Overview

In this deluxe, quality volume, renowned translator William Scott Wilson offers a fresh version of this Chinese classic, with an approachable and inspiring translation that will fascinate the modern reader. While most translators rely on the 'new' text of 200 B.C., Wilson plunged back 300 years to 500 B.C. to translate from the original characters of the time in which author Lao Tzu lived. As the original text was lost, this required detective work on Wilson's part to reassemble, in puzzlelike fashion, as much of the original text as possible. With the use of the newer characters 300 years later, the nuance of the original text shifted in a number of places, and Wilson, where he can, offers fresh and revealing nuances of this classic work unexplored to this point. Also for the modern reader, Wilson penned two revealing essays, Zen and Taoism and Zen and the Martial Arts that link the spiritual aspects for avid followers of Zen and martial practices of both China and Japan. The Tao Te Ching itself is the seminal text of Taoism-a study of the inner world. It emphasises simplicity, spontaneity, tranquility, and non-action. It claims that explanations and analysis miss the True Source, and only confuse a person with words and games of the mind. To act with perfect freedom, we must unload the mental baggage that ordinarily weighs us down. When we sweep away concepts and ideas, we begin to see clearly. With its 81 memorable passages, the Tao Te Ching is one of humanity's touchstones. As Wilson notes, We read this book because it takes us away from the busy world of business and politics, and provides an entry to a Way. But we also read it for the rhythm and beauty of its phrasing and vocabulary, which often give us an astonishing satisfaction. And this is perhaps the secret of why the book has consistently been on people's bookshelves and bed-stands for nearly twenty-five centuries.

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9784770030917

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William Scott Wilson is the bestselling translator of many spiritual and Oriental classics, including Hagakure, The Book of Five Rings, and The Unencumbered Spirit: Reflections of a Chinese Sage as well as the author of The Lone Samurai, the biography of the legendary samurai swordsman Miyamoto Musashi. His books have been translated into 17 languages.

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