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Tao Te Ching: A New Translation with Commentary

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The Tao Te Ching: A New Translation With Commentary. Translated and edited by Ellen M. Chen. New York: Paragon House, 1989. Paperback, 274 pages. ISBN 1557782385

Although I must have collected upwards of twenty different editions of the Tao Te Ching over the years, Ellen M. Chen's has always stood at the top of my list and it's a shame this truly wonderful edition isn't better known.

Chen, who is a Professor of Philosophy at St. John's University in Jamaica, New York, is not your usual sort of scholar, the type who views ancient wisdom texts as a mere quarry for materials. In contrast to the sterile type of academic who pride themselves on a purely illusory 'scientific objectivity,' Chen is a dynamic and concerned personality who seems utterly committed to trying to get the world to see the fantastic importance and value of the Tao Te Ching.

For her, in fact, the wisdom of the Tao Te Ching is a wisdom that could save us from the utter ruin the human race is heading for, if only we would start to take that wisdom seriously. Hers is a wise, well-written, thoroughly researched work which rises way above the usual run of scholarship, and it is far too rich for me to be able to do justice to it here.

Briefly the work falls into three parts. First we are given a full and quite unique 48-page Introduction in three chapters: 1. Date and Authorship of the Tao Te Ching; 2. The Tao Te Ching as a Religious Treatise; and 3. Use and Translation of the Text. Chapter 2, which is divided into six sections, is a minor masterpiece, and even if you don't intend to acquire the book, you should certainly read her 'Humans Become Gods on Earth,' 'Two Pseudo-Religions of the Twentieth Century,' and 'Religion For or Against Life' (pages 31-39). Here in a nutshell you will find her striking analysis of the essence of the modern problem, and its solution. I often return to her words, and I wish there were some way of getting everyone in the world to both read them and take them to heart.

The second and main part of the work is made up of her New Translation and Commentary. For each Chapter of the Tao Te Ching we are given: 1. A translation with interspersed key terms given in Chinese; 2. A brief General Comment on the import of the chapter; and 3. Very full and valuable detailed comments. Chen is a well-qualified scholar and highly competent translator, and her work reads very well indeed. Here is a brief example from Chapter 32 (page 133):

Tao everlasting (ch'ang)
is the nameless uncarved wood (p'u).
Though small,
Nothing under heaven can subjugate it (mo neng ch'en).
If kings and barons can abide by (shou) it,
All creatures will arrive as guests (pin) to a banquet.

Her interspersing of the Chinese is a marvelous device, and provides a painless way of aquiring a vocabulary of key Chinese terms. The third part of the book, besides containing a full and scholarly 13-page Bibliography of both Western and Chinese sources along with an index, also contains a detailed 12-page Chinese glossary which gives the romanization and Chinese graphs (characters, ideograms) for all Chinese names and terms used in the book.

The Tao of Ellen Chen is evident everywhere throughout this book, and she has placed a splendid banquet before us. It is a banquet to which we have all been invited. I'm certainly glad I didn't miss it.

The book by Ellen Chen is outstanding for the completeness and clarity of its comments. Anyone who is at all serious about studying the Tao Te Ching needs to read several interpretations to get an idea of just how ambiguous the original text is. One translation is simply not adequate. You will find that different chapters seem to be translated more fittingly by different references. No one author will convey the message most convincingly to you for every single chapter, and what is best for you may not be best for me.

I first compiled my favored, composite translation of the Tao Te Ching 23 years ago. At that time I relied mostly on the translations (and commentary) of Wing-Tsit Chan and Lin Yutang, although I used about 8 references altogether. I recently checked out of the library three new translations, including the one by Chen, in order to compare them with the earlier works. As I delved into Chen's book I became more and more impressed by her translation, and especially by her commentary. Although for me, Wing-Tsit Chan still has the more consistently preferred translation, I am learning much more from Chen's commentary than I ever learned from other works. I think it is a shame that her book is seldom cited in lists of "best translations" of the Tao Te Ching. Her work is far more penetrating and lucid than all the favorites.

Even if you finally decide of a particular section that you prefer another translation to Chen's, you will learn much from her explanations. I'm going to buy my own copy when I return the one I have to the library!

