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Tao Te Ching: Adapted for the Contemporary Reader
THE TAO TE CHING
★ There are various translations and many new-age self-help books based on the Tao Te Ching one of the most profound spiritual books ever to be written thousands of years ago by a sage who was known as Lao Tzu.
★ The beauty of the book is that it is left open to interpretation. The problem with this however, is that some are unable to form the deep hidden meanings of the paragraphs and make any sense of them. Whilst the book is highly enlightening to some, it is equally confusing to others.
★ This book contains a translation of the ancient text and then goes on to give a unique explanation of every paragraph.
★ Each interpretation aims to make the Tao Te Ching a lot more understandable and enjoyable for all.
★ All the mystical paradoxes are explained.
★ Each of the 81 paragraphs dissected for your awakening.
ENJOY
★ There are various translations and many new-age self-help books based on the Tao Te Ching one of the most profound spiritual books ever to be written thousands of years ago by a sage who was known as Lao Tzu.
★ The beauty of the book is that it is left open to interpretation. The problem with this however, is that some are unable to form the deep hidden meanings of the paragraphs and make any sense of them. Whilst the book is highly enlightening to some, it is equally confusing to others.
★ This book contains a translation of the ancient text and then goes on to give a unique explanation of every paragraph.
★ Each interpretation aims to make the Tao Te Ching a lot more understandable and enjoyable for all.
★ All the mystical paradoxes are explained.
★ Each of the 81 paragraphs dissected for your awakening.
ENJOY
134 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 18, 2020
76 people are currently reading
15 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 29, 2021
Adopt Tao teachings
The translation is nearer to original text.We must always be generous in giving to others.The hand that gives collects.The person who loves others will be loved by all. Cleverness never helps us internally or externally. Within or without in Life. Nice Book
The translation is nearer to original text.We must always be generous in giving to others.The hand that gives collects.The person who loves others will be loved by all. Cleverness never helps us internally or externally. Within or without in Life. Nice Book
October 4, 2023
The commentary was helpful in contextualizing the parts of the translations of the original writings that I had no cultural context for.
August 1, 2023
Great book, shows the person you should be! Will be reading this once a year or if I find myself losing my way
May 30, 2024
The Tao Te Ching is one of the foundational documents of Taoism. Significant portions of it are around two and a half thousand years old, and it has nourished the spirituality of countless generations. It is always good to see new editions of such an important text.
One of the helpful features of this particular version is an added commentary which helps to explain the sometimes terse texts and cryptic comments which constitute the 81 chapters of the Tao Te Ching.
One of the puzzling features of the ancient text is that it seems to present arguments using words that denote conclusions. Yet the conclusions do not always seem to obviously follow from the preceding text. For example, we are told in chapter 7 that Heaven and Earth will last forever because they are unborn. ‘So, they can never die’ (15%). But how does being unborn lead logically to a conclusion that they cannot die? There must be some suppressed premises in the argument which ideally the commentary needed to provide, so that the reader can better understand the point being made.
In other places the commentary was not as helpful as it could have been in terms of explaining the translation. For example, in chapter 9 we hear that ‘over sharpen the blade and the edge will soon blunt.’ (18%). Arguably the point being made by the Tao Te Ching is that the sharper the edge, the sooner it will become blunt, because the steel is thinner on a sharp edge. So wouldn’t it have better captured the idea of the text to use the word ‘sooner’ rather than ‘soon?’
There were also a range of editing problems in the text. We are told about sticking to the middle path and not going ‘to far,’ when it should have read ‘too far’ (18%). In another place the word Tao is even mistakenly rendered as Toa (31%). In another place there is a reference to a ‘good mad’ which should be a ‘good man’ (55%). And there are particularly egregious errors where the text reads ‘would of’ instead of ‘would have’ (85%). And so on… The text really needed more professional proof reading before being published.
There were also some issues about gender stereotyping. We would expect that in the ancient text itself, but I would have expected a modern commentary to flag up the issues to readers. Instead, the gender stereotyping is just repeated in the commentary as if it is being accepted as making a valid point when it assigns allegedly specifically female qualities such as ‘gentleness, kindness, affection and love’ (20%). Should a modern commentary really be endorsing that kind of stereotyping without giving any argument or rationale for doing so?
In a few places I think the commentary arguably missed important facets of the point being made in the text. For example, chapter 17 tells us that ‘the very highest leader is barely known…’ The commentary explains that this is because the leader is skilfully leading the people without them realizing that he is leading (29%). But a more natural reading of the historical situation of ancient empires is that leaders were geographically isolated from their populations, who might barely know the name of who is the ultimate power.
Overall, this was a good idea for a text and commentary, but it felt as if it has been rushed to publication a little too quickly. It needed more detail in some of its commentary and more editing to ensure that there were no spelling or grammar mistakes.
One of the helpful features of this particular version is an added commentary which helps to explain the sometimes terse texts and cryptic comments which constitute the 81 chapters of the Tao Te Ching.
One of the puzzling features of the ancient text is that it seems to present arguments using words that denote conclusions. Yet the conclusions do not always seem to obviously follow from the preceding text. For example, we are told in chapter 7 that Heaven and Earth will last forever because they are unborn. ‘So, they can never die’ (15%). But how does being unborn lead logically to a conclusion that they cannot die? There must be some suppressed premises in the argument which ideally the commentary needed to provide, so that the reader can better understand the point being made.
In other places the commentary was not as helpful as it could have been in terms of explaining the translation. For example, in chapter 9 we hear that ‘over sharpen the blade and the edge will soon blunt.’ (18%). Arguably the point being made by the Tao Te Ching is that the sharper the edge, the sooner it will become blunt, because the steel is thinner on a sharp edge. So wouldn’t it have better captured the idea of the text to use the word ‘sooner’ rather than ‘soon?’
There were also a range of editing problems in the text. We are told about sticking to the middle path and not going ‘to far,’ when it should have read ‘too far’ (18%). In another place the word Tao is even mistakenly rendered as Toa (31%). In another place there is a reference to a ‘good mad’ which should be a ‘good man’ (55%). And there are particularly egregious errors where the text reads ‘would of’ instead of ‘would have’ (85%). And so on… The text really needed more professional proof reading before being published.
There were also some issues about gender stereotyping. We would expect that in the ancient text itself, but I would have expected a modern commentary to flag up the issues to readers. Instead, the gender stereotyping is just repeated in the commentary as if it is being accepted as making a valid point when it assigns allegedly specifically female qualities such as ‘gentleness, kindness, affection and love’ (20%). Should a modern commentary really be endorsing that kind of stereotyping without giving any argument or rationale for doing so?
In a few places I think the commentary arguably missed important facets of the point being made in the text. For example, chapter 17 tells us that ‘the very highest leader is barely known…’ The commentary explains that this is because the leader is skilfully leading the people without them realizing that he is leading (29%). But a more natural reading of the historical situation of ancient empires is that leaders were geographically isolated from their populations, who might barely know the name of who is the ultimate power.
Overall, this was a good idea for a text and commentary, but it felt as if it has been rushed to publication a little too quickly. It needed more detail in some of its commentary and more editing to ensure that there were no spelling or grammar mistakes.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews