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Title: The Way of Life, According to Laotzu
Author: Witter Bynner
Narrator: Bob Gonzalez
Format: Unabridged
Length: 1 hr
Language: English
Release date: 03-21-17
Publisher: Spoken Realms
Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 1 votes
Genres: Religion & Spirituality, Buddhism & Eastern Religions
Publisher's Summary:
The Way of Life According to Laotzu is a poetic and highly accessible translation of the Dao De Jing (Tao Te Ching). In these 81 brief passages, the ancient Chinese sage lays down a philosophical, socio-political, personal view of the universe and guide for action that has inspired generations around the world for centuries.
Witter Bynner (1881-1968) was an American poet and translator with Kiang Kang-Hu of The Jade Mountain: A Chinese Anthology, Being Three Hundred Poems of the T'ang Dynasty 618-906.
Members Reviews:
Just breathe
As with so many books, we endure the scholarly and erudite reviewers who claim to know which text and translation is the most recondite, the most accurate, the most true to the original. I don't know about all that. I know Lao Tsu was so important to Asian culture and life, and I know this book makes me feel whole again with each reading. I slow down, and his true words align the iron filings in my heart.
Let the educated debaters go on with their "Ten thousand things" arguing about translations and meanings. They miss the point. Get this book, make some tea, turn of the incessant rattlings in your brain and the screens in your home and relax to ancient wisdom that has influenced millions of hearts and minds for thousands of years...
Great Translation, but get a hard copy... not digital.
I am now familiar with about a 1/2 dozen translations. This one is easy to read and enjoyable. But... I felt the digital version was hard to read. Get the real thing!
better than all the purple and flowery nonsense out there
I am by no means a scholar of Chinese. Much as I'd like to, grasping the vagaries of classical Chinese characters is still beyond me. I'm just a philosophy student looking for understanding and inspiration.
However, bar none, this is the best translation of the Tao Te Ching I've ever read (I own 2 and have browsed 6 or 7 more.). It strikes the perfect balance between literalism and interpretation. Anyone who's looked at the original Chinese characters knows that it's tough to literally translate into English - many connectives we use to make things flow are just not present in the Chinese. Addiss and Lombardo don't overdo it, though, in making the verses comprehensible - they add only enough in the way of connectives to allow the verses to register in an English speaking mind.
If I were to recommend any edition of the Tao Te Ching to someone, this would be it. It is the best English approximation of the simplicity of the original epigrams and phrases. Where other translations can be bogged down with frilly adjectives and add-ons, this one strips itself down to the bare essentials - not only approaching the spareness of the original, but also the theme - 'ten thousand things' are 9,999 too many!
A daily reader for every day peace
What is there that can be said of the Tao Teh Ching by such an unlearned man as myself which could possibly shed any light on its many insights and thought provoking stanzas? Perhaps I would best serve you in reviewing this volume particularly. This is, possibly, my favorite of all the translations of the Tao and my favorite printing.