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4.3 Translations
The Tao Te Ching is perhaps the most translated book written in the Chinese language, with over 35 different translations in English alone. The text is so mystically obscure that sometimes different translations have nothing in common. That's a good reason to rely on more than one. One way to do this is to pick two translations and read them side by side.
- In English
- An English translation by John Chalmers appeared in 1868.
- James Legge in The Texts of Taoism, 2 vols (Sacred Books of China 39 and 40) Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1891/Humphrey Milford, London, 1891.
- Arthur Waley The Way and Its Power: A Study of the Tao Te Ching and its Place in Chinese Thought, Allen & Unwin, London, 1934.
- J.J.L. Duyvendak Tao Te King: The Book of the Way and its Virtue. (Wisdom of the East) John Murray, London, 1954.
- Robert G. Henricks Lao-Tzu Te-Tao Ching: A New Translation Based on the Recently Discovered Ma-wang-tui Texts. Ballantine Books, New York, 1989.
- Patrick E. Moran in Three Smaller Wisdom Books, University Press of America, 1993.
- Aleister Crowley Tao Te Ching, Samuel Weiser Inc., York Beach, Maine, 1995.
- Ursula K. Le Guin Lao Tzu : Tao Te Ching, a Book about the Way & the Power of the Way (a translation and commentary), Shambala, Boston & London, 1998.
- Robert G. Henricks Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching: A Translation of the Startling New Documents Found at Guodian, Columbia University Press, New York, 2000. (Contains only those chapters found in the Guodian Laozi .)
- An online translation by Charles Muller is available at http://www.hm.tyg.jp/~acmuller/contao/daodejing.html.
- Stephen Mitchell Tao te Ching, A New English Version (with forward and notes), HarperCollinsPublishers Inc, NY, NY, 1988.
- Witter Bynner, The Way of Life According to LaoTsu: An American Version, John Day Company, 1944. Wonderful poetic version.
- In French
- Léon Wieger Les pères du système taoïste, Cathasia, Paris, 1950.
- J.J.L. Duyvendak Tao tö king, le livre de la voie et de la vertu, texte chinois établi et traduit avec des notes critiques et une introduction. Paris, 1953.
- Stanilas Julien Le Livre de la voie et de la vertu, Paris, 1942; (Cercle du livre précieux) Paris, 1967.
- Liou Kia-hway , Tao-tö King, Gallimard, 1969
- In German
- Victor von Strauss made the first German translation in 1870.
- Richard Wilhelm, Tao te king, das Buch des Alten vom Sinn und Leben, Düsseldorf, 1970. (Wilhelm is said to be the "Marco Polo of Chinese spirituality".)
5 See also
6 External links
Taoist texts
