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Tao Te Ching, Word for Word
A print version of the my translation (with commentary) is available. See preview below Using this word for word rendition alongside your favorite translation can help deepen understanding. |
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First, it is helpful to realize that the Tao Te Ching doesn’t convey truth per se. As Chuang Tzu said, “dead man’s words”. It only blossoms through personal experience—not through analytical and intellectual nit picking. Thus, the Tao Te Ching does not teach us anything… in reading it, we simply see our own minds.
A case in point, Of old those who excelled in the pursuit of the way did not use it to enlighten the people but to hoodwink them. This has puzzled me for years… forty some to be exact. Recently my puzzlement lifted as I noticed ’something’
Now, I’m a philosophy gossip and mouth off about everything I notice. But, I’ll keep this ’something’ to myself. It would serve no good to reveal… which ironically makes complete sense in this case. Anyway, my ’something’ may turn into nothing tomorrow as I discover holes in it. Or, even if my ’something’ is real, revealing it (if indeed I could) would help no one. The bottom line is that realization happens step by step. We can’t hurry the process, and truly, we can’t learn from another person what we don’t internally ‘know’ already. Knowing germinates within, and no where else. So, be puzzled and ponder in wonder. There is no other way to know ourselves. And, the Tao Te Ching provides abundant grist for our puzzle and ponder mill…
Another case in point, The empire is a sacred vessel and nothing should be done to it. Empire is used through out the Tao Te Ching; what’s it mean? You can interpret this to mean literally an external political territory or more figuratively as your internal ‘territory’, or both. Is there a distinction, truly? If you feel your external perceptions only mirror your internal ‘territory’, then you’ll probably know what mysterious sameness is alluding to. What you see, and the weight you give it, arises within you, and is central to understanding. Looking for and seeing sharp distinctions convey sharp understanding. Looking for and seeing dimly visible similarities conveys a shadowy and indistinct understanding. Guess which way conveys a Taoist view best?
On the Translations of the Tao Te Ching
A number of popular ‘translations’ out there are actually interpretations of other original translations. Of original and authoritative translations, D.C. Lau’s is one of the most faithful to the original Chinese.
D.C. Lau’s, published in 1963 by Penguin, is the one we use primarily. The value of D.C. Lau’s translation may lies in the fact that he does not seem to be a ‘true’ believer. After all, there is nothing like a true believer’s interpretative zeal to muck up the possibilities for a broader, possibly less biased view. I don’t know whether he would even call himself a Taoist. D.C. Lau’s translation is based on ‘received’ texts, i.e., copies of the Chinese original copied many times over the centuries from the third or fourth century AD to the present. This is the way all translations of the Tao Te Ching were made, until recently…
In 1973, two original copies of the Tao Te Ching were unearthed from a tomb in China. These silk manuscripts, the so-called Ma-Wang-Tui texts, dated to 168 BC, or about 500 years earlier than any previous manuscripts. Excellent translations which draw from the 1973 discovery are shown to the right. We have spent around 10 years comparing D.C. Lau’s 1963 translation with Victor H. Mair’s translation of the Ma-Wang-Tui texts. We found no substantive differences between them, though occasionally Mair’s book will put an idea across more smoothly than the Lau’s, in our view. Both, taken together, go as far as one can go in getting ‘it’ across. After all, in the end, the ‘it’ lies in the mind’s eye of the beholder….
It’s in the Eye of the Beholder
Many folks make much ado about the merits of one translation over others. Nevertheless, the most significant factor in ‘understanding’ scripture lies in the eye of the beholder – the reader. What paradigm you see the world through will determine what a scripture says to you. Much of the world, and especially the west, has adopted a somewhat activist and humanist world view which places the individual, ego and all, at the forefront of life meaning.
This ‘problem’ affects our interpretation of the Tao Te Ching. Simply said, the Taoist view is just about 180° opposite from ‘common’ views and practices. Deep down, the Taoist view runs counter to the instinctive and emotion based viewpoint we form from childhood onward. I look at the mainstream perspective, or paradigm, as one which is rooted in biology and geared, through evolution, to motivate us to see and react in certain ways which promote survival, or at did so a 100,000 years ago! Now, these ‘bio-logic’ based views are playing themselves out in a complex technology based civilization which results in much wasted energy and unnecessary suffering. Note: Taoism is, on the other hand, right in sync with the principle teachings of Jesus and Buddha, which don’t appear to be adhered to any better today than when they were first espoused.
Praise the Tao?
The way, though shadowy and indistinct, is something that can be tested personally. The Tao Te Ching doesn’t define or praise the ‘Tao’. It simply describes the effects on us of following, or not following, the way—of nature. Some folks, however, have a tendency to ‘praise the Tao’… not unlike the familiar, ‘praise the Lord’. It appears that ‘Tao’ can easily becomes a substitute word for ‘Lord’. This round about way of differentiating the way is okay naturally, but it does miss the point a little. The ‘tao’ means nothing, just as much as it means something, so it is best to just let the word be. Focus on the fruit (the symptoms, the effects) and you will come to know the tree (tao).
Other Thoughts
Another problem we find with recent translations is that they are often by folks who are obviously ‘humanist’ in temperament. Others seem to bring a large dose of ‘politically correctness’ into play. The problem with both of these situations is that they are not tested in time, but rise out of a modern industrial wealth based society which, in large measure, meddles with and seeks to ‘conquer’ nature, not conform to it. Now, more that ever before, we tend to see nature as being separate from us, somehow outside of us… something to be tamed, or to be saved and revered.
That is little wonder since we go to great lengths to protect ourselves from ‘acts of nature’ and seek to increase our comfort level—raise our standard of living, as it were. The unintended consequence of this process is that we feel more isolated than ever before from nature. We’ve sanitized the ‘raw’ aspects of nature. We have ceased to realize that we are nature. The Taoist view seeks to reverse this tendency, ‘turn back’, and ‘conformity completely’ to nature. In Taoism, there is no nature to be saved. The more we save it, the more we will ruin it… It is just this politically incorrect view that makes Taoism so hard for so many to swallow. We want to ‘have our cake and eat it too’.
Not to Pick on “The Idiots Guide to Taoism”, But…
The book errors in taking Tao to mean method. Of course, that’s one of its various meanings. Their idea is that no one method or path is the ‘constant’ way, or Tao. What they fail to point out the common thread running through them all. There is, regardless of the particulars unique to any one way, a common denominator they all share. This is an essence that can be tested. It is that which all paths share, but because all paths manifest differently, can not be spoken of. Nevertheless, you can know ‘it’, test ‘it’, and use ‘it’. ‘It’, that common mysterious sameness that connects all ways. The constant lies in the similarities, not in the differences. This book gives a fine overview of Taoism. After that, simply go to the source scripture to poke into Taoist ‘secrets.
This book gives a fine overview of Taoism. After that, simply go to the source scripture to poke into Taoist ’secrets’.
CenterTao’s Translation in Print
You can order a print-on-demand ‘final draft’ of Tao Te Ching: Word for Word from Lulu.com for around $9 (roughly at cost). This is the print version of this site’s Word for Word Translation (with commentary). It can be especially useful when used in conjunction with your favorite translation. The word for word approach offers a way to cross check your translation with either (1) a translation more literal, or (2) actually word for word to the original Chinese.
To preview the Tao Te Ching: Word for Word, click slider-bar below picture 