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Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Chinese characters. Mojibake is the happenstance of incorrect unreadable characters (garbage characters shown when Computer software fails to render a text correctly according to its associated A Chinese character, also known as a Han character ( is a Logogram used in writing Chinese (hanzi Japanese (
Tao Te Ching
Traditional Chinese: 道德經
Simplified Chinese: 道德经
Hanyu Pinyin: dàodéjīng

The Tao Te Ching or Daodejing (traditional Chinese: 道德經; simplified Chinese: 道德经; pinyin: Dàodéjīng), originally known as the eponymous Laozi or Lao tzu (Chinese: 老子; pinyin: Lǎozǐ), is a Chinese classic text. Pinyin, more formally Hanyu pinyin, is the most common Standard Mandarin Romanization system in use Pinyin, more formally Hanyu pinyin, is the most common Standard Mandarin Romanization system in use Pinyin, more formally Hanyu pinyin, is the most common Standard Mandarin Romanization system in use Chinese classic texts or Chinese canonical texts ( refer to the pre- Qin Chinese texts especially the Confucian Four Books and Five Classics Its name comes from the opening words of its two sections: 道 dào "way," Chapter 1, and 德 dé "virtue," Chapter 38, plus 經 jīng "classic. " According to tradition, it was written around the 6th century BCE by the Taoist sage Laozi (or Lao Tzu, "Old Master"), a record-keeper at the Zhou Dynasty court, by whose name the text is known in China. Taoism (pronounced /ˈdaʊɪzəm/ or /ˈtaʊɪzəm/ also spelled '''Daoism''') refers to a variety of related Philosophical and Religious traditions Laozi ( also Lao Tse, Lao-Tzu, Laotze, Lao Zi, Laocius, and other variations was a philosopher of ancient The Zhou Dynasty ( POJ: Chiu Tiau 1122 BC to 256 BC was preceded by the Shang Dynasty and followed by the Qin Dynasty in China. The text's true authorship and date of composition or compilation are still debated. [1]

The Tao Te Ching is fundamental to the Taoist school (Dàojiā 道家) of Chinese philosophy and strongly influenced other schools, such as Legalism and Neo-Confucianism. Taoism (pronounced /ˈdaʊɪzəm/ or /ˈtaʊɪzəm/ also spelled '''Daoism''') refers to a variety of related Philosophical and Religious traditions Chinese philosophy is Philosophy written in the Chinese tradition of thought In Chinese history, Legalism ( was one of the four main philosophic schools during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period (the other Neo-Confucianism (/( is a form of Confucianism that was primarily developed during the Song Dynasty, but which can be traced back to Han Yu and Li This ancient book is also central in Chinese religion, not only for Taoism (Dàojiāo 道教) but Chinese Buddhism, which when first introduced into China was largely interpreted through the use of Taoist words and concepts. Chinese Buddhism ( Pinyin fójiào refers collectively to the various schools of Buddhism that have flourished in China proper since ancient times Many Chinese artists, including poets, painters, calligraphers, and even gardeners have used the Tao Te Ching as a source of inspiration. Chinese Poetry is the most highly regarded literary genre in China. Chinese painting is one of the oldest continuous artistic traditions in the world Calligraphy (from Greek kallos "beauty" + graphẽ "writing" is the art of writing (Mediavilla 1996 17 The Chinese (Scholar's Garden is a place for solitary or social contemplation of nature Its influence has also spread widely outside East Asia, aided by hundreds of translations into Western languages.

The Wade-Giles romanization Tao Te Ching dates back to early English transliterations in the late 19th century, and many people continue using it, especially for words and phrases that have become well-established in English. Wade-Giles (ˌweɪdˈʤaɪlz) sometimes abbreviated Wade, is a Romanization system (phonetic notation and Transcription) for the Mandarin In Linguistics, romanization (or latinization, also spelled romanisation or latinisation) is the representation of a Word or The pinyin romanization Daodejing originated in the late 20th century, and this romanization is becoming increasingly popular, having been adopted as the official system by the Chinese government. Pinyin, more formally Hanyu pinyin, is the most common Standard Mandarin Romanization system in use See discussion at Daoism-Taoism romanization issue. In English the words Daoism and Taoism are the subject of an ongoing controversy over the preferred Romanization for naming this native

Contents

The text

The Tao Te Ching has a long and complex textual history. On one hand, there are transmitted versions and commentaries that date back two millennia; on the other, there are ancient bamboo, silk, and paper manuscripts that archeologists discovered in the last century.

