by Lao-Tse
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| List Price: | $9.99 |
| Amazon Price: | $9.99 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. |
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Product Description
The most accessible and authoritative modern English translation of the ancient Chinese classic. Offers the essence of each word and makes Lao Tsu's teaching immediate and alive.
Amazon.com Review
Scholars say that the original Tao Te Ching is a poem. Like a poem, this version of the Tao Te Ching is not meant to be read in one breath from front to back, but is to be at intervals internalized and contemplated. Jane English's haunting black-and-white photos that undulate in and out on every page act as glycerin elixirs, helping the words slide into our souls for patient digestion. The photographs--of a glistening spider web, cloud-enveloped mountain tops, reflections on water, leaves in the sunlight--are as serenely lyrical as the ancient text, itself.
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Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 I haven't received my items, 2008-09-22
It has been a month after the estimated date my items would have reached me and they haven't. Can you check on this???
3 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
Worse than worthless., 2008-07-13
The tao teaches the virtue and power of being empty with no desire. It's just an ancient crowd control formula.
"Clay is fashioned into vessels; but it is on their empty hollowness, that
their use depends." Use to who? To those who would use you, of course.
"Always without desire we must be found"
Think about it. How many truly great non-mythical people that you're aware of fit that profile? Feynman? Beethoven? D H Lawrence? Cezanne? Michelangelo? the Williams sisters?
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
 Beyond brilliant, 2008-06-13
Tao Te Ching..meaning Book of The Way, or book of the Word. One of the best books ever written. Certainly , the book that has had the most profound positive influence on my life.
If you are like me, you may be wondering should I get this particular version, and how does it compare with other versions like the Stephen Mitchell, Wayne Dyer and Jonathan Star versions, or even the Ursula Le Guin version.
No matter how great a writer you think Jane English is, she did not write the Tao, yet her rendition is consistent with the best versions I have read. The distinguishing trait of English's version is the photos and graphics, and this version is coffee table size.
My personal favorite version is the Stephen Mitchell version. The Tao is wise, paradoxical, counterinituitive, puzzling, fascinating, mysterious, inspiring, amazing and true. These concepts bypass ego based thinking, and the idea of doing things by not striving is allowing a higher more authentic way of thinking to inform your being and your action.
The Jane English version also has a regular size 25th Anniversary version which is the version I own.
One of the Jonathan Star versions has Chinese symbols at the back, with multiple meanings of each symbol. This is a great idea, which allows you to come up with your own version of the Tao, and would really open up your thinking on the Tao.
If you are like me, then as you read you discover the wisdom
like a raw jewel which you shape into a glittering diamond. That is the brilliance of the book.
The Tao is always present within you.
You can use it any way you want.
81 chapters, all less than one page. Like any great mystery, the Tao is there to be experienced and not necessarily understood. Here is a selection from verse 81 to illustrate the difference between different versions.
True words aren't eloquent;
Eloquent words aren't true;
Wise men don't need to prove their point;
Men who need to prove their point aren't wise.
A different version might substitute the word beautiful for eloquent.
You can feel comfortable buying the Jane English version, or any of these other versions.
The Ursula Le Guin version, I liked her take on verse 1, but I did not find it as useful on other verses, and felt if did not really capture the Tao as well as these other versions. You might feel differently. I would definitely recommend multiple verses of her version before you consider buying.
I also recommend The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran, which is another classic book of wisdom, and The Dhammapada featuring the succinct teachings of the Buddha. For more Taoist writing, I recommend the Way of Chuang Tzu, by Thomas Merton. You will discover many parallels with the Tao, and he is also an incredible story teller.
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0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
 Nothing new under the sun, 2008-05-22
it is a beautiful book, no doubt, and with the chinese charactes at the side, good point.
But nobody has yet intent to not only translate in beautiful words what Lao Tzu said, but to understand what is under that words. Tao is not poetry, Tao is like nature, misterious but strongly present at the same time.
I've been studied Tao for many years, and it is dificult to find a book that goes beyond the beauty of the photographs and the apparent poetry of the Lao Tzu words.
So, a beautiful book, empty of the real Tao.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Great edition, 2008-05-03
I love this edition. Good size, clear print, well laid out, and very good translations. The black & white photography also adds great depth to the book.
Highly recommended.
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