One of the things I would like to do on a continuous basis is to examine the Tao Te Ching. I am inspired to do this by Paul Dotta, on Medium, who is expert in this, as he has examined more than one version of this text, chapter by chapter. He is now doing the same with the very accessible Ursula K Le Guin rendition of the text, which I have began to follow on Medium. You can see the first post in that series here and, if you are a Medium member, you can follow it by checking Paul’s lists. He is an American who has lived in China for many years, and brought-up a family there. He has travelled extensively through China, and his travelogues are exceedingly good reading, too.
I am presenting my own analysis here as a more amateur attempt to understand the text, but I mention Paul, should you wish to explore a more expert analysis. I am working on the basis that if Le Guin’s text is accessible, then a newbie to the Tao Te Ching should be able to make something of it, despite its complexity. And if I can do so, then maybe so could you.
Le Guin’s rendition gives the title of Lao Tzu’s text as “A Book About The Way and the Power of The Way” She chooses to use the word, ‘Power’ instead of ‘Virtue’ like many other texts, as she argues that, in the western world, the meaning of ‘Virtue’ has changed over the years, and is devalued from its original meaning.
She additionally wishes to emphasise some of the poetic quality of the text, and she therefore presents each chapter with a title, and with the stanza layout of a poem. She adds her own comments as footnotes to many of the chapters, and adds other notes to the end of the text, relating specifically to the decisions she made when creating her rendition of the text.
If you obtain a copy of the text, it is worth reading her introduction and her post-text notes, along with her footnotes whilst progressing through the text. She, herself, has a good, previous, knowledge of the Tao Te Ching through the study of it within her family, and has lived her life experiencing the text both as child and as adult.
I have not attempted to read any other version of the Tao Te Ching, but if you choose to do so, you may be better able to discern the differences in translation and rendition that other authors may offer. You may also learn that this is a text that is approximately 2500 years old, written in China, written by one or several people, one of whom may have been called Lao Tsu, or variations of that name, including different spellings.
This is a foundational text of the belief system known as Taoism, which is active today and is influenced by many other texts created over the intervening centuries that have followed the original. You may also find out that the Tao Te Ching is also known as Dao De Jing, and possible other names, too. I have knowledge as peripheral reading, rather than by detailed study. If you go for the detailed reading, you will have greater knowledge and understanding than I have, or intend to have. For now, at least, I wish only to attempt to understand the original text, rather than delve into the details of how the belief system came about, or how it has developed. That may change, but not necessarily so.
Additionally, please allow me to emphasise that I am starting with no knowledge whatsoever, and I am only committing to explore as far as I continue to have interest to do so, although I would hope that it would include the whole text. If you want to engage in proper study of the text, you should aim to do that through a proper course of study as the best you are likely to experience from me is one person’s amateur/beginner viewpoint.
My next post on this subject will be the beginning of my interpretation.
Thank-you for reading.
Fraser