The diversity of translations of the Tao Te Ching is stunning. At one end of the spectrum there are the attempts at an exacting translation of the Chinese into English. At the other end of the spectrum there are the translations that attempt to fill in any perceived gaps by expounding at length on the underlying concepts. This diversity reflects the overwhelming challenges with any attempt at a translation.
The wisdom of the Tao Te Ching has always appealed to me, but I have never been able to find a translation that I fully embraced on a personal level. I therefore set about over the course of a year to create my own personal version of the Tao Te Ching. I began this journey of a thousand miles by reading dozens of translations, eventually settling on a core set of translations that appealed to me either because of the scholarship of the work, the style of writing, or the presentation of historical context and commentary. I also set about the monumental task of studying the Chinese characters used in the Tao Te Ching, learning as much as I could about the meaning of the characters and how they were interpreted.
What came out of this process is contained within this book, which I’m providing in e-book format in the hope that this will be of benefit to others.
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