Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching

This is one of the Penguin series of books. The book consists of an introduction, the translation, a list of passages for comparison, two appendices, a chronological table, a glossary and notes.

The introduction is 52 pages long and is one of the best introductions I have seen.

Verse 12

28 The five colours make man's eyes blind,
The five notes make his ears deaf;
The five tastes injure his palate;
Riding and hunting
Make his mind go wild with excitement
Goods hard to come by
Serve to hinder his progress.
29 Hence the sage is
For the belly
Not for the eyes.
29a Therefore he discards the one and takes the other.

(You can note the one line about going wild with excitement. One translation uses go mad, while another says it will drive you crazy while you do it.

Verse 19

43 Exterminate the sage, discard the wise,
And the people will benefit a hundredfold;
Exterminate benevolence, discard rectitude,
And the people will again be filial;
Exterminate ingenuity, discard profit,
And there will be no more thieves and bandits.
43a Those three, being false adornments, are not enough
And the people must have something in which they can attach themselves;
Exhibit the unadorned and embrace the uncarved block,
Have litle thought of self and as fews desires as possible.

(I feel I'm watching an episode of Doctor Who with a bunch of Daleks running around shouting 'Exterminate! Exterminate! Exterminate! Usually something like get rid of or abandon is used rather than this rather violent sounding term.)

The translation itself is pretty much average. The extra items in the book such as the appendices are what make it really worth getting.


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