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    Dao De Jing
    Dao De Jing
    Dao De Jing
    Audiobook1 hour

    Dao De Jing

    Written by Laozi

    Narrated by Albert A. Anderson

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    About this audiobook

    The Dao De Jing exists on the border between poetry and philosophy, embracing both mythos and logos. Its poetic form can stand alone, but it is enriched when its timeless ideas are analyzed and explained through careful scholarship. For example: “He who knows others is knowledgeable. He who knows himself is wise.” These words resemble Socrates’ account of his own quest in Plato’s Apology. Ancient philosophy, both in China and in Greece, places self-knowledge at the center of the search for wisdom. Contemporary philosophers are often misled about this way of thinking, because the self has been detached from external things and separated from nature and society. The wisdom of China and of Europe unites human existence and nature.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAgora Publications
    Release dateJan 1, 2010
    ISBN9781887250719
    Author

    Laozi

    Laozi was a Chinese philosopher and author commonly understood to have lived in the 6th century BC, although the time of his life is much disputed, and he has become as much a legend as a historical figure. Traditionally credited as the author of The Book of Tao, also known as The Tao Te Ching and The Tao and Its Characteristics, he is regarded as the father of Taoism and one of the most universally influential figures in Chinese culture.

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    Reviews for Dao De Jing

    4/5

    2,605 ratings77 reviews

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    • 5/5
      I've read 3 translations and this one is by far my favorite.
    • 3/5
      The content was great. 3 stars because of the audio recording. Many sections seemed to be cut off so it’s hard to know if I actually experienced the entire book. Recommend a different audiobook or just reading the hard copy version.
    • 2/5
      Excellent work, but this audiobook is incomplete! Some chapters cut out right in the middle of a sentence. Look elsewhere for a full version.
    • 3/5
      Overall Ames and Hall translate the Dao well and provide some useful commentary. I skipped most of the commentary because it was a bit simple and didn't always provide insightful information. However, as a beginning translation, Ames and Hall provide an easy to read and well written introductory text on the Eastern philosophy of the Dao.
    • 2/5
      This audiobook has some technical issues in the last few chapters.
    • 5/5
      Evolved individuals keep their minds open and impartial because fixed opinions or belief systems distort the flow of pure information coming in from the outside world. The way of power involves giving in. Timeless wisdom.
    • 5/5
      As a Christian, I find lots of parallel practical wisdom, like reading the Book of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. The narrator did an excellent job!
    • 5/5
      I LOVE this version. very poetic translation yet retains the simplicity and meaning
    • 5/5
      I've tried reading other translations of the Tao Te Ching, and gave up, baffled and unmoved. But Stephen Mitchell's translation is both beautiful and accessible, and I've found it resonates in a way no other version has. I'm grateful.
    • 2/5
      The Tao te Ching is a book that cannot be read directly. Unfortunately, I have little experience reading books indirectly, so I found this a difficult book to read, end even more difficult to discern what was being said by the author.A friend told me that he thought Heraclitus, the Greek pre-Socratic philosopher, was somewhat like Lao Tzu. Heraclitus said "you can't step in the same river twice". He believed that reality was a flux composed of a unity of opposites.I suppose it is possible to consider Lao Tzu's "the way" in this manner and see it as a unifying force. I liken it to the ancient Greek notion of substance that underlies all things but does not have a separate existence.The Tao te Ching seems to suggest action is good, except when inaction is required; that it is good to experience things with an open mind, but do not become too attached to one way of looking at reality for it may suddenly be going in the other direction. In other words, it is difficult to determine exactly what this book is saying, especially when it suggests that words cannot describe the way; thus the way is not that which is called by that name (don't worry - I don't know what that means either).The best thing about the Tao te Ching is that the act of reading it stirs your mind, gets you thinking about deep questions and others. That alone makes it worth the effort, even though it may take a lifetime to make some progress toward answers.
