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The Second Book of the Tao
Enhanced by Stephen Mitchell’s illuminating commentary, the next volume of the classic manual on the art of living
The most widely translated book in world literature after the Bible, Lao-tzu’s Tao Te Ching, or Book of the Way, is the classic manual on the art of living. Following the phenomenal success of his own version of the Tao Te Ching, renowned scholar and translator Stephen Mitchell has composed the innovative The Second Book of the Tao. Drawn from the work of Lao-tzu’s disciple Chuang-tzu and Confucius’s grandson Tzussu, The Second Book of the Tao offers Western readers a path into reality that has nothing to do with Taoism or Buddhism or old or new alone, but everything to do with truth. Mitchell has selected the freshest, clearest teachings from these two great students of the Tao and adapted them into versions that reveal the poetry, depth, and humor of the original texts with a thrilling new power. Alongside each adaptation, Mitchell includes his own commentary, at once explicating and complementing the text.
This book is a twenty-first-century form of ancient wisdom, bringing a new, homemade sequel to the Tao Te Ching into the modern world. Mitchell’s renditions are radiantly lucid; they dig out the vision that’s hiding beneath the words; they grab the text by the scruff of the neck—by its heart, really—and let its essential meanings fall out. The book introduces us to a cast of vivid characters, most of them humble artisans or servants, who show us what it means to be in harmony with the way things are. Its wisdom provides a psychological and moral acuity as deep as the Tao Te Ching itself.
The Second Book of the Tao is a gift to contemporary readers, granting us access to our own fundamental wisdom. Mitchell’s meditations and risky reimagining of the original texts are brilliant and liberating, not least because they keep catching us off-guard, opening up the heavens where before we saw a roof. He makes the ancient teachings at once modern, relevant, and timeless.
Listen to a special podcast with Stephen Mitchell:
The most widely translated book in world literature after the Bible, Lao-tzu’s Tao Te Ching, or Book of the Way, is the classic manual on the art of living. Following the phenomenal success of his own version of the Tao Te Ching, renowned scholar and translator Stephen Mitchell has composed the innovative The Second Book of the Tao. Drawn from the work of Lao-tzu’s disciple Chuang-tzu and Confucius’s grandson Tzussu, The Second Book of the Tao offers Western readers a path into reality that has nothing to do with Taoism or Buddhism or old or new alone, but everything to do with truth. Mitchell has selected the freshest, clearest teachings from these two great students of the Tao and adapted them into versions that reveal the poetry, depth, and humor of the original texts with a thrilling new power. Alongside each adaptation, Mitchell includes his own commentary, at once explicating and complementing the text.
This book is a twenty-first-century form of ancient wisdom, bringing a new, homemade sequel to the Tao Te Ching into the modern world. Mitchell’s renditions are radiantly lucid; they dig out the vision that’s hiding beneath the words; they grab the text by the scruff of the neck—by its heart, really—and let its essential meanings fall out. The book introduces us to a cast of vivid characters, most of them humble artisans or servants, who show us what it means to be in harmony with the way things are. Its wisdom provides a psychological and moral acuity as deep as the Tao Te Ching itself.
The Second Book of the Tao is a gift to contemporary readers, granting us access to our own fundamental wisdom. Mitchell’s meditations and risky reimagining of the original texts are brilliant and liberating, not least because they keep catching us off-guard, opening up the heavens where before we saw a roof. He makes the ancient teachings at once modern, relevant, and timeless.
Listen to a special podcast with Stephen Mitchell:
202 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2009
102 people are currently reading
971 people want to read
About the author
Stephen Mitchell
172 books578 followersStephen Mitchell was educated at Amherst College, the Sorbonne, and Yale University, and de-educated through intensive Zen practice. He is widely known for his ability to make old classics thrillingly new, to step in where many have tried before and to create versions that are definitive for our time. His many books include The Gospel According to Jesus, The Second Book of the Tao, two books of fiction, and a book of poetry.
