The Tao of Peace [Hardcover]

Wang Chen (Author), Ralph D. Sawyer (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 15, 2000

     Wang Chen, a ninth-century military commander, was sickened by the carnage that had plagued the glorious Tang dynasty for decades. "All within the seas were poisoned," he wrote, "and pain and disaster was rife throughout the land." He wondered: How are we humans ever to rectify our self-destructive tendencies? How can we find a true pacifism, one that will end conflicts before they begin? For the answer he turned to a remarkable source: not to the prevailing theories of human nature and governance of Confucianism, but to the classic text known as the Tao Te Ching.
     
     The Tao Te Ching has been a philosophical linchpin of Taoism for more than a thousand years. Though it is often viewed as having a mystical, quietist, even nihilist dimension, Wang Chen found in the Tao Te Ching quite a different aspect: one that offered a cosmological anchor for the patterns of human society and an explanation for the dynamics of conflict. Penetrating the Tao and embracing its patterns, he believed, would lead to true empowerment in the everyday world of political realities – not in some transcendent, ethereal realm. Here is his own rendering of and commentary on the ancient text, elucidating the ancient classic's "Tao of peace." Wang Chen's commentary is amplified and expanded by translator Ralph Sawyer, a leading scholar of Chinese military history.
     

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Students of Sunzi (Sun-tzu), author of the Art of War, tell us that he was more interested in peace than war and that he even had a Taoist slant. Wang Chen, a military commander of early ninth-century China, went a step further, turning Laozi's Dao De Jing into a manual for peace. Having experienced the horrors of war firsthand, Wang reflected on the causes of conflict and solutions for peace. Commenting on each chapter of the Dao De Jing, he elucidates his and Laozi's ideas. Wang is practical in terms of nonviolence, realizing that force can be necessary. Instead of strict avoidance of conflict, he emphasizes the paramount role of a leader. "To be able to gain the hearts of people, one must realize himself. One who is able to realize himself will certainly be pliant and weak." The obviously masculine characteristics of a successful leader must be balanced by feminine virtues. Equally important, a leader's desires must be reduced, because desire, leading to greed, is one of the root causes of conflict. The Sawyers, seasoned translators of China's military classics, include their own translation of the Dao De Jing, plus helpful comments on Wang's commentary. With more leaders like Wang Chen, we would need fewer like Sunzi. --Brian Bruya

About the Author

Ralph D. Sawyer has studied Chinese intellectual history at Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and National Taiwan University. He is the translator of Ling Ch'i Ching, The Art of War, The Seven Miltary Classics of Ancient China, and Sun Pin's Military Methods.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 225 pages
• Publisher: Shambhala; 1st edition (February 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1570625115
• ISBN-13: 978-1570625114
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,265,971 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Ian Myles Slater on: General Lao-tzu?, March 26, 2004

By 

Ian M. Slater "aylchanan" (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Tao of Peace (Hardcover)

The Sawyer translation of Wang Chen's T'ang Dynasty commentary on "Lao Tzu" (the "Tao Te Ching") as a guide to military and civil policy has been reissued in paperback by Westview (2003), as "The Tao of War," with Ralph D. Sawyer's name more prominently displayed than Wang Chen's, and a catalogue of Westview editions of Sawyer's books as an appendix of "Further Reading."

I have reviewed the Westview edition at greater length. Both editions consist of a translation of each of the eighty-one short chapters of the "Tao Te Ching", as understood by Wang Chen, followed by Wang Chen's commentary, and a modern explication of Wang Chen. General Wang Chen's book was written around 800 C.E., and is a departure from the better-known religious and philosophical readings of the Taoist classic. As Sawyer points out, however, it agrees in basic approach, if not in details, with a number of modern attempts to understand the book as a product of the Warring States period, and concerned with problems of society and government.

NOTE: The present volume should NOT be confused with a book by Diane Dreher, variously published as "The Tao of Peace: A Modern Guide to the Ancient Way of Peace and Harmony ," and "The Tao of Inner Peace: A Guide to Inner and Outer Peace."