Title

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"Tao Te Ching", Calligraphy by Gia-Fu Feng
"Tao Te Ching", Calligraphy by Gia-Fu Feng

There are many possible translations of the book's title, owing to the polysemy of the component Chinese words:

Thus, Tao Te Ching can be translated as "The Scripture/Classic/Canon of the Way/Path and the Power/Virtue", etc.

Note that there is in fact no "its" in the title, either explicitly or implicitly. Therefore, commonly accepted translations of the title such as "The Book of the Way and Its Power" are in fact adding an extra element that takes away from the accuracy.

The title Tao Te Ching is a honorific given by posterity, other titles include the amalgam Lǎozǐ Dàodé Jīng (老子道德經), the honorific Daode Zhen Jing (道德真經 "True Classic of the Way and the Power"), and the Wuqian wen (五千文 "Five thousand character [classic]"; see next).

Internal structure

The received Tao Te Ching is a short text of around 5,000 Chinese characters in 81 brief chapters or sections (章). A Chinese character, also known as a Han character ( is a Logogram used in writing Chinese (hanzi Japanese ( It has two parts, the Tao Ching (道經; chaps. 1–37) and the Te Ching (德經; chaps. 38–81), which may have been edited together into the received text, possibly reversed from an original "Te Tao Ching" (see Mawangdui texts below). The written style is laconic, with few grammatical particles, frequently ambiguous, occasionally rhymed, and expressing often difficult ideas poetically. In Linguistics, the term particle is a word lacking a strict definition but has the function of changing the relation of the parts of the sentence to one another and is therefore

The Chinese characters in the original versions were probably written in zhuànshū (篆書 seal script), while later versions were written in lìshū (隷書 clerical script) and kǎishū (楷書 regular script) styles. Seal script ( Chinese: Simplified 篆书 篆書 Pinyin: zhuànshū is an ancient style of Chinese calligraphy. The clerical script ( pinyin lìshū; Japanese 隷書体 Reishotai; formerly also chancery script is an archaic style of Chinese calligraphy which The regular script or standard script, or in Chinese kaishu ( and Japanese kaisho, also commonly known as standard regular Daoist Chinese Characters contains a good summary of these different calligraphies.

Historical authenticity

The Tao Te Ching is universally ascribed to Laozi, whose historical existence has been a matter of scholastic debate. Laozi ( also Lao Tse, Lao-Tzu, Laotze, Lao Zi, Laocius, and other variations was a philosopher of ancient His name, which means "Old Master", or "old masters" has only fueled controversy on this issue. (Kaltenmark 1969:10).

Laozi
Laozi

The first reliable reference to Laozi is his "biography," Shiji (63, tr. Laozi ( also Lao Tse, Lao-Tzu, Laotze, Lao Zi, Laocius, and other variations was a philosopher of ancient The Records of the Grand Historian, also known in English by the Chinese name 史記 or Shiji, written from 109 BC to 91 BC Chan 1963:35-37), by Chinese historian Sima Qian (ca. Early life and education Sima Qian was born and grew up in Longmen, near present-day Hancheng Shaanxi. 145–86 BC), which combines three stories. First, Laozi was a contemporary of Confucius (551-479 BC). Confucius ( lit " Master Kung " September 28, 551 BC - 479 BC) was a Chinese thinker and social philosopher His surname was Li (李 "plum"), and his personal name was Er (耳 "ear") or Dan (聃 "long ear"). He was an official in the imperial archives, and wrote a book in two parts before departing to the West. Second, Laozi was Lao Laizi (老來子 "Old Come Master"), also a contemporary of Confucius, who wrote a book in 15 parts. Third, Laozi was the Grand Historian and astrologer Lao Dan (老聃 "Old Long-ears"), who lived during the reign (384-362 BC) of Duke Xian (獻公) of Qin). Qín or Ch'in ( Wade-Giles) (秦 ( 778 BC - 207 BC) was a State during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods

