Translations of the Dao De Jing

I keep a copy handy at all times. I don’t think it contains the indisputable truth of all life/everything/stuff like that - but invaluable wisdom and perspective. Reading it can help me achieve mindfulness similar to meditation.

Re: Translations of the Dao De Jing

#5

Post by acabal » Sun, Apr 29, 2018, 11:06 PM UTC

Shameless plug, the free Standard Ebooks edition of the Legge translation: https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/laozi/tao-te-ching/james-l...

Re: Translations of the Dao De Jing

#6

Post by cryptoz » Sun, Apr 29, 2018, 11:10 PM UTC

ateesdalejr wrote: post #3

Too bad this website is a little broken on a large screen. https://screenshots.firefox.com/mBWI8eKC7tz6BSmL/www.daoisop...

Most of the links 404 as well.

Re: Translations of the Dao De Jing

#7

Post by cocacola1 » Sun, Apr 29, 2018, 11:23 PM UTC

acabal wrote: post #5

Shameless plug, the free Standard Ebooks edition of the Legge translation: https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/laozi/tao-te-ching/james-l...

Your site has been one of my favorite finds of this decade. Thank you for the fantastic work.

Re: Translations of the Dao De Jing

#8

Post by scrame » Sun, Apr 29, 2018, 11:52 PM UTC

There was another site that hosted 80+ versions that I scraped a long time ago and made this: http://tao.scrame.com

It shows a random passage from a random translation, with an attribution link to the long dead parent site. I should probably dump the db back to the constituent pieces, enduring issues and all.

Initially it was a test for rails, but I rewrote it in php ages echo.

Re: Translations of the Dao De Jing

#9

Post by flatline » Mon, Apr 30, 2018, 12:04 AM UTC

If the text is just too mystifying to “get into”, I highly recommend Red Pine’s (non-free) translation. It is not the most authoritative but he includes translations of commentary from centuries of Chinese scholars that shed a lot more light on each passage than you are likely to get without a more serious course of study.

Re: Translations of the Dao De Jing

#10

Post by Analemma_ » Mon, Apr 30, 2018, 12:06 AM UTC

Red Pine's translation (https://www.amazon.com/dp/1556592906/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_R0...) isn't great— he's a bit too into "the mystic Orient!" sort of thing— but one major plus is that it includes English translations of later Chinese commentators on the text, which is very important.

As for the best translation, the Penguin edition translated by D. C. Lau might be it.

If you're really interested in it, I would recommend getting both of these – the synthesis helps.