Mitchell’s Selected Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke has been called “the most beautiful group of poetic translations [the twentieth] century has produced.” William Arrowsmith said that his Sonnets to Orpheus “instantly makes every other rendering obsolete.” His Book of Job has been called “magnificent.” His bestselling Tao Te Ching, Bhagavad Gita, and Gilgamesh—which are not translations from the original text, but rather poetic interpretations that use existing translations into Western languages as their starting point—have also been highly praised by critics, scholars, and common readers. Gilgamesh was Editor’s Choice of The New York Times Book Review, was selected as the Book Sense 2004 Highlight for Poetry, was a finalist for the first annual Quill Award in poetry. His translation of the Iliad was chosen as one of the New Yorker’s favorite books of 2011. He is a two-time winner of the Harold Morton Landon Translation Award from the Academy of American Poets.
His books for young readers include The Wishing Bone, winner of the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award as the best book of poetry for children published in the United States in 2003, and Jesus: What He Really Said and Did, which was chosen by the American Library Association’s Booklist as one of the top ten religious books for children in 2002.
He is also coauthor of two of his wife Byron Katie’s bestselling books: Loving What Is and A Thousand Names for Joy. www.thework.com
You can read extensive excerpts from all his books on his website, www.stephenmitchellbooks.com.
Mitchell’s Selected Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke has been called “the most beautiful group of poetic translations [the twentieth] century has produced.” William Arrowsmith said that his Sonnets to Orpheus “instantly makes every other rendering obsolete.” His Book of Job has been called “magnificent.” His bestselling Tao Te Ching, Bhagavad Gita, and Gilgamesh—which are not translations from the original text, but rather poetic interpretations that use existing translations into Western languages as their starting point—have also been highly praised by critics, scholars, and common readers. Gilgamesh was Editor’s Choice of The New York Times Book Review, was selected as the Book Sense 2004 Highlight for Poetry, was a finalist for the first annual Quill Award in poetry. His translation of the Iliad was chosen as one of the New Yorker’s favorite books of 2011. He is a two-time winner of the Harold Morton Landon Translation Award from the Academy of American Poets.
His books for young readers include The Wishing Bone, winner of the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award as the best book of poetry for children published in the United States in 2003, and Jesus: What He Really Said and Did, which was chosen by the American Library Association’s Booklist as one of the top ten religious books for children in 2002.
He is also coauthor of two of his wife Byron Katie’s bestselling books: Loving What Is and A Thousand Names for Joy. www.thework.com
You can read extensive excerpts from all his books on his website, www.stephenmitchellbooks.com.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 59 reviews
May 4, 2011
This book is TRULY amazing. There are so many wonderful sayings compiled into this treasure-trove by Stephen Mitchell. I am so glad that he decided to come out with The Second Book of the Tao - because it sheds some new light on the Tao te Ching-a-ling.
Some profound insights that I gathered from this book:
1. We are close to waking up when we dream that we are dreaming.
2. We're all doing the best we can with what we've been given.
3. Become like the ocean: though there are waves on its surface, in its depths there is perfect calm.
4. Receive what you have been given and know that it is always enough.
5. Walk through life as though you didn't exist.
6. Reality happens from the inside out.
7. Life becomes very gentle when you understand that you're not living it.
Anyways, a good read. Enjoy the wisdom.
For more information on Stephen Mitchell, go to: http://www.stephenmitchellbooks.com/
Some profound insights that I gathered from this book:
1. We are close to waking up when we dream that we are dreaming.
2. We're all doing the best we can with what we've been given.
3. Become like the ocean: though there are waves on its surface, in its depths there is perfect calm.
4. Receive what you have been given and know that it is always enough.
5. Walk through life as though you didn't exist.
6. Reality happens from the inside out.
7. Life becomes very gentle when you understand that you're not living it.
Anyways, a good read. Enjoy the wisdom.
For more information on Stephen Mitchell, go to: http://www.stephenmitchellbooks.com/
January 18, 2018
Today I will break my habit of abstaining from rendering a measurable verdict on books considered sacred to say that this one is simply not at all worth reading.
My reason for stating this so clearly is that, even without having read the original texts, it is baldly clear that this is such a departure from the original Taoist sources as to virtually be a different book altogether. Therefore, my criticism ought to be taken as directed toward this adaptation alone, and not the original texts, to which I consider myself to still never have been truly exposed.