Generations of scholars have debated the historicity of Laozi and the dating of the Tao Te Ching. Linguistic studies of the text's vocabulary and rhyme scheme point to a date of composition after the Shi Jing yet before the Zhuangzi — around the late 4th or early 3rd centuries BC. This article is about the poetic technique For the form of ice see Rime ice. Shi Jing ( translated variously as the Classic of Poetry, the Book of Songs or the Book of Odes, is the earliest For the book with the same name see Zhuangzi (book Zhuangzi ( was an influential Chinese philosopher who lived around the 4th Legends claim variously that Laozi was "born old"; that he lived for 996 years, with twelve previous incarnations starting around the time of the Three Sovereigns before the thirteen as Laozi. Although some Western scholars have expressed doubts over Laozi's historical existence, much of this skepticism is founded on a lack of cultural understanding — namely, that it would be inconceivable within the context of ancient Chinese culture, for Sima Qian the historian to have engaged in confabulation. Therefore, Chinese scholars by and large accept Laozi as a historical figure, while dismissing folkloric claims as superstitious legend.

Taoists venerate Laozi as Daotsu the founder of the school of Dao, the Daode Tianjun in the Three Pure Ones, one of the eight elders transformed from Taiji in the Chinese creation myth. The Three Pure Ones ( also translated as the Three Pure Pellucid Ones, the Three Pristine Ones, the Three Clarities, or the Three Purities Taiji (太極 is a state of being from Tao and Wuji. It is a state of absolute and of infinite potentiality The Chinese creation myth explains the beginning of the universe

Principal versions

Among the many transmitted editions of the Tao Te Ching text, the three primary ones are named after early commentaries. The "Yan Zun Version," which is only extant for the Te Ching, derives from a commentary attributed to Han Dynasty scholar Yan Zun (巖尊, fl. The Han Dynasty ( 206 BC–220 AD followed the Qin Dynasty and preceded the Three Kingdoms in China. 80 BC-10 AD). The "Heshang Gong Version" is named after the legendary Heshang Gong (河上公 "Riverside Sage") who supposedly lived during the reign (202-157 BC) of Emperor Wen of Han. Emperor Wen of Han (202 BC&ndash157 BC was an emperor of the Han Dynasty in China. This commentary (tr. Erkes 1950) has a preface written by Ge Xuan (葛玄, 164-244 AD), grand-uncle of Ge Hong, and scholarship dates this version to around the 3rd century AD. Ge Xuan (Chinese 葛玄 is a mythological member of the Chinese Ge family and a prominent figure in early Chinese Daoism. Ge Hong ( 284–364 Courtesy name Zhichuan (稚川 was a minor southern official during the Jìn Dynasty (263-420 best known for his interest in The "Wang Bi Version" has more verifiable origins than either of the above. Wang Bi (王弼, 226 – 249 AD) was a famous Three Kingdoms period philosopher and commentator on the Tao Te Ching (tr. Wang Bi (226–249 Courtesy name Fu Si (辅嗣 was a Chinese neotaoist Philosopher. The Three Kingdoms period ( is a period in the History of China, part of an era of disunity called the Six Dynasties following immediately the loss of Lin 1977, Rump and Chan 1979) and the I Ching. The I Ching ( Wade-Giles) or “Yì Jīng” ( Pinyin) also called “Classic of Changes” or “Book of Changes” is one of the oldest of the

Tao Te Ching scholarship has lately advanced from archeological discoveries of manuscripts, some of which are older than any of the received texts. Beginning in the 1920s and 1930s, Marc Aurel Stein and others found thousands of scrolls in the Mogao Caves near Dunhuang. The Mogao Caves, or Mogao Grottoes ( (also known as the Caves of the Thousand Buddhas and Dunhuang Caves) form a system of 492 temples 25km (15 Dunhuang ( also written as 燉煌 till early Qing Dynasty; is a City (pop They included more than 50 partial and complete Tao Te Ching manuscripts. One written by the scribe So/Su Dan (素統) is dated 270 AD and corresponds closely with the Heshang Gong version. Another partial manuscript has the Xiang'er (想爾) commentary, which had previously been lost.