    • 5/5
      Librarything apparently won't allow me to review each edition separately. Oh well. I keep the Waley edition for his notes and his bare, literal, somewhat political translation. The Feng-English has a good balance between poetics and literalism and generally comes in a nice edition with Jane English's photographs. The Le Guin edition has the most beautiful English poetry I've seen in a translation and she has an interesting take on the text. Her notes are also funny, humble, and helpful.It's good to own multiple English translations, as the thing is basically untranslatable in any perfect fashion.As for the Tao Te Ching itself... I've read many philosophical and religious texts, and this is the one that speaks to me the most. Simple, humble, strikingly conservative yet almost revolutionary in this day and age. I go back to it as often as I can.
    • 5/5
      By far my favourite translation of the Tao Te Ching; it's accesible, yet still retains extraordinary beauty.
    • 5/5
      Excellent encouragement for those trying to lead peaceful, harmonious lives.
    • 5/5
      A timeless treasure trove of ancient wisdom. Le Guin's version is fluid, digestible, and enjoyable - adding a pleasant accessibility while still remaining faithful to the text.
    • 4/5
      This is a review of the Penguin publication of the Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu as translated by D. C. Lau in 1963. This is my first time reading anything about the Tao, apart from skimming Wikipedia entries, so I found Lau's 50+ page introduction both useful and insightful. He provides historical context for the work, and offers both the theory that Lao Tzu was a real philosopher and contemporary of Confucius and the theory that there was no "real" Lao Tzu and that the writing attributed to him is really a collection of folk sayings. I also greatly appreciated his interpretations of some difficult passages - the Tao is often concise to the point of obscurity and Lau's ability to bring in historical context to the poetic text is a welcome addition. For example:"... the Taoist precept of holding fast to the submissive lies in its usefulness as a means to survival. This being the case, we may feel that Lao tzu attaches an undue importance to survival. This feelings shows that we have not succeeded in understanding the environment that produced the hopes and fears which were crystallized into such a precept.The centuries in which the Lao tzu was produced were certainly turbulent times. China was divided into a number of states, to all intents and purposes autonomous, constantly engaged in wars of increasing scope and ferocity with one another. For the common man survival was a real and pressing problem." (p.29-30) I found this insight greatly useful when reading the many passages that stress the importance of inaction, doing nothing and basically keeping one's head down and staying out of the way. It also helps to explain the many passages directed towards rulers (translated as "sages") that stress keeping the people ignorant and not rewarding good behavior or displaying wealth since those things spurn jealousy and cause competition and unrest. Basically, the Tao in Lau's translation is not a mystical work but a survival guide for a war-torn ancient China - be quiet, don't do anything, don't want anything and don't invite anyone to start looking in your direction.My personal favourite quotes from the actual text:"Thus Something and Nothing produce each other;The difficult and the easy complement each other;The long and the short off-set each other;The high and the low incline towards each other;Note and sound harmonize with each other;Before and after follow each other." (II - 5 p.58)"When the best student hears about the wayHe practices it assiduously;When the average student hears about the wayIt seems to him one moment there and gone the next;When the worst student hears about the wayHe laughs out loud.If he did not laughIt would be unworthy of being the way....The way that is bright seems dull;The way that leads forward seems to lead backward;The way that is even seems rough. (XLI - 90-91 p. 102)
    • 5/5
