Customer Reviews

Tao Te Ching: The Way of Life (Mentor)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Beutifully translated version of the Tao Te Ching! This version, compared to others, seemed to be a little more tradidionally spoken and a little more difficult to understand. However, there are paraphrases written by the translator to explain the meaning of each chapter. I would greatly recommend getting this translation of the Tao Te Ching over others because it also explains the history of Lao Tzu, Taoism, Confucious, and much more. I have not seen such information in any other version.

Enjoy!

In recycling Blakney's translation from the 1950's, Signet is trying to get something for nothing, namely, your money for a lousy out-dated translation. Not only does Blakney misread the Chinese grammar in several places, his interpretations are both under-thought and under-written. If an inexpensive translation is what you're looking for, Penguin has a $5 D.C. Lao translation that isn't all that bad. If, however, you want really excellent translations, here's my advice: For a more interpretive Neo-Taoist reading, pick up Victor H. Mair's. This is a good place to start reading the Tao Te Ching, in my opinion. If, however, you want a truly excellent translation, Philip J. Ivanhoe has done quite nicely. Moss Robert's translation is just as good overall, but also includes notes on the differences between the MaWangDui and Guodian texts compared to the Wang Bi (which is what he and everyone translates), so that'd be my ideal choice. Don't buy this book, it's a cheap way for the publishing house to try and score some sales from nothing at all.
I'm currently working on a research piece on translations of P'u in the English texts, so these critiques come as the result of my working with all these books.

I think Dr. Gary Arnold's book translation, The Tao Te Ching, can have a profound transformative effect on the reader. Dr. Arnold's translation is a fresh interpretation of reality. It showed us how a wise person looks at their experience is one of many possible experiences depending on how they choose to interpret it.

It effortlessly weaves the complex metaphysical concepts into easy to understand information about mysticism.

The books full color illustrations by a New Orleans Artist are beautiful.

I believe you will love this book! It will make you think. It will make you ask profound questions. It will help you wake up and `get it'.

I was in the People's Bookstore on the East Side of Milwaukee in the 80's. I was looking at a shelf of translations for the Tao Te Ching. the proprietor took me to this book (R.B Blakney translator) and told me "this is the one". I have or have read about 12 translations. This is by far the most accurate and insightful, and is for those wanting to practice.

Another translation by Steven Mitchel is beautiful and poetic and makes a good gift. The one by R.B. Blakney on this review though is the real deal.

I had read the Tao Te Ching before and found it very enlightening, but a friend suggested I get this particular copy. This book has quite a bit of amazing info about Chinese mysticism before getting to the body of the book. In fact, there is more about Chinese mysticism than there is about Tao! R B Blakney's insight about the mysticism is quite quite informative. His interpretations of the actual Tao are very interesting, although from a purely spiritual basis (I am no expert!!!), do not always agree. That being said, it does give one a different perspective and is well worth the read. I highly recommend it.

Blakney's Tao Te Ching is, like that of Paul Carus, interesting as a historical document in the development of an English literature and perspective on Lao Tzu's enduring masterpiece, the Tao Te Ching. Again like Carus, however, Blakney's language is often dated, and the paraphrasing that appears at the bottom of each poem, as if in translation of the translation, is distracting at best. For enthusiasts of Lao Tzu who like to study the development of our understanding of this marvelous view of life in the history of its articulation into English, having a copy of the Blakney is essential. But for those who wish to simply enjoy Lao Tzu's voice in a modern English rendering, the work of Ursula LeGuin, Stephen Mithcell, or Feng/English would be sufficient. ...