Tao Te Ching: The Definitive Edition
by Lao Tzu
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Book Reviews of Tao Te Ching: The Definitive Edition
Book Review: An Unbelievable Translation of an Unbelievable Work
Summary: 5 Stars
What began as a recording of simple lessons to better live and understand life spawned a religious and philosophical movement that endured 2,000 years of war and strife in China, and continues to make its effect on the world today. The Tao Te Ching is the basis for the combination philosophy/religion known as Taoism, which has over 30 million followers worldwide.
Before I start my review on this particular translation, let me point out that regardless of religious background or belief, the Tao Te Ching is an excellent read for ANYONE. I myself am a Christian, yet the teachings of Lao Tze (or whatever other scholars contributed to the text) have enriched my life and given me added peace and comfort. Regardless if you're a follower of Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, or (obviously) Taoism, the Tao Te Ching is one of the most philosophically rich works in history. Keep an open mind and there is much the Tao Te Ching can teach you. There's a reason it's second only to the Bible in the number of times it's been translated into different languages.
Part of the difficulty of translating a Chinese text like the Tao Te Ching is that the Chinese language is so much different from other languages, particularly English. While English by comparison is very specific and literal, the characters of Chinese language are more open to definition, allowing the readers to make their own interpretations. Fittingly, the lessons of the Tao Te Ching are similar in nature: each person's view of it and what it means will be different. There is no right or wrong way to practice or integrate Taoism into life, which is part of the beauty of the philosophy.
That's why this translation of the Tao Te Ching offers a separate section with all the meanings of the Chinese characters. It works best if you choose the words you think are right, and then record them on a computer or a piece of paper. That way, you can create your own original translation, if you're willing to do the work. This is just one of the great things about Jonathan Star's edition of the Tao Te Ching.
Star also offers his own unique translation, for those not dedicated enough to use the separate section. The last decent translation of the TTC that I read was the Ganson translation I got off the Internet. Star's translation completely blows it out of the water. The words are perfect. They're not too simple, they're not too complicated. They're just...right. And that's a central principle about Taoism: not resorting to extremes and just getting things right.
There's also a separate section for notes on the different verses, and an entirely separate section just for verse one. If you're looking for the truly definitive Tao Te Ching translation, this is it!
Book Review: Truly wonderful way to explore the Tao Te Ching for yourself
Summary: 5 Stars
One of the core ideas in Taoism (especially if you read a lot of Chuang-Tzu) is that there are infinite perspectives on anything and everything, and no one is more absolute or "correct" than the others. I think it's safe to say that the Tao Te Ching itself is an excellent example of this principle - just look at how many translations have been done, in various styles, approaching various perspectives on life, society, money, etc. And while there are certainly translations that speak to me far better than others do, I'd have to say that they are not always completely satisfying.If you feel the same way, then Jonathan Star has come to your rescue with /Tao Te Ching: The Definitive Edition/. It starts out with an overview of Lao Tzu's work and the challenges that come with translating it. Then there is a rather good literary translation by the author, which sometimes takes a bit of artistic license - definitely not a bad thing. This is not the meat of the book, however. That part is the "definitive" translation itself - the literal translation. Every character of every chapter is provided, along with multiple possible meanings. Using this, you can compose your own interpretations of your favorite chapters, or the whole book if you wish.
The literal translation is extremely well done, and provided in a very accessible format that provides a lot of information in an easy to use manner. If I had to pick something to gripe about, it would be the fact that the literal translation uses Wade-Giles instead of Pinyin (this from a book with a 2001 copyright). I suppose this was to keep things consistent with the similarly old-style spellings "Tao", "Lao-Tzu", etc. This niggle is mitigated a bit by the concordance section of the book, which includes translations from Wade-Giles to Pinyin. Not very convenient, but then again you probably won't be reading the literal translation for its phonetic qualities anyway. Like I said, that's basically the only gripe I can come up with.
Other juicy bits in the book: a section devoted totally to the different interpretations of the first chapter over the years, a summary of the many meanings used for each character throughout the Tao Te Ching, and a nice commentary on chapter one courtesy of Jonathan Star.