      In the introduction, Le Guin explains that the Tao Te Ching has been an influential book throughout her life, and that over the years she has made efforts at producing her own rendition of the classic. (She won’t call it a translation, since she doesn’t actually speak Chinese, but she has done extensive research— she provides copious notes on how she chose particular renderings in the back of the book— and produced this in collaboration with a scholar of the language.) Her goal has been to distill the clarity of the classic for a modern reader who is more likely one citizen among millions rather than a leader seeking sagacious insights for rulership. The result is quite good, with a penetrating brevity I haven’t seen in the other translations I’ve read. I actually wound up reading it with another translation to hand when I wanted to get another perspective on the occasional verse, but I think the simplicity of her rendering is a good place to start before going out looking for more nuance.
    • 5/5
      Having just finished William Martin’s bookThe Sage's Tao Te Ching: Ancient Advice for the Second Half of Life, I decided to reread poet Witter Bynner English translation of Laozi’s original first published in 1944, which I first read in the 1960s and again in 1996. Bynner introduction makes clear his desire to present the Old Master’s philosophy of life and the best way to live it. Laozi’s advises a simple life of quiet acceptance and humility with no attempt to control the behavior of others, a way of nonaggression and serenity. This is Bynner’s translation of these three passages: 43 As the soft yield of water cleaves obstinate stone,So to yield with life solves the insoluble;To yead, I have learned, is to come back again.But this unworded lesson, This easy example,Is lost upon men. 56Those who know do not tell,Those who tell do not know.Not to set the tongue loose,But to curb it,Not to have edges that catchBut to remain untangled, Unconfused, Is to find balance, And he who holds balance beyond sway of love or hate, Beyond reach of profit or loss, Beyond care of praise or blame, Has attained the highest post in the world. 67 Everyone says that my way of life is the way of a simpleton. Being largely the way of a simpleton is what makes it worth while. If it were not way of a simpleton It would long ago have been worthless, These possessions of a simpleton being the three I choose And cherish: To care, To be fair, To be humble. When a man cares he is unafraid. When he is fair he leaves enough for others, When he is humble he can grow; Whereas if, like men of today, be bold without caring, Self-indulgent without sharing. Self-important without shame. He is dead. The invincible shield Of caring Is a weapon from the sky Against being dead.
    • 5/5
      Another reread and it's as good as ever.
    • 5/5
      I breezed through this one fairly quickly, with the intention of rereading it often and sometimes more thoughtfully. Even at a too-fast pace, this is a calming delight of a text. Much of it does, in fact, need more time and mental effort, but this time through I loved it for its soothing and simply-stated precepts that hint at contemplative depths. In short, I'll be back for more.
    • 3/5
      The text itself reads well, and is basically a set of somewhat paradoxical-sounding or counter-intuitive wisdom sayings. Within the paradoxes or 'appositions' and 'oppositions' lurks a deep insight and illumination on the nature of life and its vagaries. However, one does not understand the highly exaggerated sense of mystery attached to this cult-status text. Much of the older wisdom tracts of world literatures are of this nature, using pithy clauses and aphorisms to drive home a truth. In Sanskrit, for instance, a similar tone is adopted by 'good-sayings' or 'subhashitani', usually in four quarters or 'padas'. Many of the ideas of sufficience, frugalism, under-statedness, self-restraint, 'less-is-more', fullness and emptiness, are contained in different parts of the Vedas and Upanishads. So the Dao appears to me to be one among these first-BC writings. However, the Commentary appended to the translations somehow strikes a jarring note, by being exaggeratedly scholarly, somewhat pretentious, using excessive jargon, in the worst tradition of 20th-century 'doing theory' of the likes of Spivak or Homi Bhabha, or the 'self-realization' literature coming our of some our so-called gurus, and in direct contradiction to the minimalist and spare spirit of the tract itself. It's best to just rely on the text alone and work out our own interpretation.
    • 4/5
      Based on the discover of the Ma-wang-tui texts, the oldest versions of the verses said to have been written by Lao-Tzu, this version of the classic taoist text reverses the order of the chapters.