Mawangdui and Guodian texts

In 1973, archeologists discovered copies of early Chinese books, known as the Mawangdui Silk Texts, in a tomb dating from 168 BC. The Mawangdui Silk Texts ( are texts of Chinese philosophical and medical works written on silk and found at Mawangdui in China in 1973 They included two nearly complete copies of the Laozi, referred to as Text A (甲) and Text B (乙), both of which reverse the traditional ordering and put the Te Ching section before the Tao Ching. Based on calligraphic styles and imperial naming taboo avoidances, scholars believe that A and B can be dated, respectively, to about the first and third decades of the 2nd century BC (Boltz 1993:284). Naming taboo is a cultural taboo against speaking or writing the given names of exalted persons in China and neighboring nations in the ancient Chinese cultural sphere

In 1993, the oldest known version of the text, written on bamboo tablets, was found in a tomb near the town of Guodian (郭店) in Jingmen, Hubei, and dated prior to 300 BC. Jingmen ( Simplified Chinese: 荆门 Traditional Chinese: 荊門 Pinyin: Jīngmén is a Prefecture-level city in Hubei province ( Postal map spelling: Hupeh) is a central province of the People's Republic of China. The Guodian Chu Slips comprise about 800 slips of bamboo with a total of over 13,000 characters, about 2,000 of which correspond with the Tao Te Ching, including 14 previously unknown verses. The Guodian Chu Slips ( were unearthed in 1993 in Tomb no 1 of the Guodian tombs in Jingmen Hubei.

Both the Mawangdui and Guodian versions are generally consistent with the received texts, excepting differences in chapter sequence and graphic variants. Several recent Tao Te Ching translations (e. g. , Lau 1989, Henricks 1989, Mair 1990, Henricks 2000, Allan and Williams 2000, and Roberts 2004) utilize these two versions, sometimes with the verses reordered to synthesize the new finds.

Interpretation and themes

Depending on how the Tao Te Ching is interpreted, some ambiguous passages have multiple readings, ranging from political advice for rulers to practical wisdom for people. Generally Arthur Waley's translations attempted limited form of poetry in translation and as a rule only translated the Chinese text literally. The following themes and concepts are central to interpreting the text.

Ineffability or Genesis

The Way that can be told of is not an unvarying way;
The names that can be named are not unvarying names.
It was from the Nameless that Heaven and Earth sprang;
The named is but the mother that rears the ten thousand creatures, each after its kind. (chap. 1, tr. Waley)

These famous first lines of the Tao Te Ching state that the Tao is ineffable i. To say that something is " ineffable " means that it cannot or should not be expressed in spoken words (as with the concept of true love or some Taboo) e. Tao is nameless, goes beyond distinctions, and transcends language. In Laozi's Qingjing Jing (verse 1-8) he clarified the term Tao was nominated as he was trying to describe a state of existence before it happened and before time or space. The Qingjing Jing ( is an anonymous 9th century CE Daoist classic that combines philosophical themes from the Daode jing with Way or path happened to be the side meaning of Tao, ineffability would be just poetic. This is the Chinese creation myth from the primordial Tao. The Chinese creation myth explains the beginning of the universe In the first twenty-four words in Chapter one, the author articulated an abstract cosmogony, in what would be the world outside of the cave before it took shape by Plato in his allegory of the cave. This article discusses scientific theories of creation (cosmogony Biography Early life Birth and family Plato was born in Athens Greece The Allegory of the Cave is an Allegory used by the Greek Philosopher Plato in his work The Republic.

The Mysterious Female

The Valley Spirit never dies
It is named the Mysterious Female.
And the doorway of the Mysterious Female
Is the base from which Heaven and Earth sprang.
It is there within us all the while;
Draw upon it as you will, it never runs dry. (chap. 6, tr. Waley)

Like the above description of the ineffable Tao as "the mother that rears the ten thousand creatures", the Tao Te Ching advocates "female" (or Yin) values, emphasizing the passive, solid, and quiescent qualities of nature (which is opposed to the active and energetic), and "having without possessing". In Chinese philosophy, the concept of yin and yang ( is used to describe how seemingly opposing forces are bound together intertwined and interdependent in the Waley's translation can also be understood as the Esoteric Feminine in that it can be known intuitively, that must be complemented by the masculine, "male" (or Yang), again amplified in Qingjing Jing (verse 9-13). The Qingjing Jing ( is an anonymous 9th century CE Daoist classic that combines philosophical themes from the Daode jing with Yin and Yang should be balanced, "Know masculinity, Maintain femininity, and be a ravine for all under heaven. " (chap. 28, tr. Mair)

