The Way and Its Power: Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching and Its Place in Chinese Thought (UNESCO collection of representative works) [Paperback]

Lao Tzu (Author), Arthur Waley (Translator)

Book Description

Series: UNESCO collection of representative works | Publication Date: January 20, 1994

Arthur Waley’s brilliant and definitive translation of one of the foremost of all mystical books, Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching, has become a modern classic in its own right. Unlike previous translations, it is founded not on the medieval commentaries but on a close study of all the early Chinese literature, and it provides a singular example of authoritative scholarship skillfully blended with brilliant, precise writing. In his introduction, Dr. Waley gives an extensive scholarly account of Chinese thought down to the end of the third century B.C. Here, the author presents a full picture of Chinese prehistory, early philosophy, and literature, showing the original, lofty conception of Taoism before the gradual corruption through the course of centuries, tracing this conflict of philosophies and its background of politics.

Product Details

• Paperback: 262 pages
• Publisher: Grove Press (January 20, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802150853
• ISBN-13: 978-0802150851
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #69,809 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #27 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Bible & Other Sacred Texts > Tao Te Ching
  • #52 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Other Eastern Religions > Taoism

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

54 of 57 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars By a translator of genius with much to teach us all., May 11, 2001

By 

tepi "tepi" - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Way and Its Power: Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching and Its Place in Chinese Thought (UNESCO collection of representative works) (Paperback)

The full title of the present book is: 'THE WAY AND ITS POWER - A Study of the TAO TE CHING and Its Place in Chinese Thought by ARTHUR WALEY. The book, which was first published in 1934 and has often been reprinted, besides containing a study of the historical and intellectual background, also contains a complete translation of the Tao Te Ching.

Waley, who was one of the great Sinologists of the twentieth century, is perhaps better known to most as a translator of Chinese poetry. His 'Translations from the Chinese,' the book which contains, among other treasures, the marvelous poems of T'ao Ch'ien, Po Chu-I, and Wang Wei, has been reissued many times. And although we have seen other excellent translations of Chinese poetry from writers such as A. C. Graham, Kenneth Rexroth, and Gary Snyder, none of them have had the impact of Waley. Chinese poetry, for most, is and always will mean Arthur Waley. His influence has been overwhelming.

I would attribute his enormous success to two things. In the first place, there is the very special quality of his English, a quality impossible to describe. In the second place, Waley was a master at evoking an atmosphere, a feeling tone, that strikes one as authentically Chinese. So good was he at this that one sometimes gets the feeling, as one does when reading the poems of Emily Dickinson (whose mind had a very Chinese cast), that they must have been Chinese souls who had somehow strayed and ended up reincarnating in Western bodies.

The particular beauty of Waley's style, a style which despite its age still strikes one as modern, will also be found at work in the present book. The book falls into two parts. The first gives us a 100-page Introduction which covers such topics as The Hedonists, Quietism, The Language Crisis, The Realists, The Mystic Basis of Realism, The Tao Te Ching, The Sheng, The Literary Methods of the Book, and the Author. Then follow six Appendices which treat of such matters as Authorship in Early China, Foreign Influence, Taoist Yoga, Text and Commentaries, etc. Then comes the translation itself, after which Waley rounds out the book with some Additional Notes and an Index.

Waley's translations of each Chapter of the Tao Te Ching are followed either by a Paraphrase, a brief Commentary, or, in most cases, simply a few footnotes. The notes are brief, practical, and invariably helpful, and are designed to assist both the general reader and those with access to the Chinese text to arrive at a better understanding of the text. Waley's approach, in other words, has a distinctly old-world and British feel, and is designed to appeal, not to the pedant or technical specialist, but to gentlemen and gentlemen scholars, and ladies also, who are seriously interested in understanding the thought of Lao Tzu. Chapter XLIII gives us a good example of Waley's style and basic procedure:

"What is of all things most yielding
Can overwhelm that which is of all things most hard.
Being substanceless it can enter even where there is no space;
That is how I know the value of action that is actionless.
But that there can be teaching without words,
Value in action that is actionless,
Few indeed can understand."

Readers are referred to the book itself for Waley's two brief informative notes on these lines.

Waley, who mastered both Chinese and Japanese, but who wisely refused to visit the East for obvious reasons, was undoubtedly something of a genius, and he has much to teach us all. His edition can be recommended with confidence to anyone who is looking for a study of Ancient Chinese thought along with an uncluttered, authoritative, and readable version of the Tao Te Ching.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A splendid scholarly translation of the Tao Te Ching, September 12, 2006

By 

The Emperor of Antarctica (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Way and Its Power: Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching and Its Place in Chinese Thought (UNESCO collection of representative works) (Paperback)

Arthur Waley's scholarship is impeccable. He, I believe, correctly categorizes a translation of the Tao Te Ching as either conforming to the original times in which it was written or as representing current language and thought that is to be applied to one's life today. His translation is of the former type. I think both types of translation are important. I would call his type the scholarly type and the latter type a mystical type of translation. I sense that Arthur Waley was not a mystic, but took great care in trying to uncover the original sense of the works that he translated. Whereas, someone like Alan Watts would be able to wander back and forth between the scholarly and the mystical. Arthur Waley's translation of the Tao Te Ching is very good and also definitely worth reading for his notes and commentaries.

16 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Tao Te Ching in the context of Chinese thought, November 19, 2003

By 

Damon Navas-Howard (Santa Rosa, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Way and Its Power: Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching and Its Place in Chinese Thought (UNESCO collection of representative works) (Paperback)

Arthur Waley's "The Way And Its Power: Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching And Its Place In Chinese Thought," as the title states, is a translation and commentary on the Tao Te Ching in the context of Chinese philosophy and thought. With this said, I would like to warn you that if you are looking for a good, readable translation of the Tao Te Ching with emphasis on the philosophical and "spiritual" aspect of the work, then I would recommend looking elsewhere such as Stephen Mitchell or R.B. Blankey's translations. Arthur Waley's book is better suited for readers who are interested in Chinese philosophy and the "Taoist" role in it. In his introduction, Arthur Waley gives a rather detailed report on the evolution of Chinese religious practice and philosophy. He addresses the early days of Chinese religious practice of sacrifice and ritual, many of the great Chinese thinkers such as Confucius, Mencius, Mo Tzu, Chuang Tzu, Sung Tzu, and other schools of philosophy such as Quietism, Hedonism, the Realists, and "Taoism." While I find all of the information here useful and interesting, I found it trailed off from the subject of the Tao Te Ching. If it had been a book about Chinese philosophy only then you would hear no complaints from me but I feel as though Arthur Waley wanders off the subject at hand. Arthur Waley goes on to discuss what little is known about the history of the Tao Te Ching and Lao Tzu. The translation of the Tao Te Ching itself is very literal and wordy, loosing the beauty and free flowing nature of other translations. Each chapter is followed by a short commentary and a series of commentary, usually discussing the meaning of the Chinese words and its relation to other Chinese philosophy.

I thought it was well worth reading for the information and insight I got from the information on Chinese philosophy but I felt it had little to do with the message of the "Tao Te Ching" other than the political chapters of the book. The translation would make me not want to read it again. I think out of all the "spiritual" texts I've read, the Tao Te Ching is the hardest to analyze and make concentrate since it goes against the whole message of the book. I think it is better just to find a good translation of it and just read it for what it is.