If you want to explore the Tao Te Ching as it speaks to *you* then this is definitely a book you want in your collection. As good a job as Jane English, Le Guin, et al have done with their respective translations, nothing can compare to the one that comes from your own spirit and heart. Thus, this truly is the definitive Tao Te Ching. Highly, HIGHLY recommended.
Book Review: Disappointing
Summary: 2 Stars
At a superficial level, this book looks amazing; introductory notes, translation, verbatim translation, notes on the translations, a long commentary on the first verse, and a collection of early translations of the first verse.
After reading the introductory notes, I was looking forward to what promised to be a very beautiful and insightful translation. Unfortunately, I found this translation to be contradictory at times (as opposed to paradoxical; there is a difference!) and, quite frankly, dull. Most of the notes on the translation and commentary on Verse One seemed to push an alternative view to Tao as being the consciousness behind all human beings which is consistent with Hindu religion, NOT a Taoist philosophy. Indeed, the vast majority of the "notes" in this book are quotes taken from Hindu texts such as Bhagavad Gita, and rather than noting, for example, interesting parallels between the two, Star seems to suggest that Tao Te Ching supports the other texts, which is similar to how Blakney seemed to use his translation to support the Christian faith. Personally, I don't think this is appropriate.
As for the positives, this book is definitely value for money. It is nicely printed, and contains a large verbatim translation of each character in Tao Te Ching. While it would be foolish to think you could interpret your own meanings based on this system (as the blurb claims), it still is quite interesting to get an insight into how the various translations of Tao Te Ching may have developed. Unfortunately (for me anyway, although a lot of people seem to really dig this translation) the bad points outweigh the positives, and, to be honest, if this was the first translation of Tao Te Ching I had read, I would have been turned off.
Book Review: Star's translation...
Summary: 2 Stars
...is really bad.
I'm sorry, but it's obvious that he doesn't really understand Chinese. I think what he's done is taken each character, looked at all of their possible meanings, and chosen a translation that best represents his own perception of what daoism should be like. But it's obvious that he doesn't understand the language as a whole integral unit and the way the language and characters interplay and form into longer units of meaning and passages. Even very simple things that I can understand fairly clearly in the Chinese are, I think, transformed into something that isn't what the original text was saying.
Perfect example from Verse 2 (Amazon won't show the original Chinese on the review, so look at the original Chinese if you want to compare):
'''''
"Life and death are born together." (Star)
Inescapably this line really means: "Thus, having and not-having are born together"
The next few lines are weirder. ''''''''Go to Red Pine's excellent translation for this one. It's practically spot on. Compare it to Star's. The whole thing as Star translates it is not much like the Chinese, and translating the last two lines in this little bit with "one" is particularly troublesome and inaccurate.
I could go on, but on practically every line he has glaring misunderstandings of the original language itself. Just because the language of the Tao Te Ching is difficult and because Chinese itself is much different than English doesn't mean that the text is open for infinite interpretation. Maybe Star should go back to Rumi or Sanskrit.
Book Review: almost definitive, yes
Summary: 4 Stars
Indeed this is a very nice edition of a very nice book. It helps the many of us who, bewildered by the differences between translations, try to find the real one. And it helps close the language gap.
But, mind you, I don`t think this is what a serious scholar would call definitive. The multiple meanings of a word are in its context and in the other contexts in which such a word is found. It comes from use and cannot be completely explained by a list of possible english equivalents. This is even more coplex (not simple) in an ideographic text like Chinese. The "do-it-yourself" approach is nice to play with, but for a serious study of the Tao Te Ching, you'll need additional support.
A definitive edition would have each line of each paragraph commented with relevant examples of the vocabulary used in other contexts, references to phylosophical concepts, and comparison between other translations (e.g. see Edward Conze's translation of the Heart Sutra). A true definitive edition, of course, would have to include a complete course in Chinese language, culture, and history.
But for the hurried american consumer, yes, I guess this will do.