Returning (Union with the Primordial)

In Tao the only motion is returning;
The only useful quality, weakness.
For though all creatures under heaven are the products of Being,
Being itself is the product of Not-being. " (chap. 40, tr. Waley)

Another theme is the eternal return, or what Mair (1990:139) calls "the continual return of the myriad creatures to the cosmic principle from which they arose. Eternal return (also known as " eternal recurrence " is a concept which posits that the Universe has been recurring and will continue to recur in a "

There is a contrast between the rigidity of death and the weakness of life: "When he is born, man is soft and weak; in death he becomes stiff and hard. The ten thousand creatures and all plants and trees while they are alive are supple and soft, but when dead they become brittle and dry. " (chap. 76, tr. Waley). This is returning to the beginning of things, or to one's own childhood.

The Tao Te Ching focuses upon the beginnings of society, and describes a golden age in the past, comparable with the ideas of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Human problems arose from the "invention" of culture and civilization. In this idealized past, “the people should have no use for any form of writing save knotted ropes, should be contented with their food, pleased with their clothing, satisfied with their homes, should take pleasure in their rustic tasks. " (chap. 80, tr. Waley)

If the same chapter is understood in the Taoist cosmogony, the last two verses re-state the creation of beings from you (有) as in youji or Taiji which came from wu as in Wuji, a state of union with the primordial. Taiji (太極 is a state of being from Tao and Wuji. It is a state of absolute and of infinite potentiality Wuji (無極 is the primordial state of non-being a state of Nothingness and boundlessness or that which is without Bounds or Limits. This concept is also outlined in two other texts Xishen Jing and Qingjing Jing attributable to Laozi. The Xishengjing ( is a late 5th century CE Daoist text with provenance at the Louguan 樓觀 "Tiered Abbey" of the The Northern Celestial Masters. The Qingjing Jing ( is an anonymous 9th century CE Daoist classic that combines philosophical themes from the Daode jing with

Emptiness

We put thirty spokes together and call it a wheel;
But it is on the space where there is nothing that the usefulness of the wheel depends.
We turn clay to make a vessel;
But it is on the space where there is nothing that the usefulness of the vessel depends.
We pierce doors and windows to make a house;
And it is on these spaces where there is nothing that the usefulness of the house depends.
Therefore just as we take advantage of what is, we should recognize the usefulness of what is not. (chap. 11, tr. Waley)

Philosophical vacuity is a common theme among Asian wisdom traditions including Taoism (especially Wu wei "effortless action"), Buddhism, and some aspects of Confucianism. Wu wei ( is an important tenet of Taoism that involves knowing when to act and when not to act One could interpret the Tao Te Ching as a suite of variations on the "Powers of Nothingness". This resonates with the Buddhist Shunyata philosophy of "form is emptiness, emptiness is form. "

Looking at a traditional Chinese landscape, one can understand how emptiness (the unpainted) has the power of animating the trees, mountains, and rivers it surrounds. Landscape comprises the visible features of an area of land including physical elements such as Landforms living elements of flora and fauna abstract elements such as lighting Emptiness can mean having no fixed preconceptions, preferences, intentions, or agenda. Since "The Sage has no heart of his own; He uses the heart of the people as his heart. " (chap. 49, tr. Waley). From a ruler's point of view, it is a laissez-faire approach:

So a wise leader may say:
"I practice inaction, and the people look after themselves. Laissez-faire ( pronunciation: French,; English,) is a French phrase literally meaning Let do (“allow to do” "
But from the Sage it is so hard at any price to get a single word
That when his task is accomplished, his work done,
Throughout the country every one says: “It happened of its own accord”. (chap. 17, tr. Waley)

Knowledge and Humility

Knowing others is wisdom;
Knowing the self is enlightenment.
Mastering others requires force;
Mastering the self requires strength;
He who knows he has enough is rich.
Perseverance is a sign of will power.
He who stays where he is endures.
To die but not to perish is to be eternally present. (chap. 33, tr. Feng and English)

