Customer Reviews

Tao Te Ching (Chinese Classics (Hong Kong).)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The Tao Te Ching is a great book of early Asian Philosophy. Unfortunately, this is by far the worst translation available, which is regrettable because I love Penguin classics. Penguin is a great publisher of the classics. I would really like to see Penguin publish this timely classic by Stephen Mitchell, which most will now admit is the "best" translation of this great book.

Dr. Lau has a good "introduction" for the book but his "English" and word choice is rather poor and outdated. Comparing translations is good, since I have quite a variety of translations to look at. But for a really good translation, see Stephen Mitchell's version.

D.C. Lau's translation is as good a place to start as any if you're new to the Tao Te Ching, though his introductory essay might scare off some with its dry, scholarly tone. I would suggest that you avoid reading it, unless of course you really want to hear his thoughts on the text. Given the ambiguity of Lao Tzu's masterpiece to interpretation, translations of the Tao Te Ching are wide and varied. Lau's is very much a Confucian-based interpretation. Which is not to say it is not any good, however, be aware that you're essentially reading one school of thought on the text. As for the text itself and it's meaning, it is difficult to explain. The Way is the path to truth, but what has to be understood is that this path has no start or finish. To put it another way, it is eternal and cyclic, much like the idea of Karma. It's about finding the true nature of existence and in turn, non-existence. Lao Tzu says, "Those who speak do not know; those who know do not speak". So perhaps I don't know what I'm talking about! I guess the meaning of the Tao Te Ching is up to the individual to decide upon. Regardless, D.C. Lau's translation is recommended.

How many translations of Lauzi are there on the market? Twenty? A hundred? How many do we need? This one has been around for a long time, but it has stood the test of time better than most.

Believe me when I say that there is no such thing as an even marginally adequate translation of the Dao De Jing, and there never will be. All the translator can hope to do is keep it simple and have a nice presentation on the page. This translation does this, without overdoing it.

Although D. C. Lau's edition of the Tao Te Ching has been sitting on my shelves for years, I've never felt particularly drawn to it. In contrast to my well-thumbed copies of Lin Yutang, J. J. L. Duyvendak, Ellen M. Chen, Zen adept Stephen Mitchell, and others, the Lau is still in a relatively pristine condition.

I don't think this is because of the quality of the translation, a translation which, though occasionally a bit wordy, reads well enough in other places. I think it's more because Lau strikes me as a hard-boiled Confucian with a thesis.

Today we are all more than used to theses. The air is thick with them. Given a bit of time, any clever woman or man can easily construct one. But we should never forget what Lu Chi (+ 754-805) reminds us of in his brilliant 'Essay on Literature,' the 'Wen fu,' when he tells us that: 'Theses are convincing - but deceptive...'

Chapter 18 of the Tao Te Ching offers what seems to me to be a perfect comment on thesis books:

"When the body's intelligence declines, / cleverness and knowledge step forth" (tr. Stephen Mitchell).

In Ellen M. Chen the same passage reads: "When intelligence (hui) and knowledge (chih) appear, / There is great artificiality (wei)" (page 99).

And in Lau: "When cleverness emerges / There is great hypocrisy" (page 74).

Many readers will probably find that Lau's edition suits them well enough for their purposes, but those who might prefer an edition which is not merely scholarly but also sympathetic might take a look at Professor Ellen M. Chen's 'The Tao Te Ching - A New Translation with Commentary' (New York: Paragon House, 1989 ISBN 1-55778-238-5). I think that for your money you'll be getting a little more than "cleverness."

unlike many versions of "the way of life", this is a legitimate "translation"

This is a review of D.C. Lau's translation of the _Tao Te Ching_, as republished in the Everyman's Library series.

The _Tao Te Ching_ is a collection of brief sayings and verse attributed to Lao Tzu. Lao Tzu is semi-mythical. He is traditionally supposed to have been a contemporary of Confucius (about 500 B.C.), but he may just be a "composite" of stories about various early sages. The _Tao Te Ching_ itself is probably an anthology of early wisdom literature. It is concise to the point of being cryptic. Ironically, this probably helps to account for its popularity. Since it is so hard to understand, people tend to find in it what they want to find.

