Customer Reviews

The Wisdom of Laotse

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One of my most treasured possessions is battered old Chinese paperback I picked up for the equivalent of about fifty cents many years ago. The print is uneven and smudged, the paper is poor-quality with lots of show-through, and the book isn't even properly bound but has just been stapled together.

So why do I treasure it? Well, in the first place because it's a book of selections from a man I personally consider to be the wisest and wittiest philosophical writer the world has ever seen, the Taoist Chuang-tzu. I also treasure it because, although I've looked at many different editions of Chuang-tzu, I've never seen him translated so well. The translator is Lin Yutang, a man who almost got the Nobel prize for his literary accomplishments, and if you read him you'll understand why.

The present book, 'The Wisdom of Laotse,' has also always been very special to me. In it, Lin Yutang has had the brilliant idea of interspersing, chapter-by-chapter along with his translation of Lao-tzu's Tao Te Ching, a very generous selection of passages from his marvelous version of Chuang-tzu which help to point up and expand upon the themes of the Tao Te Ching.

Lin Yutang, in other words, has given us both the Tao Te Ching and the essence of Chuang-tzu between the covers of the same book. Both of these are works to nourish the spirit, works we often find ourselves returning to, a true treasure of wisdom spiced with fun.

It's unfortunate that the Lin Yutang is now out-of-print. It's an older translation, but I don't think it's ever really been bettered. And Lao-tzu could have no finer commentator than Chuang-tzu. Perhaps you'll get lucky and be able to find a used copy. I hope so, as I don't think you'll regret it.

The full title of the present book is: 'LAO-TZU TE-TAO CHING: A New Translation Based on the Recently Discovered Ma-wang-tui Texts, Translated, with an introduction and commentary, by Robert G. Henricks.'

Those who haven't the foggiest idea what the Ma-wang-tui Texts are, should betake themselves to Red Pine's translation of 'Lao-tzu's Taoteching,' a book far more suited to the beginner, where they will find a very clear explanation on pages xvii-xviii. The present book is more for the advanced student, and preferably one who knows a little Classical Chinese.

Red Pine tells us that two copies of the Tao Te Ching were discovered in Ma-wang-tui in 1973 which had been brush-written on silk over two thousand years earlier, buried with a nobleman along with other of his prized possessions, and that they were in a remarkable state of preservation.

Here was something to fire the imagination of all Tao Te Ching scholars, whether amateur or professional, an innocent class of folks who, rather than plotting such things as the overthrow of the state, prefer to busy themselves with puzzling over the minute textual differences between the various recensions of the Tao Te Ching and deciding for themselves what Lao Tzu - who may or may not have been an actual person - really meant.

The Ma-wang-tui discovery was a bonanza for such folks, for although the differences between the received text/s and the newly unearthed manuscripts were minute, they were many. And what was most wonderful of all, the MW manuscripts had been brushed in the wrong order, with the received Part I (Chapters 1-37) on Tao coming last, and Part II (Chapters 38-79) on Te coming first.

Gleefully seizing on this unprecedented and amazing factoid, our hearty band of TTC scholars, both amateur and professional, formally declared that the texts of the MW manuscripts were henceforth to be known, not as the Tao Te Ching (TTC) but as the Te Tao Ching (TTC), and that they should be printed in that order. Such are the ways of the delightful species to which we have the honor of belonging. Those who are bothered by the new order have a simple remedy at hand - read the last Part first and the first Part last.

Professor Henricks' edition of the TTC, after a brief though interesting Introduction of just 20 pages, consists of two parts. In the first part we are given the bare English text of his very fine and readable (though occasionally wordy) translation, wholly uncluttered by scholarly impedimenta, and it's a great pleasure to read.

In the second part Professor Henricks' brings out his big guns, and we are given another copy of the English translation we have just read, but this time lineated, and accompanied with full philological Comments and Notes, with, on facing pages, the Chinese texts of the two MW Texts A and B, punctuated as in the manuscripts, and with many of the usual tiny empty square blocks to indicate lost or illegible characters. These little blocks measure precisely 3mm x 3mm, and I shall touch on the significance of this later.

Since more of Text B has been lost than of Text A, the translation is based mainly upon Text A, helped out occasionally with bits and pieces from B. But it gets better. For - yes, you guessed it - Texts A and B are not exactly the same! You can imagine the dizzying complications that have resulted from this, more than enough to keep TTC-ites happily scribbling away for at least a century. Professor Henricks' scholarly edition of the MW Texts is rounded out with a section of Additional Notes, and with a 6-page Bibliography.

