Tao Te Ching: A New Translation by Sam Hamill

Tao Te Ching: A New Translation by Sam Hamill

Tao Te Ching: A New Translation by Sam Hamill

Tao Te Ching: A New Translation by Sam Hamill

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Overview

Part poetry, part paradox, always stirring and profound, Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching has been inspiring readers since it was written over two thousand years ago. This masterpiece is also one of the most frequently translated books in all of history, in part because the multiple meanings of the Chinese characters make it impossible to translate into a Western language in a strictly literal way. For this reason, many translations are either too loosely interpretive or are too overloaded with notes, thereby losing the clarity of the terse poetry found in the original Chinese.

The extraordinary strength of Sam Hamill’s translation is that it has captured the poetry of Lao Tzu’s original without sacrificing the resonance of the text’s many meanings and possible interpretations. The result is a beautiful and deeply meditative rendering, one that is a delight to read over and over again.

Accompanying Sam Hamill’s translation are seventeen Chinese characters brushed by one of the great masters of calligraphy, Kazuaki Tanahashi. Hamill provides a comment for each character, giving the reader a fuller sense of the richness of the original text and insight into the process of translation itself.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780834822993
Publisher: Shambhala
Publication date: 03/20/2007
Series: Shambhala Publications
Sold by: Penguin Random House Publisher Services
Format: eBook
Pages: 144
File size: 1 MB

About the Author

Not much is known about the legendary Lao Tzu, to whom authorship of the Tao Te Ching is popularly attributed. Some scholars believe the author was an elder contemporary of Confucius.

Read an Excerpt


7.

Heaven is eternal. The earth endures.

The reason for heaven's eternity and earth's endurance

is that they do not live for themselves only,

and thereby live forever.

The sage steps back but remains in front,

the outsider always within.

Self is realized through selflessness.


8.

It's best to be like water,

nurturing the ten thousand things without competing,

flowing into places people scorn,

very like the Tao.

Make the earth a dwelling place.

Cultivate the heart and mind.

Practice benevolence.

Stand by your word.

Govern with equity.

Serve skillfully.

Act in a timely way,

without contentiousness,

free of blame.

49.

The sage has no fixed heart and mind.

Therefore the hearts and minds

of ordinary people

become his.

To good people, he is good;

to those lacking goodness,

he is also good.

Virtue is good

Truthful people, he trusts.

Those lacking honesty, he also trusts.

Virtue is honest.

In this world the sage

brings harmony to harmony,

universalizing
the hearts and minds of people.

People fix their eyes and ears.

The sage regards them as children.

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