Tao Te Ching

A new presentation of the classic spiritual work places its eighty-one verses in an accessible format for both casual and serious students, in a new translation that seeks to illuminate the timeless relevance of its message. Original.

Zusatztext "It would be hard to find a fresh approach to a text that ranks only behind the Bible as the most widely translated book in the world! but Star achieves that goal. . . . As fascinating to the casual scholar as it is for the serious student." - NAPRA ReView "Jonathan Star's Tao Te Ching achieves the essential: It clarifies the meaning of the text without in the slightest reducing its mystery." -Jacob Needleman Informationen zum Autor ABOUT THE TRANSLATORS Gia-fu Feng was born in Shanghai in 1919, was educated in China, and came to the United States in 1947 to study comparative religion. He held a BA from Peking University and an MA from the University of Pennsylvania. He taught at Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California, and directed Stillpoint Foundation, a Taoist community in Colorado. Gia-fu Feng died in 1985. Jane English, whose photographs from the integral part of the book, holds a BA from Mount Holyoke College and received her doctorate from the University of Wisconsin in experimental high energy particle physics. In 1985 she found her own publishing business, Earth Heart. Her books and calendars include Different Doorway: Adventures of Caesarean Born, Mount Shasta: Where Heaven and Earth Meet (with Jenny Cole) and the yearly Tao Te Ching Calendar. She was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1942. Chuang Tsu/ Inner Chapter (1974), a companion volume to Lao Tsu/ Tao Te Ching , is a direct outcome of the successful collaboration between Gia-fu Feng and Jane English on the Tao Te Ching. Klappentext In the hands of Jonathan Star, the eighty-one verses of the Tao Te Ching resound with the elegant, simple images and all-penetrating ideas that have made this ancient work a cornerstone of the world's wisdom literature. 1 Gateway to All Marvels The Tao that can be Told Is not the True Tao; Names that can be Named Are not True Names. The Origin of Heaven and Earth Has no Name. The Mother of the Myriad Things Has a Name. Free from Desire, Contemplate the Inner Marvel; With Desire, Observe the Outer Radiance. These issue from One Source, But have different Names. They are both a Mystery. Mystery of Mysteries, Gateway to All Marvels. The River Master The Tao that can be Told is the mundane Tao of the Art of Government, as opposed to the True Tao of Nature, of the So-of-Itself, of Long Life, of Self-Cultivation through Non-Action. This is the Deep Tao, which cannot be Told in Words, which cannot be Named. The Names that can be Named are such worldly things as Wealth, Pomp, Glory, Fame, and Rank. The Ineffable Tao Emulates the Wordless Infant, It resembles The Unhatched Egg, The Bright Pearl within the Oyster, The Beauteous Jade amongst Pebbles. It cannot be Named. The Taoist glows with Inner Light, but seems outwardly dull and foolish. The Tao itself has no Form, it can never be Named. The Root of the Tao Proceeds from Void, From Non-Being, It is the Origin, The Source of Heaven and Earth, Mother of the Myriad Things, Nurturing All-under-Heaven, As a Mother Nurtures her Children. Magister Liu The single word Tao is the very Core of this entire Classic, its lifeblood. Its Five Thousand Words speak of this Tao and of nothing else. The Tao itself Can never be Seen. We can but witness it Inwardly, Its Origin, Mother of the Myriad Things. The Tao itself can never be Named, It cann...

Auteur

ABOUT THE TRANSLATORS

Gia-fu Feng was born in Shanghai in 1919, was educated in China, and came to the United States in 1947 to study comparative religion.  He held a BA from Peking University and an MA from the University of Pennsylvania.  He taught at Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California, and directed Stillpoint Foundation, a Taoist community in Colorado.  Gia-fu Feng died in 1985.

Jane English, whose photographs from the integral part of the book, holds a BA from Mount Holyoke College and received her doctorate from the University of Wisconsin in experimental high energy particle physics.  In 1985 she found her own publishing business, Earth Heart.  Her books and calendars include Different Doorway: Adventures of Caesarean Born, Mount Shasta: Where Heaven and Earth Meet (with Jenny Cole) and the yearly Tao Te Ching Calendar.  She was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1942.

Chuang Tsu/ Inner Chapter (1974), a companion volume to Lao Tsu/ Tao Te Ching, is a direct outcome of the successful collaboration between Gia-fu Feng and Jane English on the Tao Te Ching.

Texte du rabat

In the hands of Jonathan Star, the eighty-one verses of the Tao Te Ching resound with the elegant, simple images and all-penetrating ideas that have made this ancient work a cornerstone of the world's wisdom literature.

Échantillon de lecture

1
 
Gateway to All Marvels
 
The Tao that can be Told
 
Is not the True Tao;
 
Names that can be Named
 
Are not True Names.
 
The Origin of Heaven and Earth
 
Has no Name.
 
The Mother of the Myriad Things
 
Has a Name.
 
Free from Desire,
 
Contemplate the Inner Marvel;
 
With Desire,
 
Observe the Outer Radiance.
 
These issue from One Source,
 
But have different Names.
 
They are both a Mystery.
 
Mystery of Mysteries,
 
Gateway to All Marvels.
 
 
 
 
The River Master
 
The Tao that can be Told is the mundane Tao of the Art of Government, as opposed to the True Tao of Nature, of the So-of-Itself, of Long Life, of Self-Cultivation through Non-Action. This is the Deep Tao, which cannot be Told in Words, which cannot be Named. The Names that can be Named are such worldly things as Wealth, Pomp, Glory, Fame, and Rank.
 
The Ineffable Tao
 
Emulates the Wordless Infant,
 
It resembles
 
The Unhatched Egg,
 
The Bright Pearl within the Oyster,
 
The Beauteous Jade amongst Pebbles.
 
It cannot be Named.
 
The Taoist glows with Inner Light, but seems outwardly dull and foolish. The Tao itself has no Form, it can never be Named.
 
The Root of the Tao
 
Proceeds from Void,
 
From Non-Being,
 
It is the Origin,
 
The Source of Heaven and Earth,
 
Mother of the Myriad Things,
 
Nurturing All-under-Heaven,
 
As a Mother Nurtures her Children.
 
 
 
 
Magister Liu
 
The single word Tao is the very Core of this entire Classic, its lifeblood. Its Five Thousand Words speak of this Tao and of nothing else.
 
The Tao itself
 
Can never be
 
Seen.
 
We can but witness it
 
Inwardly,
 
Its Origin,
 
Mother of the Myriad Things.
 
The Tao itself can never be
 
Named,
 
It cannot be Told.
 
And yet we resort to Words, such as Origin, Mother, and Source.
 
Every Marvel
 
Contemplated,
 
Every Radiance
 
Observed,
 
Issues from this One Source.
 
They go by different Names,
 
But are part of the same
 
Greater Mystery,
 
The One Tao, the Origin, the Mother.
 
In freedom from Desire,
 
We look within
 
And Contemplate
 
The Inner Marvel,
 
Not with eyes
 
But inwardly
 …