I have only two criticisms. The first is that the Chinese on each facing page of Part 2 is printed in such an incredibly miniscule 3mm x 3 mm font that it is impossible to make out the structure of unfamiliar complex characters without recourse to a magnifier of some sort.

The Chinese text, in other words, can be barely readable, and on some pages takes up only five percent or so of the total area so that we are left with large areas of totally blank space, more than enough in which to have printed a large, bold, and clear Chinese text - if only someone had given a thought to our eyes, and to our not-always optimal lighting conditions. Publishers might note that every Chinese character is an *exquisitely balanced and supreme work of art* and was intended to be writ BOLD.

My second criticism has to do with the Bibliography, where all Chinese names and book titles are given only in romanized form, which means that they might as well not have been given at all. No less a luminary than the eminent British scientist and Sinologist, Professor Joseph Needham, in his magisterial multi-volume 'Science and Civilization in China,' has pointed out that it is an extreme discourtesy to omit the Chinese graphs (ideograms, characters) from bibliographical descriptions, since even native Chinese scholars will often be totally baffled by the results. Also it's easy enough to add the characters in a separate list at the end, as Professor Ellen M. Chen has done in her superb edition of the TTC. ...

All in all then, though not an edition for the beginner, Professor Henricks' TTC is one calculated to appeal to all TTC enthusiasts and other specialists, who ought certainly to consider adding it to their libraries. The English reads well, the notes are interesting, and it's fun to explore the Chinese MW Texts provided you keep a magnifier handy.

The first version of the TTC that really left me feeling closer to Laozi than farther away. Henricks has put a lot of effort and love into this work and it shows. A bonus feature is that there are two versions: First, the bare text of the TTC, printed without commentary for those times when you just want to absorb the beautiful words. Next, the full text, but with lots of useful notes and commentary to help you understand what the author is saying. I find the commentary to be very thoughtful; Henricks defers at times to other translators and tells us WHY he chose to translate certain passages the way he did, and the alternatives that exist for those who want to disagree with him. Essentially, a non-egotstical approach that many scholars would do well to emulate. Because of the innumerable ways it can be translated, the best way to read the Laozi is to read as many versions as you can get, I suggest that this one will be one of your favorites right away.

I found this book in 1973 at age 13 after reading a TV guide profile of the show Kung Fu. It said that the show's philosophy was based on the Taoist writings of Lao Tse. I found a copy of this book in a used bookstore and it started me on a lifelong love and appreciation of this simple, natural and profound philosophy. I have found myself turning to this book at nearly all of my life's crossroads. I am now looking for a second copy because my original is so extensively highlighted and underlined, the binding's falling apart and I want to start all over again with a clean copy.
I have since read every collection and translation of Laoste and Chuangtse that I could find. They ranged from great to bad to unintentionally hilarious. This is still my dearest and most treasured one by far. Yutangs translation is direct and poetic. I love his idea of using Chuantse's parables to expand upon Lao Tse's verses. This book should still be in print.

Outstanding translation into Western idiom of Taoist concepts. This book is especially useful for linking Chuang-Tsu and Lao-Tsu allowing the reader to develop a systematic understanding of the two major thinkers of the Taoist tradition.

Competent and caring interperetation of Tao te ching, focused on the 1973 Ma Wang Tui findings, including the Chinese original texts and extensive explanatory comments.One of the best I have come across.

Forget Stephen Mitchell. Not only is Henricks' translation more accurate and insightful, but his brief introducion is much more valuable than Mitchell's entire interpolation and endnotes. The text itsef is beautifully rendered and captures the spirit of Tao perfectly, and the duplication of the entire book, with notes on the meaning and technical details of the text, should be quite valuable for scholars and dedicated Taoists who can't read Classical Chinese.

Yes, there _are_ better translations of the Tao Te Ching out there, but Henricks's is the best one still available in bookstores.

The Te-Tao Ching is the Taoist must to have and understand, a truly enlightening book. This is the book that began my interest in Taoism, but not all Taoism the alchemic Taoism I find to be too unusual for me. So I study philosophical Taoism and this book is the one to begin with in my opinion no matter what part of Taoism you want to study. The translations are thought out well and explained to the reader in a very straitforward matter without being to complicated. If you enjoy philosophy I suggest you read this book.

I have had this Yutang translation for twenty years and I still come back to it for it's wisdom and the beautiful enrichment I find from including both LaoTse and Chuangtse, the latter of which I love for his somewhat more tricksterish qualities. I've read many other transiations of the Tao, and while I also enjoyed Stephen Mitchell's, there is something about Lin Yutang's translation that feels soulful. And I love the little stories that get included to further illuminate the discussions of chapters.

Very good book. I got this book from the library before I bought it. Would recommend it to all interested.