THE COMPLETE "TAO TE CHING" IN PLAIN ENGLISH

The book description:

This book contains the total 81 chapters of "Tao Te Ching," the ancient Chinese classic by the sage Lao Tzu, on human wisdom. In addition to the translated text in plain English, the book also includes a detailed description of the essentials of TAO wisdom, which is the essence of "Tao Te Ching."

   The original text of "Tao Te Ching" is difficult to understand because the language, without any punctuation, was intentionally controversial and open to multiple interpretations. Stephen Lau has expressed and interpreted the original text in simple and plain English for readers to understand the profound TAO wisdom.

Tao Te Ching (道德經) is an ancient Chinese classic on human wisdom. This unique piece of literature is one of the most translated books in human history and world literature. The book is a beautiful collection of Chinese wisdom poetry, in which the author expresses his wisdom in living life in all of its beauty and joy, as well as in all of its pain and sorrow. The language is simple and poetic, but controversial and paradoxical.

"My words are easy to understand

and easy to perform, 

Yet no man under heaven

knows them or practices them.”

(Tao Te Ching, Chapter 70)

TAO wisdom is inspiring.

There are altogether 81 short chapters, expressed in only 5,000 words. It must be pointed out that there was no punctuation in the original text. Given that each word In the Chinese language may be capable of having multiple meanings, the text without any punctuation is open to many different interpretations. A plausible explanation was that Lao Tzu was very much reluctant to express his wisdom in words. As a matter of fact, according to the legend, at that time he was at the point of leaving China for Tibet when he was stopped at the city gate and was told by the guard that he had to put down his wisdom in words before he could leave the country. Deliberately and defiantly, he put down his wisdom concisely and precisely in only 5,000 words with no punctuation at all.

TAO wisdom from Tao Te Ching is also intriguing because it is simple and open to various different interpretations. It is like the three blind men, touching different parts of an elephant, who try to describe what an elephant may look like.

To illustrate, the following is taken from the first chapter of Tao Te Ching with only 59 Chinese characters:

 

道 可 道 ， 非 常 道 。 名 可 名 ， 非 常 名 。

無 名 天 地 之 始 ﹔ 有 名 萬 物 之 母 。

故 常 無 ， 欲 以 觀 其 妙 ﹔ 常 有 ， 欲 以 觀 其 徼 。

此 兩 者 ， 同 出 而 異 名 ， 同 謂 之 玄 。

玄 之 又 玄 ， 眾 妙 之 門 。

(original Chinese text; the punctuation marks were subsequently added by scholars)

     "The name that can be named is not the eternal name.

      As nameless, it is the origin of all things;

As named, it is   mother of 10,000 things

Ever desireless, one can see the mystery of all things.

Ever desiring, one sees only their manifestations.

And the mystery itself is the doorway to all understanding."

(Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, chapter one)

 

The above is a very close, almost word-for-word, translation of the original Chinese text.

The following is Stephen Lau's own translation in plain English, as well as his own interpretation (in brackets), of the first chapter of Tao Te Ching:

 

"If we could understand the Creator or explain His ways, then He is no longer infinite and eternal. (Human wisdom is limited and therefore we can never completely understand the ways of Nature or the Creator.)

Mankind, once given a name with an identity, is only the source, but not the creator, of all things. (Man invents but does not create something out of nothing; only the Creator, who is nameless with no identity, creates everything out of nothing.)

Ever humble, we see the mystery of all things in the Creator's realm of creation. (With humility, we may understand why certain things were created.)

Ever boastful, we see only the manifestations of all things created. (With pride, we see the wonders of our own inventions, but not the mystery of the Creator’s creations.)

And the mystery itself is the pathway to attaining greater spirituality and further understanding of the Creator. (Not knowing everything leads to further understanding of the purpose of creation by the Creator.)

 

TAO wisdom is profound human wisdom that requires self-intuition to have greater understanding of the Creator, who is in control of everything created by Him; this further understanding may be instrumental in enhancing human wisdom. For this reason, paradoxically, TAO was later on evolved into a religion (known as Taoism) in China. However, it must be pointed out that Tao was never intended to be a religion or some religious belief by Lao Tzu; it was meant to show only what true human wisdom really is.

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