WHAT?\u00a0 From the Back Cover:<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

Working with a collection of eleven different translations from eight different publishers, this book provides \u2013 for each<\/em> of the 81 verses of the Tao Te Ching \u2013 three different translations and some comments. \u00a0<\/span>
\nTranslated more than any other book but the Bible, the Tao Te Ching is the classic manual for living in the daily rush of today\u2019s modern times, as valuable today (if not more so!) as it was in world of 500 BCE China.\u00a0 It is a spiritual (but not religious<\/em>) text and complements nicely whatever religious traditions one may (or may not) have.<\/span>
\nThe format of the book allows the reader to view both the translations and the comments for each verse at one time with the book opened flat.\u00a0 The comments are written in a conversational non-academic manner, designed to provide a variety of helpful tidbits.\u00a0 These tidbits may include further information or background about the verse, notes and elaborations from translators, as well as the author\u2019s own thoughts. \u00a0Taken together, then, the book is a valuable resource for all readers as they begin or continue their own spiritual journeys along \u201cThe Way\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

WHY?\u00a0 From the Introduction (mostly):<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

My own journey into the land of the Tao and the Tao Te Ching started with a little synchronicity here and there, and then developed into curiosity and beyond. On my spiritual journey, I kept running into various circumstances that revealed references to the Tao Te Ching, by Lao Tzu. Presented not as a religious text, but as\u00a0The WAY of Things<\/i>, (Stephen Mitchell calls it \u201cthe classic manual on the art of living,\u201d) I became intrigued and began moving past curiosity into conscious exploring. Eventually I decided to read a verse a day for a while to get a better feel.\u00a0 it took a while to grow on me, but over time, it began to speak to me.<\/span><\/p>\n

That was well over a decade ago. Since then, I have become a regular reader, as I find its frequent insights invaluable. Each quarter, I start rereading a verse a day for 81 days. I began using at least<\/i>\u00a0two to three translations each time, alternating various translations each return trip, sometimes adding new translations, mixing and matching, and the like. I have used\u00a0at least\u00a0twelve to fifteen translations at one time or another.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As might be imagined, then,\u00a0I have naturally encountered several different\u2014indeed, widely varying\u2014translations of this literary, metaphysical, and spiritual-but-not-religious masterpiece.\u00a0I have been repeatedly reminded that translations of the\u00a0Tao Te Ching\u00a0are as almost as varied as the proverbial pens that write them and the audiences for which they are intended.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What would be most helpful is a resource that parallels a few translations at a time, providing the opportunity for instant comparison between renderings while simultaneously enhancing one\u2019s insights into the individual messages of each chapter and finding translations that speak to the reader.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So, the idea of compiling a resource myself began to slowly and reluctantly creep into my consciousness. (I\u2019m not a Taoist scholar, but I\u00a0figured I could\u00a0compile<\/i>\u00a0translations.) And, long story short, that resulted in this book.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

EARLY REACTION?\u00a0 From the Foreword*:\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

*Foreword by William Martin, author of Walking the Tao, The Sage’s Tao Te Ching, and more<\/span><\/strong><\/h5>\n

\u201c<\/strong> A humble, honest, and skillful approach . . . [Campbell] has been able to gather various translations and approaches to the Tao Te Ching and use them to help the reader journey deep into the practical implications of the poetry as it illuminates.\u00a0 It provides thoughtful and practical commentary on a variety of translations without being dense or pedantic.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What is the Tao Te Ching?\u00a0 If you’re not famiiar with this Chinese classic, take a quick look at\u00a0What is the Tao Te Ching WHAT?\u00a0 From the Back Cover: Working with a collection of eleven different translations from eight different publishers, this book provides \u2013 for each of the 81 verses of the Tao Te […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/larryncampbell.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/larryncampbell.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/larryncampbell.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/larryncampbell.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/larryncampbell.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/larryncampbell.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8347\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/larryncampbell.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/larryncampbell.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/larryncampbell.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}