Overview

'Do you want to improve the world? I don't think it can be done. The world is sacred. It can't be improved. If you tamper with it, you'll ruin it. If you treat it like an object, you'll lose it.' Stephen Mitchell's translation of Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching (The Book of the Way) has sold over half a million copies worldwide. In this stunningly beautiful edition of the fundamental modern Taoist philosophy text, Mitchell's words are set against ancient Chinese paintings selected by Asian art expert, Dr Stephen Little.

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9780711212787

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Reviews

This age-old Taoist text appears here with a new selection of ancient Chinese paintings alongside Mitchell's definitive translation. For anyone who has never read the Tao Te Ching before, this is a superb introduction, with the simplicity of the paintings masking their profundity, and mirroring the reader's response to the text. 'Nothing in the world is as soft and yielding as water/ Yet for dissolving the hard and inflexible nothing can surpass it' wrote Tzu, 500 years before the birth of Christ. The book is full of such paradoxes, designed to enable the reader to see the world from a different perspective, and to let go of daily cares and worries. While not everyone would agree with its dualist undertones, there ar plenty of wise words here. (Kirkus UK)

Author Information

Stephen Mitchell was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1943. He studied at Amherst, the University of Paris and Yale. His previous books include Dropping Ashes on the Buddha, The Selected Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke and The Book of Job. He lives with his wife in Berkeley, California.

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