All of my criticisms of Mitchell's adaptation/translation of the Tao Te Ching apply here, but for a few differences. First, the content is less explicit when it comes to assuming a hierarchy and government, the only improvement I see in this book over the other. However, Mitchell has played far more fast and loose with this book than he did his first, making my concerns all that more appropriate. Where in the case of Tao Te Ching, I wondered at the appropriateness of and need for this "New English Version", in this case I have no question. This is appropriation.
The very form of the book is changed from the original. Probably in an attempt to match the popularity of his Tao Te Ching, Mitchell again adapts these ancient Chinese texts into English poetry. However, while The Tao Te Ching was originally written as poetry, these texts were originally prose. Mitchell arbitrarily splits them into sixty-four "chapters", turns most of them to poetry despite the source, and then makes every single facing page a commentary of his own on his own translation. These commentaries are longer than his "adaptation" in almost every case, and make easy comparisons to Western philosophy and religion, especially Christianity, and to the pop culture of the American Baby Boomer generation. That any scholar would think that ancient Chinese philosophy could easily fit these convenient contemporary cultural touchstones in only a few sentences is baffling, and offensive.
This book trivializes ancient philosophy and religion by forcing them into the mould of the worldview of the world's most entitled population, middle aged white Americans. Mitchell comforts the comfortable in a book that has no teeth, one that almost any privileged American could use to discover that without changing a thing, it turns out that they are already enlightened.
Gross.
☠
Hardcover
Penguin Press, 2009
One Star
January 14-17, 2018
☠
My reason for stating this so clearly is that, even without having read the original texts, it is baldly clear that this is such a departure from the original Taoist sources as to virtually be a different book altogether. Therefore, my criticism ought to be taken as directed toward this adaptation alone, and not the original texts, to which I consider myself to still never have been truly exposed.
All of my criticisms of Mitchell's adaptation/translation of the Tao Te Ching apply here, but for a few differences. First, the content is less explicit when it comes to assuming a hierarchy and government, the only improvement I see in this book over the other. However, Mitchell has played far more fast and loose with this book than he did his first, making my concerns all that more appropriate. Where in the case of Tao Te Ching, I wondered at the appropriateness of and need for this "New English Version", in this case I have no question. This is appropriation.
The very form of the book is changed from the original. Probably in an attempt to match the popularity of his Tao Te Ching, Mitchell again adapts these ancient Chinese texts into English poetry. However, while The Tao Te Ching was originally written as poetry, these texts were originally prose. Mitchell arbitrarily splits them into sixty-four "chapters", turns most of them to poetry despite the source, and then makes every single facing page a commentary of his own on his own translation. These commentaries are longer than his "adaptation" in almost every case, and make easy comparisons to Western philosophy and religion, especially Christianity, and to the pop culture of the American Baby Boomer generation. That any scholar would think that ancient Chinese philosophy could easily fit these convenient contemporary cultural touchstones in only a few sentences is baffling, and offensive.
This book trivializes ancient philosophy and religion by forcing them into the mould of the worldview of the world's most entitled population, middle aged white Americans. Mitchell comforts the comfortable in a book that has no teeth, one that almost any privileged American could use to discover that without changing a thing, it turns out that they are already enlightened.
Gross.
☠
Hardcover
Penguin Press, 2009
One Star
January 14-17, 2018
☠
June 22, 2010
This is a fun, gender-pronoun-flopping version of several Daoist(Taoist) classic poems and stories attributed to the sage Zhuangzi (Chuang Tzu) and to Confucius' grandson, Tzu-ssu.
I can't comment as someone who has read numerous iterations of the Dao de Jing (or Tao Te Ching as most older books in English refer to it) or of the classics attributed to Zhuangzi. I therefore can't compare it other books about the Dao. Mitchell admits to playing fast and loose with various English translations of the original text and claims no knowledge of Chinese himself. Therefore, this is very much an adaptation in the Daoist vein rather than any attempt at direct translation. Then again, according to the Daoism, one can't know the Dao from books or language, anyway. The conundrum of spiritual knowledge.
