Tao Te Ching
by Burton Watson, Lao-Tzu
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Book Summary Information
Author: Burton Watson, Lao-TzuTranslator: Stephen Addiss
Translator: Stanley Lombardo
Edition: Paperback
Audio: Mandarin Chinese (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 1993-10
ISBN: 0872202321
Number of pages: 106
Publisher: Hackett Publishers
Book Reviews of Tao Te Ching
Book Review: A Beautifully Designed Book full Of Wisdom (from Ahadada Books)
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a beautifully designed book with a limpid translation by Stephen Addiss and Stanley Lombardo. Here's one of my favorites:
11
Thirty spokes join one hub.
The wheel's use comes from emptiness.
Clay is fired to make a pot.
The pot's use comes from emptiness.
Windows and doors are cut to make a room.
The room's use comes from emptiness.
Therefore,
Having leads to profit,
Not having leads to use.
Not only is there wisdom on every page, but Burton Watson's introduction gives an informative context for both Lao Tzu, the eponymous creator of this text, and the times in which this book and the more lively, albeit less mystical Chuang Tzu arose.
In addition, the translators explain a bit about Chinese ideograms and a phrase taken from each poem is included in old Chinese characters next to each text in English, thereby giving a taste of the compression--the pithiness--of the original.
This is indeed a wonderful book: nice to hold in the hand, just the right size to carry into the woods for some meditation by a stream, and perfect for a gift to a friend.
The only criticism I have of this volume concerns the ink paintings done by Mr. Addiss; they are somewhat less than impressive, and perhaps the volume would have been better served with better examples.
I'm happy to say that my copy is a gift from my friend Burton Watson, and includes his signature in the front.
Summary of Tao Te Ching
Deftly introduced and enriched by the remarkable ink paintings of Stephen Addiss, this new translation of Tao Te Ching captures the terse and enigmatic beauty of the ancient original while resisting the tendency toward interpretive paraphrase found in many other editions. Along with the translation of the complete work, Lombardo and Addiss provide the reader with a measure of interaction with the Chinese text found in no other edition, by furnishing one or more key lines from the original Chinese for each of the eighty-one sections, together with a transliteration of the Chinese characters. The appearance and sounds of the Chinese character displayed, enhance the reader's appreciation of how the Chinese text works and feels and the many different ways it can be translated into English.With this edition of the Tao Te Ching, an unlikely team of a Japanese art expert and a Greek translator pull off a uniquely powerful version of the text. If one thing marks the language of the original Tao Te Ching, it is linguistic spareness. Stephen Addiss and Stanley Lombardo are the first to succeed in duplicating the language in English, and although their search for just the right word occasionally goes far afield, they are mostly successful. The effect can be quite liberating as the full ambiguity of meaning comes through and you are afforded the freedom to interpret in a variety of ways. The translators also enhance the atmosphere of the book with Addiss's expressive calligraphy and the two lines in the original Chinese that are retained in each chapter. Addiss and Lombardo's rendering of the Tao Te Ching gets you right down into the primary source, and from there you're free to wander where you will.
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