Customer Reviews

The Tao of Peace

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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."