I gave this book, i believe, because i found it at the right time. I've read short sections of the Tao de Jing before, but it always went way over my head. Mitchell's reinterpretation is easy to read and flows well partially because it is Not loyal to the original text. Chinese is a very different language than English and rendering poetry faithfully often ruins its original flow. And the Dao is all about flow. The commentaries can also be amusing in a thoughtful way, which i appreciate.
I can't comment as someone who has read numerous iterations of the Dao de Jing (or Tao Te Ching as most older books in English refer to it) or of the classics attributed to Zhuangzi. I therefore can't compare it other books about the Dao. Mitchell admits to playing fast and loose with various English translations of the original text and claims no knowledge of Chinese himself. Therefore, this is very much an adaptation in the Daoist vein rather than any attempt at direct translation. Then again, according to the Daoism, one can't know the Dao from books or language, anyway. The conundrum of spiritual knowledge.
I gave this book, i believe, because i found it at the right time. I've read short sections of the Tao de Jing before, but it always went way over my head. Mitchell's reinterpretation is easy to read and flows well partially because it is Not loyal to the original text. Chinese is a very different language than English and rendering poetry faithfully often ruins its original flow. And the Dao is all about flow. The commentaries can also be amusing in a thoughtful way, which i appreciate.
July 24, 2019
Not as thought-provoking as I thought it was going to be, but I did discover some nuggets I'll quote in the book I'm currently writing. I absolutely adore Byron Katie and Mitchell is her husband. My favorite book by Katie is A Thousand Names for Joy, the book Mitchell wrote based on Katie's reflections on the Tao. In this Second Book of the Tao, he has a lot of Katie's insights from the Thousand Names for Joy. The Tao translations are...hmm. How do I describe them? He doesn't speak or write Chinese, so he just kind of re-translates verrrrrry loosely what his translators gave him. Then he comments on that loose translation. Katie can be pretty out there for most folks, but Mitchell makes her look almost pedestrian. Still, I can tell he had fun doing this book, and I love that the book gives the world another chance to experience Byron Katie's wisdom.
April 12, 2012
Ignore or embrace the commentary, the commented on is worth reading.
July 11, 2016
Loved this small but intense book. It offered so many things to contemplate and so much to sooth a questioning heart.
October 18, 2020
I have read Mitchell’s translation of the Tao Te Ching many times and it is for me the clearest statement of Lao Tse’s words that I have read. His commentary on Chuang Tzu enhances these texts as well. I haven’t read many others but I enjoyed and benefited from this work.
Mitchell’s narration was not as pleasing, however.
Mitchell’s narration was not as pleasing, however.
September 16, 2009
This is the first of Mitchell's books since his interpretation of Tao Te Ching A New English Version (1988) that I've enjoyed as much. He offers a Zen take on the writings of Lao-tzu’s disciple Chuang-tzu and Confucius’s grandson Tzu-ssu. The writing is as beautiful and clear as water. While Mitchell acknowledges, through his translations, that the Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao--that experience cannot be transmitted through writing--he comes quite close. I have only rarely felt so close to enlightenment while reading.
He doesn't know it, but Mitchell is my long-distance guru. I've benefited from his two Tao-related texts as well as from his The Gospel According to Jesus. I've benefited from the works of Byron Katie, his wife, with whom he co-wrote Loving What Is and A Thousand Names for Joy. And I've benefited from books he recommended: Self-Realization: Life & Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi and Spinoza's Ethics.
Mitchell pointed me to the doorway through which I've found whatever peace and spirituality I now have. Which isn't to say that his works are religious. They are philosophical, pragmatic, minimalist, pure, and delightful, but not religious.
I can't say enough good stuff about this book.
He doesn't know it, but Mitchell is my long-distance guru. I've benefited from his two Tao-related texts as well as from his The Gospel According to Jesus. I've benefited from the works of Byron Katie, his wife, with whom he co-wrote Loving What Is and A Thousand Names for Joy. And I've benefited from books he recommended: Self-Realization: Life & Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi and Spinoza's Ethics.
Mitchell pointed me to the doorway through which I've found whatever peace and spirituality I now have. Which isn't to say that his works are religious. They are philosophical, pragmatic, minimalist, pure, and delightful, but not religious.
I can't say enough good stuff about this book.