For millennia, the standard text of the _Tao Te Ching_ was the "Wang Pi text," named after an early commentator. However, earlier versions of the text were unearthed in a tomb in China in the 70's. These were called the "Ma-wang-tui" versions, after the place where the tomb was located.

D.C. Lau was one of the most talented translators of the 20th century. His translations of the _Analects_ of Confucius, the _Mencius_, and the _Tao Te Ching_ are among the best available. His original translation of the _Tao Te Ching_ was based on the Wang Bi text, and was published by Penguin Books. The book on this page includes both the original Penguin Books translation and a revised translation based on the Ma-wang-tui texts.

Lau is a very well informed scholar, but he does not allow the scholarship to overwhelm the translation. The language of his translation is concise and elegant. There will always be deep controversy over how to translate this deeply enigmatic text, but Lau's interpretations are always defensible.

One disadvantage of this book is that it does not include the introduction to Lau's Penguin Books translation. That introduction was itself one of the better philosophical studies of the _Tao Te Ching_. Overall, though, this is a fine translation in an elegant (and reasonably priced) format. I strongly recommend it.

Some different, but equally good, translations are those by Victor Mair and Philip J. Ivanhoe. Mair's translation has been published as a separate book, while Ivanhoe's is included in Ivanhoe and Bryan W. Van Norden, eds., _Readings in Classical Chinese Philosophy_. If you would like some help interpreting the _Tao Te Ching_, a good collection of secondary essays is Mark Csikszentmihalyi and Philip J. Ivanhoe, eds., _Essays on Religious and Philosophical Aspects of the Laozi_.

I first encountered the Tao Te Ching in the Mithcell translation as a sophomore in college, and we read it--fitting the context of a course on world religions--as a religious text. What is really nice about D. C. Lau's translation (and he mentions this in his fine intro) is that, in keeping with a longstanding tradition in Chinese culture, he attempts to restore some of the political import to the text. Re-reading Lao Tzu's lyrical fragments in Lau's rendering of them really brought home to me an aspect of the text that is completely overshadowed, in most translations, by the religious angles that are important but not sole determiners of the Tao's relevance and message. (This view sees me in disagreement with the avowed "Taoist" reviewer below who lamented Lau's attention to Lao Tzu's political import.)

While I heartily disagree with the political message of the Tao Te Ching--which sponsors a hands-off, laissez-faire, small-government formation, letting everything work itself out without intrusion from leaders and other well-intentioned officials, as if things ever just work themselves out on their own!--I appreciate Lau's efforts to recover in his translation a crucial, crucial aspect of Lao Tzu's thought, and one that has been shuffled under the magic carpet by Taoism's New Agey popularity among many Anglophones.

This translation was done by a scholar who is completely out of touch with what Taoism is about. Lao Tzu himslef would have laughed at the translation. The translator thinks that the purpose of Taoism is merely a matter of survival. Cowards survive longer, is his attitude towards Taoism. As a Taoist I have read many translations of the Tao Te Ching and this is the worst one I have ever read.

A very good translation, and graphically and typographically and very nice book. Straightforward, and SOME insightful narative, this book is a standard for those seeking more about the tao.

This was the first translation I read (and reread) of the *Tao Te Ching* -- I have since read (and reread) about a dozen others. What stands out in my mind about Lau's translation is the pure poetry, the haunting lyrical quality of some of the images. Furthermore, ironically, this is a starkly pragmatic and realistic translation. It stands in striking contrast to the spiritualized New Age translations that try to sublimate the entire text into the realm of the mystical. This is a *Tao Te Ching* that considers the harsh realities of government and warfare, and stakes out bold counterpositions to the Confucianism which prevailed in the late Chou Dynasty (c. fifth century BCE). This *Tao Te Ching* is not un-spiritual, but its spirituality is well-grounded in a human world of seemingly intractable problems. Other translations may appeal to the more idealistic, but this is perhaps the best translation for those whose spirituality is essentially bound to the social and political problems of the world as it is.