      The extensive comments and notes sections sheds light on the meaning by comparing back and forth to an "a" and a "b" text discovered in the Ma-wang-tui tombs.
    • 2/5
      Advice on how to live and rule.1.5/4 (Meh).Everything in this book is disconnected from everything else, and also a repetition of everything else. I gave up halfway through; there didn't seem to be any point to reading more and more of the same (before immediately forgetting what I just read).
    • 4/5
      Agnieszka Solska’s Tao Te Ching: A Klingon Translation (pIn’a’ qan paQDI’norgh) goes beyond the Klingon translations of Shakespearean works that elaborated on the Klingon characters’ Shakespearean references in Nicholas Meyer’s 1991 film, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. Solska builds upon the translation projects of Nick Nicholas, who translated Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Much Ado About Nothing, as well as Roger Cheesbro’s translation of Gilgamesh. Unlike those works, Solska begins with an introduction establishing the work as one that Klingon scholars specifically translated from Terran sources rather than one the Klingons claim to have originated (unlike Wil’yam Shex’pir’s works). She discusses some of the intricacies of Klingon grammar that make the Klingon translation closer to the original Chinese text rather than the Romanized text with which English-speaking readers are more familiar. In addition to parallel text, with Klingon on the left and English on the right, Solska’s volume concludes with endnotes about the text and the context of her translation. As part of her work with the Klingon Language Institute, Solska later translated Sunzi’s Art of War. This book features a beautiful cover with art by Frank Wu in the style of traditional Chinese ink wash painting.
    • 4/5
      Stephen Mitchell's version of the Tao Te Ching is, according to Huston Smith in his book "World Religions," "as close to being definitive for our time as any I know." That is high praise indeed. This is a slender, handsomely illustrated volume that can be read in half an hour, or as Huston Smith says, over "a lifetime." The Tao is "yin" to Confucianism's "yang" (or vice versa). The Tao is more esoteric, all lightness and poetry. There is wisdom here, but it's romantic - not practical like the Analects of Confucius. I think it depends on your personality which philosophy appeals more to you. After reading it I better understand the meaning of "unclench."
    • 5/5
      From the book description: Drawing on meticulous study of multiple sources, this fresh but authoritative reading of Lao Tsu's timeless classic combines the poetry of the Tao Te Ching with a wealth of additional material: an introduction to the enigmatic Lao Tsu and his times; a discussion of the many challenges facing the translator; 81 illustrative Chinese characters/phrases, selected to highlight key themes in each chapter; separate commentary and inspirational quotes, as well as room for you to record your own impressions, section by section.
    • 4/5
      This is one of those quick to read, but long to digest books. It was interesting and will take more than one reading to feel more comfortable with.
    • 5/5
      As D.C. Lau points out in his highly readable introduction to this Penguin Classics edition, it is highly unlikely that Lao Tzu was an acutal person, despite stories of Confucius once going to see him. Instead, the contents of the Tao Te Ching seem to be a distillation and compilation of early Daoist thought. Like the Analects of Confucius, there are passages that are corrupted and whose meaning is either unfathomable or in dispute. There are also certain ideas that are repeated in nearly identical phrases in different parts of this very short work. Compared to the Analects of Confucius, this is a shorter, easier read, but like that work, I’m sure it benefits from reading in multiple translations and from reading more about it—not just of it. Since the Teaching Company doesn’t have a course on this book as they do for the Analects, I’ll just have to rely more on my own first impressions. Daoist philosophy (or Taoist, if you want to use the old spelling—but Daoist is how you pronounce it) is intriguing because it seems to rely on not taking action rather than on actually doing anything. It is full of things such as, “He who speaks doesn’t know.” And “He who knows doesn’t speak.” You’ll be nodding your head at things like that, comparing them to your own life experience. Putting such ideas into practice, however, seems problematic. No wonder some famous Daoists were monks. I’m not sure how following the precepts in this book would work in most people’s lives, unlike, for example, applying a few Buddhist tenets. I’m sure they wouldn’t fly at my house when it’s time to wash the dishes. But I’m trivializing things here. Just trying to wrap your mind around these concepts and spending a while contemplating them is beneficial. We do, for instance, act far more often than we should. How many times can we think of when not doing something would have served us better? But we just felt compelled to act, since that seems to be part of our human nature. Not to mention being easier to explain to your friends if your act goes wrong. I’m still trivializing, I guess. I highly recommend reading this well-done translation and its commentary. There are, for instance, a lot of ebooks available that give you an old translation of this work—which may be a fine translation for all I know—but without some context, you will lose much of the pleasure of reading. People who write books with titles that include “before you die” in them should immediately die themselves before they can write more such books. But if you’re an intelligent person, and if you have a little time to spare and an interest in philosophy, give this a try and I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.
    • 5/5
      Good visuals for contemplation
    • 4/5
       I was totally surprised to find out that this is actually a political treatise but less surprised to learn that quiescence is strength.
    • 5/5
      Laozi's set of 81 brief chapters sets forth the philosophy of Taoism. The author cautions the reader that words alone cannot faithfully describe his subject, the Tao or the way of the universe, which in our time has led some to dismiss this perspective due to its ambiguity. Enigmas and apparent contradictions appear frequently, which compelled me to pause to contemplate what Laozi was trying to convey. The necessity of pausing and reflecting makes reading this material fulfilling, especially when I felt I moved closer to understanding.I found the three jewels of Taoism appealing: Compassion, frugality (also translated as restraint and moderation), and humility (or not seeking to be first). Laozi is also persuasive in advocating selective gradual change rather than confrontation.This book is not for the been-there-done-that crowd, who see the ideal life as a experience of episodes of serial consumption. Instead the truths here are intended to be revealed though a combination of experience and contemplation. Some have wisely recommended memorizing some of the chapters, allowing the enigmas and puzzles to remain with us and perhaps to be solved later on with the help of experiential and contextual diversity. The edition I read was translated by Thomas H. Miles and his students. It served my purpose well, though at times I would have appreciated some additional commentary to supplement the helpful existing guidance. Miles' translation also has some useful introductory material in which key terms are defined, insofar as that is possible within Taoism. I intend to read other translations to get a better idea of the range of interpretations.