Tao Te Ching
by Lao Tzu, David Hinton
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Book Summary Information
Author: David Hinton, Lao TzuEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); Chinese (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2002-01
ISBN: 1582431825
Number of pages: 128
Publisher: Counterpoint
Book Reviews of Tao Te Ching
Book Review: Accurate and Elegant
Summary: 5 Stars
David Hinton is one of the very few translators who understands the subtlety of ancient Chinese and translates it well. The first sentence of the first paragraph of Tao Te Ching is usually translated as something like "[t]he Way that can be told is not the permanant Way". Such popular translation is often controversial because the Chinese word "way" was not used to mean "be told" until about 1000 years after Tao Te Ching was written. Hinton translated the same sentence as "[a] Way become Way isn't the perennial Way". How elegant! And what an accurate articulation of its philosophical meaning.
A couple sentences down in the same paragraph, Hinton wrote, "... in perennial being you see appearance". Again, the word that he translated as "apperance" is very tricky in Chinese. It originally means "covering by coiling" (or "winding around to block a view") and has mutated throughout history to refer to fences, alleys, and many other things that would totally obscure the meaning of the text. Most popular translations use the word "manifestation" in this context. This is not necessarily a bad choice because religion is, after all, subject to interpretations. But personally I think the emphasis here should not be on the indication of an existence, but should rather be on the ideal of seeing through the appearance of phenomena in order to attain an understanding that transcends experiences. I think Hinton chose a more appropriate word here.
Yet a few more sentences down, he coined a new word for one of the most fundamental concepts in Taoism `yuan'. Yuan originally means black color with an yellowish undertone. Its also means "dark" and "mysterious" as in the sensation one gets while staring at an abyss. To describe such religious experience in Taoism, any translation of yuan needs to convey both meanings. Hinton calls it "dark-enigma" and not just "mystery" as in most popular translations. And I think he is both etymologically and philosophically right on the mark.
There are many other things that he did right. I have never read a translation that is so faithful to the original yet so wonderfully articulated. Highly recommended to casual readers as well as serious scholars.
Summary of Tao Te Ching
Having masterfully translated a wide range of ancient Chinese poets and philosophers, David Hinton is uniquely qualified to offer the definitive contemporary English version of the Tao Te Ching, rendering it with both philosophical rigor and poetic elegance.. Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching is not only the single most important text in Chinese spirituality, it is probably the most influential spiritual text in human history. Like all of his translations, Hinton's translation of the Tao Te Ching is mind-opening. It adds startling new dimensions to this text, revealing it as the originary text of deep environmental and feminist thought. In the past, virtually all translations of this text have been produced either by sinologists having little poetic facility in English, or writers having no ability to read the original Chinese. Hinton's fluency in ancient Chinese and his acclaimed poetic ability combine both of these essential qualifications. Together, they allow a breathtaking new translation that reveals how remarkably current and even innovative this text is after 2500 years.Asia Books
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