June 22, 2009
We met Stephen Mitchell when he visited the Tattered Cover Bookstore in Denver. You can listen to his talk about "The Second Book of the Tao" here: http://www.authorsontourlive.com/?p=251
About this podcast:
Bestselling author and translator Stephen Mitchell reads from and discusses his new book "The Second Book of the Tao." The most widely translated book in world literature after the Bible, Lao-tzu’s "Tao Te Ching," or "Book of the Way," is the classic manual on the art of living. Following the phenomenal success of his own version of the "Tao Te Ching," Mitchell has composed this innovative new book drawn from the work of Lao-tzu’s disciple Chuang-tzu and Confucius’s grandson Tzu-ssu. He has selected the freshest, clearest teachings from these two great students of the Tao and adapted them into versions that reveal the poetry, depth, and humor of the original texts with a thrilling new power.
About this podcast:
Bestselling author and translator Stephen Mitchell reads from and discusses his new book "The Second Book of the Tao." The most widely translated book in world literature after the Bible, Lao-tzu’s "Tao Te Ching," or "Book of the Way," is the classic manual on the art of living. Following the phenomenal success of his own version of the "Tao Te Ching," Mitchell has composed this innovative new book drawn from the work of Lao-tzu’s disciple Chuang-tzu and Confucius’s grandson Tzu-ssu. He has selected the freshest, clearest teachings from these two great students of the Tao and adapted them into versions that reveal the poetry, depth, and humor of the original texts with a thrilling new power.
August 2, 2011
It would be easy to be skeptical to think that anyone could follow up on Lao Tzu's masterpiece with a gem of their own but The Second Book of the Tao manages to do just that! Taking secondary passages by taoist masters in the era following the Tao Te Ching, we get a further glimpse into the "workings" of The Way and each passage is followed by the author's commentary. The passages are both fun and insightful and so many resonated with me. Oddly enough, the author's commentary may have been even better as he digs in and takes the ancient wisdom and paints in a language for the modern era. When all is said and done we will be walking along the path and no matter what we see, think or do there is only the way. So simple yet so profound! I highly recommend this for anyone on a spiritual journey of their own!
November 16, 2018
The book is split in half; the left side is the translated version of the Tao Te Ching while the right side is the author's commentary.
Pro: The commentary can be helpful to someone who has never read the original version.
Con: For those who have read the original, the commentary may become annoying after awhile. I personally didn't get anything out of this book. I liked the first book by this author slightly better.
Who should read this?
People who believe in Taoism, like free verse poems, and/or enjoy reading commentaries should read this. If you didn't care for the first book by this author, then I don't think you will like the second.
Pro: The commentary can be helpful to someone who has never read the original version.
Con: For those who have read the original, the commentary may become annoying after awhile. I personally didn't get anything out of this book. I liked the first book by this author slightly better.
Who should read this?
People who believe in Taoism, like free verse poems, and/or enjoy reading commentaries should read this. If you didn't care for the first book by this author, then I don't think you will like the second.
July 10, 2011
Stephen Mitchell created one of the best translations of the Tao Te Ching I've read, and now he's followed that achievement up with a remarkable volume of personal insights, musings, and translations from other Taoist works and the Taoist tradition. The result is occasionally a bit helter-skelter, but mostly hits the mark -- at least, as far as I can tell, not being enlightened myself. Mitchell comes as close as anyone writing today in grasping the famously un-graspable essence of the Tao. This is a delightful, thought-provoking book.
July 20, 2010
I got this one as an Audio book and I really enjoyed listening to it. In fact I would recommend it as part of someone's daily meditations. It is relaxing to listen to and even helps you to let go of a lot of unnecessary tension.
Life is paradox and contradiction. That is the sum of this book and learning to embrace that will free ones mind from the narrow limits of a 2 dimensional world where truth and reality has to be forced into "either, or".
Life is paradox and contradiction. That is the sum of this book and learning to embrace that will free ones mind from the narrow limits of a 2 dimensional world where truth and reality has to be forced into "either, or".
July 7, 2019
Yet again, another challenge from the author of Parables and Portraits .... but this clearly is Tao not Zen ....yet I am as surely asked to engage, but struggle to find my footing. This is a delightful read, in which the reader is constantly invited to engage by detaching(?). I found echos of Stoicism, Christianity and Existentialism in the writing....I have more questions than answers ... but that is okay, I am on a journey.