The Tao Te Ching praises self knowledge with emphasis on that knowledge coming with humility, to the extent of dis-acknowledging this knowledge. An interpretation on this knowledge being irrational in connection with Chapter 19 of Waley's translation on "Banish wisdom, discard knowledge, And the people will be benefited a hundredfold. " seem to be inaccurate stemming from Feisheng qizi which is a reverse phrase meaning the truly exalted (sheng) and intellectual (zi) never claimed they are, which might as well be abolishing the notions of exaltation and intellectuality, meaning humbleness and humility of one's enlightenment is crucial. Knowledge, like desire, should be diminished. "It was when intelligence and knowledge appeared that the Great Artifice began. " (chap. 18, tr. Waley), similarly another examplar on lost in translation by a sinologist, the third and fourth stanzas reads Zihui zu You Dawei, which should be read in reverse as the first and second stanzas, that when the world is full deceit and falsehoods (Dawei), wisdom and intellectuality shall arise.

Other themes

Here are some other themes inferred from the "Tao Te Ching" (with examples of instances):

Interpretations in relation to religious traditions

The relation between Taoism and Buddhism and Chan Buddhism is complex and fertile. Buddhism is a family of beliefs and practices Zen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism, referred to in Chinese as Chan. Similarly, the relationship between Taoism and Confucianism is richly interwoven, historically. Confucianism ( is a Chinese ethical and philosophical system originally developed from the teachings of the fifth century B

Since Christian missionaries were among the first Westerners to study the Tao Te Ching, it is not surprising that they connected Taoism with Christianity. A missionary is a member of a Religion who works to convert those who do not share the missionary's faith someone who proselytizes. Assimilation of local religions often helped missionary efforts to convert the populace to Christianity. They drew many parallels between the New Testament and the Tao Te Ching, for instance, "Do good to those who hate you" (Luke 6:27, tr. NASB) and "Requite injuries with good deeds" (chap. 63, tr. Waley). Note that the Chinese Bible translates logos ("the Word") as Tao ("the Way"). grc-Latn Logos (ˈloʊːgɒs ( Greek, logos) is an important term in Philosophy, Analytical psychology, Rhetoric and Religion

Two particular Tao Te Ching chapters are perceived as exemplifying Christian themes. Chapter 42 bears a resemblance to the Trinity doctrine: "The Way gave birth to unity, Unity gave birth to duality, Duality gave birth to trinity, Trinity gave birth to the myriad creatures. SSC RF "Troitsk Institute of Innovative and Termonuclear Research" or TRINITY for shprt Троицкий Институт инновационных и термоядерных " (tr. Mair 1990:9).

Zhuangzi once stated in a passage from his famous work Inner Chapters, that a great sage would come who would bring knowledge and peace to all men; though he didn't know if it would be in a thousand years or in a day. For the book with the same name see Zhuangzi (book Zhuangzi ( was an influential Chinese philosopher who lived around the 4th Naturally, this was interpreted by missionaries as a prediction or foreshadowing of Christ.

Going even further, in 1823 the French sinologist Jean-Pierre-Abel Rémusat suggested that Yahweh was signified by three words in Chapter 14; yi (夷 "calm; level; barbarian"), xi (希 "rare; indiscernible; hope"), and wei (微 "tiny, small; obscure"). Jean-Pierre Abel-Rémusat ( September 5, 1788 &ndash June 4, 1832) was a French Sinologist. For information about Yahweh see God in Abrahamic religions, which provides useful links

We look for it but do not see it; we name it "subtle. " We listen for it but do not hear it; we name it "rare. " We grope for it but do not grasp it; we name it "serene. " These three cannot be fully fathomed, Therefore, They are bound together to make unity. " (chap. 14, tr. Mair 1990:74)

James Legge (1891:57-58[1]) dismissed this hypothetical yi-xi-wei and Yahweh connection as "a mere fancy or dream". According to Holmes Welch:

It is not hard to understand the readiness of early scholars to assert that the doctrine of the Trinity was revealed in the Tao Te Ching and that its fourteenth chapter contains the syllables of "Yahveh. " Even today, though these errors have been recognized for more than a century, the general notion that Lao Tzu was Christ's forerunner has lost none of its romantic appeal. (1965:7)

Present day researchers, such as Damascene et al. (1999), continue to explore the similarities between Taoist and Christian teachings. A newer book that explores the relationship is "A Tao te Ching for Christians" by Paul Brennan.

