of the Chinese characters while producing a modern, exceptionally clear version that has the ring and voice of Lao Tzu, a man who may or may not have been a single individual. "I have come to think of Lao Tzu less as a man who once lived," Walker writes, "and more as a song that plays, eternal and abiding."

The Legend of Lao Tzu and the Tao Te Ching

Demi, Lao Tzu

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Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

THIS IS THE LEGEND OF LAO TZU,

who may or may not have been born; who may or may not have founded Taoism, on of the greatest religions in the world; and who may or may not have written one of the greatest books of wisdom in the world: the Tao Te Ching, or the "Way of Heaven."

This thoughtful and thought-provoking book opens with a biography of Lao Tzu, the mysterious philosopher who is said to have been born at the age of eighty-one with snow-white hair, the ability to walk and talk, and unparalleled wisdom. Many credit him with creating the Tao Te Ching, which was written for the good of all humankind. Twenty of the eighty-one passages of the Tao Te Ching are included here, paired with stunning illustrations by the award-winning artist Demi. On topics ranging from silence to moderation, from governing to the balance of earth and heaven, these passages carry a powerful message and are sure to give each and every reader something new to consider.