Overview

This bold new translation by two brilliant poets offers a contemporary perspective on a timeless masterpiece of Daoist scripture, introducing Dao De Jing to a new audience while retaining the majesty of the Chinese original. Composed of eighty-one short poems written by the sage Laozi in 400 BC, Dao De Jing is one of the pillars of Chinese thought. Acclaimed poet Li-Young Lee and poet and scholar Yun Wang illuminate Dao De Jing as a unified work of art. This revelatory and faithful translation-presented alongside the original Chinese text-reveals its enduring teachings in their profound simplicity, subtlety, and balance.

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9781324079163

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Reviews

Dao De Jing is one of the most fascinating and challenging ancient texts in the world. As simple as it is mysterious, this book has eluded and excited readers for millennia and deserves multiple translations and translators to unravel and articulate its meaning and power. Li-Young Lee and Yun Wang have offered us a delightful and gratifying version. Be prepared for a sumptuous journey into 'the way.'--Marilyn Chin, author of Sage I loved reading this book, in this translation. The language is direct, honest, and illuminating, while the text describes a harmonious perspective that works with the world rather than against it. Even for those of us who fall short of being sages, there is wisdom here that will make you think about how you go through your life.----Sean Carroll, author of The Big Picture: On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself The Dao in this lovely book holds its treasures lightly in a basket of words that are ripe and can never wither. Reach in anywhere, and gather nourishing wisdom for your own life, and for the world.--Alicia Ostriker, author of The Volcano and After, New York State Poet Laureate, 2018-2021

Author Information

Li-Young Lee is a poet and translator. Lee’s honors include a Lannan Literary Award, Whiting Award, PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Award, I. B. Lavan Award, three Pushcart Prizes, a William Carlos Williams award, fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the Academy of American Poets, and many others. He received the 2024 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize for Lifetime Achievement. Lee lives in Chicago. Yun Wang, a poet and cosmologist, is the author of three volumes of poetry, most recently The Book of Mirrors, as well as translations of classical Chinese poetry. Raised in rural southwest China, she lives in California.

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