Like Dave in the other commentary I have read all available versions of the Tao te Ching with an eye at writing an artist version of it to explore a way for artists to give a spiritual context to their artisticactivity. I also run A Cherag's Library and have a wide ranging familiarity with sacred texts in general. I found Ellen Chen's work so extraordinary in terms of quality and sensitivity and depth and clarity that, for my personal study of The Tao te Ching, it is the ONLY version that I keep close to me for study and inspiration. When you read a lot of translations of this book it becomes clear that each translator has their own agenda, their own weaknesses and strengths and they can lead a text in many different directions. I came to have a great respect in this regard for this work by Ms Chen. It is the best.

I've read ~30 translations of the Tao Te Ching, and Ellen Chen's is easily the finest. It is not just that the Tao is itself a book of deep insight and wisdom. Ms. Chen's translation is simply enormously more insightful and, well, right on, than anyone else's. Each chapter is a little masterpiece; the wisdom cointained in the Tao simply shines much more brightly through Ms. Chen's translation than through anyone else's that I've read (I've read all of the readily-available translations). Each chapter comes with extensive commentary, where the author respectfully discusses alternate readings for the chapter, including her rationale for her particular choice. These discussions themselves are enormously helpful in bringing out both the subtleties of the text and that ineffable quality of which the text itself speaks. Translations of the Tao vary greatly in quality. Do yourself a favor. Whether you're buying your first copy of the Tao or your 10th, don't just buy any translation, buy this one.

In our humble opinion, this work should be seen as superior to all other translations and interpretations of the Tao Te Ching; and I have read and studied over 20 of these while developing a synthesis for a multimedia CD. This text contains a very broad and deep foreword. The verse translations and commentaries are both very authentic and yet poetically spiritual. It further contains a bibliography, a glossary of Chinese terms and an index.

This excellent book contains ones of the most detailed and nuanced views of the Daodejing available to date, via the author's comparative use of the influential early commentaries of Wang Bi and Heshanggong. The author goes on to develop her own interpretations as well. This book has been overlooked for too long!

Ellen Chen's translation, along with her excellent commentaries for each chapter is one of the best.

I rank it up there with Derek Lin's version for its clarity and succinctness.

While these two versions don't always agree, they do offer more than just a translation. I believe that is a major plus factor.

Although the "Tao Te Ching" isn't a work of philosophy, it's often treated as a work of philosophy. And it's not a religious work either, even though that's how publisher Paragon House classifies it. Those interested in the "Tao Te Ching" as it's viewed within its original culture will find Ellen M. Chen's translation and scholarly commentaries welcome.

Even Lao Tzu didn't understand the Tao. The Tao is not an entity. Because nothing exists there's nothing to understand.

In Taoism, the Black and White are the same. If you look at the classic symbol of the Tao, the Black is the Source which is Non-Being, and the White is the Phenomenal Universe which has no independent or self-existence--i.e., Emptiness. There is a white dot in the Black, and a black dot in the White. The principle is motion, the eternal wheel.

(Some people are confused and think the Tao symbol represents opposites, and the dots mean every opposite contains within itself the potential for its opposite. This is an erroneous view, as there are no opposites. Such people were responsible for the decline of Taoism into a vapid Yin-Yang cult.)

As the great Japanese Zen Master Dogen observed, everything is The Flow. The Flow is constant Becoming. How can anything become anything if it is anything? Therefore, the Universe can only exist because its Source is Non-Being. Non-Being is The Flow. If there is even a hair of a thing, there can be no existence. There would be no Flow. It sounds like a paradox, but it's true: without Emptiness, there would be nothing.

There are six senses. The sixth sense perceives mental phenomena. That includes thoughts as well as the direct perception of Non-Being. The human mind perceives Non-Being without interruption. All sentient beings, including animals, directly perceive Non-Being. The mind is said to be like a mirror because it reflects The Flow.

The Ancients as they observed the heavens and the earth remarked: "X is not X; thus it is truly X." This is how they brought Black and White together. It's the non-duality of Non-Being and Emptiness.

Explanations are abstractions and abstract mentation is a tool. To mistake words for truth is to be turned by words; to not be deceived by words is to be the master of words. The Ancients expressed it this way: to cling to words is to be revolved by the Sutra (the sayings of the Buddha); to be master of words is to revolve the Sutra (i.e., have freedom of action, the actualization of Emptiness). Insight upon insight, confusion upon confusion, more words can't make more understanding.

Translation is dangerous for the reader and the translator. I'm not putting words into Ellen M. Chen's mouth. I like her translation because she allows Lao Tzu to speak for himself, and that allows him to speak to us. How he speaks to you may not be how he speaks to me.