I wasn’t able to identify with some notions, naturally my skeptical disposition began to take control rather soon. Ironically, because of all the great world religions the teaching of Lao tzu is by far the most female.Īs for my experience with this book, I should revisit it in a few years… The dynamics between opposites that say and don’t say, that affirm and deny, that teach without speaking and act without doing it all starts to get a tad annoying after a while. Even though she generally refers to the sage as a man, whereas Mitchell states that since we are all, potentially, the Master (since the Master is, essentially, us), I felt it would be untrue to present a male archetype, as other versions have, ironically, done. If I have to choose, I prefer Chen’s academic translation with its enriching commentary over Mitchell’s version with its still lyrical directness. While keeping a small amount of literality, it expresses a similar interpretation. In that sense, it’s a remarkable work a detailed examination of all the elements that constitute this treatise. On the opposite side stands Mitchell with another approach: divesting the verses of all metaphor, he focuses on the meaning, the thoughts Lao Tzu intended to convey. I’ve made peace with everything that gets lost in translation, so at least give me surgical precision. I don’t want only the translator’s interpretation, I want to know the precise words that went through the author’s mind. It’s the kind of translation I like as literal as possible. After reading chapter 11 by the latter, the merits of each work became particularly noticeable.Ĭhen’s translation is an accurate marvel.
I read two editions simultaneously: Ellen Chen’s The Tao Te Ching: A New Translation with Commentary and Stephen Mitchell’s Tao Te Ching: A New English Version.
In an inspiringly laconic way, the chapters reveal the sage’s fundamental truths that range from theology to politics, inseparable components of the Tao Te Ching. It consists of 81 short chapters written in poetic form which, using a pithy language brimming with evocative and, at times, repetitive contradictions, provide guidance on how humanity may have a harmonious relationship with nature, with the Tao. The Tao Te Ching is a classical text credited to Chinese philosopher and writer Lao Tzu (6th century) and on which Taoism is based.
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