September 17, 2009
MItchell's commentary on the text sometimes reads like a parody of itself. Too many cutesy phrases. I read this book on the heels of Ursula K. Le Guin's delightful rendition of the Tao Te Ching, wherein she makes some interesting and thoughtful comments. Mitchell's book was quite a disappointment to me in comparison.
September 15, 2013
Mitchell's fast and loose modern translations of these taoist and Confucian passages are as delightful as his similar treatment for the Tao Te Ching. However, this time around, he doesn't know when to shut up. His "commentary" veers between the obvious and the ridiculous. Still, the translations make up for it.
October 1, 2013
This is a very good read for those who don't know how to be at peace with "life"
I realize (again and again) when I read books of this nature, there is always further to go when it comes to being at peace; like all things, it comes with mental, spiritual and physical health. It all changes with time, physical health will not be defined the same at 20 as it is at 40.
I realize (again and again) when I read books of this nature, there is always further to go when it comes to being at peace; like all things, it comes with mental, spiritual and physical health. It all changes with time, physical health will not be defined the same at 20 as it is at 40.
October 29, 2014
Part One of this book on the Tao as loosely translated by Stephen Mitchell is a book I will take with me to a desert island/the grave. The Second has some wisdom in it as well, but I wasn't a big fan of his goofy commentary at times. I liked it better when it was just the translated verses on their own, with commentary in the back for further reference.
March 29, 2015
Really enjoyed Mitchell's translations (notably his Tao Te Ching and Bhagavad Gita) and this second book of the Tao is absolutely no different. It contains a lot of timeless advice on living and really complements my buddhist research.
This is a book that I will certainly return to again and again, because we all need refreshers as to the nature of the reality every now and again.
This is a book that I will certainly return to again and again, because we all need refreshers as to the nature of the reality every now and again.
July 26, 2023
Steven Mitchell does not know Chinese so he did not translate the Dao De Jing but rather read a couple English versions and took phrases he liked then bastardized them to create this horribly inaccurate version of the Dao De Jing.
This book has been conveying a personal belief of Mitchell's under the guise of Daoism as a selling point.
This book has been conveying a personal belief of Mitchell's under the guise of Daoism as a selling point.
June 9, 2010
I'm a little bit disappointed with this book. I've read several of Mitchell's translations, and think he's brilliant, but nothing here really sang to me. I have the Chuang Tzu collection that Merton put together, and I guess I feel this work a little redundant.
August 4, 2010
Str. 23: ..ko je um jasen, vse predstavlja priložnost za radost. Za to namreč gre pri razsodnosti.
Str. 41: 'saj ni nič ne dobro ne slabo, takšno je šele z našim mišljenjem.'
Str. 110- Opusti vse svoje predpostavke in svet bo postal povsem smiseln...
Str. 41: 'saj ni nič ne dobro ne slabo, takšno je šele z našim mišljenjem.'
Str. 110- Opusti vse svoje predpostavke in svet bo postal povsem smiseln...
August 9, 2012
This book compiles books that were written in the first centuries after the Tao Te Ching, and is one of the most insightful and hilarious sacred texts I’ve ever read. That’s all that needs to be said about it. You need to read it for yourself
Read
June 29, 2009Gave to a good friend who recommended Mitchell's Buddhist book....
Mitchell makes great journals too.
Mitchell makes great journals too.
July 18, 2012
The actual translated parts were great. Nuggets of truth throughout. His commentaries on the actual pieces got annoying after a while.
May 30, 2010
the writing is beautiful. Stephen Mitchell offered further great insight into the "Tao"
August 10, 2010
This is fast becoming my favorite form of poetry.
January 15, 2011
wow, is this audacious. not sure whether to love it or give mr. mitchell a hip check for trying to pull this off.
June 23, 2011
For some reason, did not really enjoy this one.
Think I would prefer to read the original Chuang Tzu.
Think I would prefer to read the original Chuang Tzu.
April 19, 2011
Most of this book is meaningless aphorisms. It manages to really say nothing about anything.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 59 reviews