Critics point out that these "similarities" consist of taking select passages out of context of the text as a whole, and out of the history of Chinese textual interpretation and religious practice. Passages that are incompatible with Christian doctrines, such as Chapter 5 "Heaven and Earth are not Humane (ren)"(Wing-tsit Chan trans. Professor Wing-tsit Chan (陈荣捷( August 18, 1901 - August 12, 1994) was one of the world's leading scholars of Chinese philosophy ) are ignored. This approach was started by Christian missionaries, who were actively working to supplant Chinese religions.

Translations

The Tao Te Ching has been translated into over 250 Western languages, mostly to English, German, and French. [2] According to Holmes Welch, "It is a famous puzzle which everyone would like to feel he had solved. "[3]

Most translations are written by people with a foundation in Chinese language and philosophy who are trying to render the original meaning of the text as faithfully as possible into English. Some of the more popular translations are written from a less scholarly perspective, giving an individual author's interpretation. Critics of these versions, such as Taoism scholar Eugene Eoyang, claim that translators like Mitchell produce readings of the Tao Te Ching that deviate from the text and are incompatible with the history of Chinese thought[2]. Russell Kirkland goes further to argue that these versions are based on Western Orientalist fantasies, and represent the colonial appropriation of Chinese culture[3][4]. Orientalism refers to the imitation or depiction of aspects of Eastern cultures in the West by writers designers and artists and can also refer to a sympathetic stance Other Taoism scholars, such as Michael LaFargue[5] and Johnathan Herman[6], argue that while they are poor scholarship they meet a real spiritual need in the West.

Translational difficulties

The Tao Te Ching is written in classical Chinese, which can be difficult to understand completely even for well-educated native speakers of modern Chinese. Classical Chinese or Literary Chinese is a traditional style of Written Chinese based on the Grammar and Vocabulary of ancient Chinese Classical Chinese relies heavily on allusion to a corpus of standard literary works to convey semantic meaning, nuance, and subtext. An allusion is a figure of speech that makes a reference or representation of or to a well-known person place event literary work myth, or work of art Semantics is the study of meaning in communication The word derives from Greek σημαντικός ( semantikos) "significant" from Subtext is content of a book play musical work film video game or television series which is not announced explicitly by the characters (or author but is implicit or becomes This corpus was memorized by highly-educated people in Laozi's time, and the allusions were reinforced through common use in writing, but few people today have this type of deep acquaintance with ancient Chinese literature. Thus, many levels of subtext are potentially lost on modern translators. Furthermore, many of the words that the Tao Te Ching uses are deliberately vague and ambiguous.

Since there are no punctuation marks in classical Chinese, it can be difficult to conclusively determine where one sentence ends and the next begins. Moving a period a few words forward or back or inserting a comma can profoundly alter the meaning of many passages, and such divisions and meanings must be determined by the translator. Some editors and translators argue that the received text is so corrupted (from originally being written on one-line bamboo tablets linked with silk threads) that it is impossible to understand some chapters without moving sequences of characters from one place to another.

Printed English translations

Tao Te Ching — translation by Gia-Fu Feng and Jane English
Tao Te Ching — translation by Gia-Fu Feng and Jane English

Online English translations

See also

Related concepts

References

Notes

  1. ^ Eliade (1984), p. 26
  2. ^ LaFargue, Michael and Pas, Julian. On Translating the Tao-te-ching in Kohn and LaFargue (1998), p. 277
  3. ^ Welch (1965), p. 7

External links

See above for external links to Online English translations of the Tao Te Ching.
This article contains Chinese text.
Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Chinese characters. Mojibake is the happenstance of incorrect unreadable characters (garbage characters shown when Computer software fails to render a text correctly according to its associated A Chinese character, also known as a Han character ( is a Logogram used in writing Chinese (hanzi Japanese (

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