This great book is always being softened and blurred by sentimental translators. Does anyone know of an honest translation that doesn’t try to sugarcoat Lao Tzu’s message?
This great book is always being softened and blurred by sentimental translators. Does anyone know of an honest translation that doesn’t try to sugarcoat Lao Tzu’s message?
I don’t know if there is a truly correct translation of the Tao Te Ching, I think your probably best reading several and find one that your comfortable with.
Because some of the characters no longer exist in that form in Chinese, at best all we can have is an approximation of the translation.
ONE OF THE BETTER STUDIES AND translations
try googling
hatcher i ching
and look on the list for tao te ching
or maybe dao de ching…
the most popular translation are more of the classic school of taoism
which i think misses some of the main points
the hatcher translaiton is helpful on this i think
for instance when one says the tao cannot be named
many assume it has no name
but the chinese i think more likely
indicates it has always had a name
thus it cannot be given a name
but the realized soul does know its name…
“Tao Te Ching: The Definitive Edition” by Jonathon Star
http://www.amazon.com/Tao-Ching-Definitive-Lao-Tzu/dp/158542269X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1264943198&sr=8-1
This has all the permutations of meaning for all the words in the Tao Te Ching arranged in a way for the reader to do their own interpretation and glean all the possible meanings.
Translated by Brian Walker