Tao Te Ching (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)

The _Tao Te Ching_ is a collection of brief sayings and verse attributed to Lao Tzu. Lao Tzu is semi-mythical. He is traditionally supposed to have been a contemporary of Confucius (about 500 B.C.), but he may just be a "composite" of stories about various early sages. The _Tao Te Ching_ itself is probably an anthology of early wisdom literature. It is concise to the point of being cryptic. Ironically, this probably helps to account for its popularity. Since it is so hard to understand, people tend to find in it what they want to find.

For millennia, the standard text of the _Tao Te Ching_ was the "Wang Pi text," named after an early commentator. However, earlier versions of the text were unearthed in a tomb in China in the 70's. These were called the "Ma-wang-tui" versions, after the place where the tomb was located.

D.C. Lau was one of the most talented translators of the 20th century. His translations of the _Analects_ of Confucius, the _Mencius_, and the _Tao Te Ching_ are among the best available. His original translation of the _Tao Te Ching_ was based on the Wang Bi text, and was published by Penguin Books. The book on this page includes both the original Penguin Books translation and a revised translation based on the Ma-wang-tui texts.

Lau is a very well informed scholar, but he does not allow the scholarship to overwhelm the translation. The language of his translation is concise and elegant. There will always be deep controversy over how to translate this deeply enigmatic text, but Lau's interpretations are always defensible.

One disadvantage of this book is that it does not include the introduction to Lau's Penguin Books translation. That introduction was itself one of the better philosophical studies of the _Tao Te Ching_. Overall, though, this is a fine translation in an elegant (and reasonably priced) format. I strongly recommend it.

Some different, but equally good, translations are those by Victor Mair and Philip J. Ivanhoe. Mair's translation has been published as a separate book, while Ivanhoe's is included in Ivanhoe and Bryan W. Van Norden, eds., _Readings in Classical Chinese Philosophy_. If you would like some help interpreting the _Tao Te Ching_, a good collection of secondary essays is Mark Csikszentmihalyi and Philip J. Ivanhoe, eds., _Essays on Religious and Philosophical Aspects of the Laozi_.

I don't think this is because of the quality of the translation, a translation which, though occasionally a bit wordy, reads well enough in other places. I think it's more because Lau strikes me as a hard-boiled Confucian with a thesis.

Today we are all more than used to theses. The air is thick with them. Given a bit of time, any clever woman or man can easily construct one. But we should never forget what Lu Chi (+ 754-805) reminds us of in his brilliant 'Essay on Literature,' the 'Wen fu,' when he tells us that: 'Theses are convincing - but deceptive...'

Chapter 18 of the Tao Te Ching offers what seems to me to be a perfect comment on thesis books:

"When the body's intelligence declines, / cleverness and knowledge step forth" (tr. Stephen Mitchell).

In Ellen M. Chen the same passage reads: "When intelligence (hui) and knowledge (chih) appear, / There is great artificiality (wei)" (page 99).

And in Lau: "When cleverness emerges / There is great hypocrisy" (page 74).

Many readers will probably find that Lau's edition suits them well enough for their purposes, but those who might prefer an edition which is not merely scholarly but also sympathetic might take a look at Professor Ellen M. Chen's 'The Tao Te Ching - A New Translation with Commentary' (New York: Paragon House, 1989 ISBN 1-55778-238-5). I think that for your money you'll be getting a little more than "cleverness."