Tao Te Ching
Ratings133
Average rating4
No soy ni filósofo ni historiador, y seguramente no tengo ninguna perspicacia original respecto al Tao Te Ching; sólo anoto que disfruté mucho de esta traducción de Alejandro Bárcenas.
Ouvrage fondateur du taoïsme, d'une immense sagesse. Je pense que j'avais envie de surligner l'entiereté de ces pages tellement elles étaient emplies de savoir. Une extrêmement belle philosophie qui gagnerait à être plus connue, très loin de velléités guerrières de beaucoup de religions. Je pense sérieusement que chaque personne devrait prendre le temps de découvrir ces quelques pages, cela pourrait changer beaucoup de choses en bien 🙏🏻
“The tallest tree begins as a tiny sprout. The tallest building starts with one shovel of dirt. A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single footstep. If you rush into action, you will fail. If you hold on too tight, you will lose your grip. “
A life's work:
“Hold on the center.”
“In dwelling, live close to the ground. in thinking, keep to the simple. in conflict, be fair and generous. In governing, don't try to control. In work, do what you enjoy. In family life, be completely present. When you are content to be simply yourself and don't compare or compete, everybody will respect you.”
“Receptive as a valley.”
“He simply reminds people of who they have always been.”
“When they lose their sense of awe, people turn to religion.”
“Failure is an opportunity.”
“If you blame someone else, there is no end to blame.”
Very nice reading with a lot of great wisdom. It is also quite easy to read and understand. Took less than an hour to read once, but offers content to think about for long time.
I have no idea how I've never managed to read any translation of the Tao Te Ching until now. What a beauty. I listened to this on audio and it was incredibly calming. I ordered a physical copy to refer to because I love it so much.
“Some say that my teaching is nonsense; others call it lofty but impractical. But to those who have looked inside themselves, this nonsense makes perfect sense.”
I had never heard of this book until recently, when I saw two or three strong recommendations for it within the same month. I can understand why some people draw parallels to stoicism or secular mindfulness, and I can imagine a dedicated student engaging in extensive exegesis could benefit from this text, but I found it uninspiring and too mystical. I remain in the “this is nonsense” camp.
Read most of this on a flight, occasionally looking out over sunlit desert hills, pretty scenic. This is some rich poetry, and my biggest takeaway was I think my brother is an unintentional Taoist, which if Lao Tzu is to be believed, is the perfect kind. Do without doing; be without being(?)
Also Le Guin’s footnotes for almost every chapter were helpful and sometimes contained nuggets more valuable than the poems they comment on.
Also kept in my mind that “Tao” is the same word used to translate “Logos” in the famous John 1 passage. Makes for a sort of Jesus-centered mysticism of the Tao, about which I wanna read more in the future
Reviews and more on my blog: Entering the Enchanted Castle
I read this alongside the more standard Stephen Mitchell translation and they are very different. At the end a note on translations revealed that Le Guin didn't care for Mitchell's; I'd like to read some of the ones that she does recommend.
At any rate, this was the first time I read this foundational spiritual text in any form, and it was a revelation. The “Tao of” everything is so trendy nowadays, but what does that actually mean? There is so much to ponder, a profound spiritual and practical guide to life. I'll be returning to this book in some form or other, I'm sure.
Le Guin's notes on her choices as a translator and what resonates with her personally are interesting. I would tend to disagree with some of her decisions, i.e. that a passage was an interpolation to be dismissed, or that her interpretation is necessarily the right one. With a text of this depth and mysteriousness, I think we have to be cautious in approaching it out of our cynical modern consciousness. However, Le Guin does not claim that her version is definitive, and her commentary gives fascinating clues into the source which eludes precise understanding. I would love to have had more of it.