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Lao Tzu's Tao and Wu Wei
In this clarion translation of Laotzu's Tao Te Ching, first published in 1919, Goddard brings the complexity and depth of the ancient philosopher's poetry into the English language, his great love for the topic overcoming the necessary shortcomings of translation. There are three concepts that are essential to the Tao Te Ching-Tao, Te, and Wu Wei-- that all have complex meanings that cannot be directly translated, but spiritual seekers and those with an interest in philosophy and religion will find Goddard's treatment of Laotzu lyrical and deeply meaningful. American writer DWIGHT GODDARD (1861-1939) studied at a monastery in Kyoto, Japan, for a year and was among the first Westerners to bring Zen Buddhism to the United States. His most famous book is The Buddhist Bible (1938).
92 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1919
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About the author
Dwight Goddard
124 books6 followersAmerican writer Dwight Goddard (1861-1939) studied at a monastery in Kyoto, Japan, for a year and was among the first Westerners to bring Zen Buddhism to the United States. His most famous book is The Buddhist Bible (1938).
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
November 18, 2014
Beautiful and mesmerizing. To truly do justice to this great book I'd have to copy/paste the entire work here. Instead I've done the harder task of selecting these:
"By strifelessness, Laotzu did not mean common inaction... He meant relaxation... from the craving for unreal things. But he did exact activity in real things. He implied a powerful movement of the soul, which must be freed from its gloomy body like a bird from its cage. He meant a yielding to the inner motive-force which we derive from Tao and which leads us to Tao again. And, believe me: this movement is as natural as that of the cloud above us."
"You must never believe pain to be a real thing, an essential element of existence. Your pain will one day vanish as the mists vanish from the mountains."
"... The wise man to the end will not pose as a great man, and by doing so will express his true greatness."
"A contented person is not despised. One who knows when to stop is not endangered; he will be able therefore to continue."
"By strifelessness, Laotzu did not mean common inaction... He meant relaxation... from the craving for unreal things. But he did exact activity in real things. He implied a powerful movement of the soul, which must be freed from its gloomy body like a bird from its cage. He meant a yielding to the inner motive-force which we derive from Tao and which leads us to Tao again. And, believe me: this movement is as natural as that of the cloud above us."
"You must never believe pain to be a real thing, an essential element of existence. Your pain will one day vanish as the mists vanish from the mountains."
"... The wise man to the end will not pose as a great man, and by doing so will express his true greatness."
"A contented person is not despised. One who knows when to stop is not endangered; he will be able therefore to continue."
March 8, 2017
To recognize one's insignificance is called enlightenment. To keep one's sympathy is called strength. He who uses Tao's light returns to Tao's enlightenment and does not surrender his person to perdition.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When a man is living he is tender and fragile. When he dies he is hard and stiff. It is the same with everything, the grass and trees, in life, are tender and delicate, but when they die they become rigid and dry.
Therefore those who are hard and stiff belong to death's domain, while the tender and weak belong to the realm of life.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The wise man has no fixed heart; in the hearts of the people he finds his own. The good he treats with goodness; the not-good he also treats with goodness, for teh is goodness. The faithful ones he treats with good faith; the unfaithful he also treats with good faith, for teh is good faith.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tao produces unity; unity produces duality; duality produces trinity; trinity produces all things. All things bear the negative principle (yin) and embrace the positive principle (yang). Immaterial vitality, the third principle (chi), makes them harmonious.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
the tender and yielding conquer the rigid and strong (i.e., spirit is stronger than matter, persuasion than force). The fish would be foolish to seek escape from its natural environment. There is no gain to a nation to compel by a show of force.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When a man is living he is tender and fragile. When he dies he is hard and stiff. It is the same with everything, the grass and trees, in life, are tender and delicate, but when they die they become rigid and dry.
Therefore those who are hard and stiff belong to death's domain, while the tender and weak belong to the realm of life.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The wise man has no fixed heart; in the hearts of the people he finds his own. The good he treats with goodness; the not-good he also treats with goodness, for teh is goodness. The faithful ones he treats with good faith; the unfaithful he also treats with good faith, for teh is good faith.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tao produces unity; unity produces duality; duality produces trinity; trinity produces all things. All things bear the negative principle (yin) and embrace the positive principle (yang). Immaterial vitality, the third principle (chi), makes them harmonious.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
the tender and yielding conquer the rigid and strong (i.e., spirit is stronger than matter, persuasion than force). The fish would be foolish to seek escape from its natural environment. There is no gain to a nation to compel by a show of force.
September 17, 2022
Something happened around 400 to 500 BC in the west, the emergence of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotelian schools of thought. In the east, The Yellow Emperor, Li Er (Lao Tzu) and Confucius, later Buddha and Christ, appear almost at similar times.
What problem Lao Tzu tries to solve? The cruelty of the human condition. Schopenhauer was right when he asked to observe how beautiful the hair of a lion is, how beautifully it stands and looks around and in a second, that beautiful hair can be covered with blood becouse no rational brain can resist hunger and the need for energy via consumption of something beyond our selves.
Lao Tzu proposes The Way, Wu Wei and Taoism as the right path of life that comes through empathy for each other. To do nothing, ATARAXIA, for him, starts with controlling your inner thoughts and actions. It is not apathy but as the famous internet meme of Bruce Lee says: become water, my friend. It flowed around all that tension and suffering without shape since water can flow.
Wu Wei is also a manual for rulers to rule without involvement; only their presence or their idea should be sufficient for others to do what is right. Kind of like being the holy Ghost, that all know about it, but no one has seen it.
If you think about it, those ideas are embedded in western religion in one form or another. Who influenced first who is a big question becouse Pre Socratic period of Ionian scholars like Heraclitus kind he says the same things: "All things come into being by conflict of opposites, and the sum of things (τὰ ὅλα ta hola ("the whole")) flows like a stream."
On the question of who came first, I need to search more profound on the Yellow Emperor (Ξανθος) myths.
What problem Lao Tzu tries to solve? The cruelty of the human condition. Schopenhauer was right when he asked to observe how beautiful the hair of a lion is, how beautifully it stands and looks around and in a second, that beautiful hair can be covered with blood becouse no rational brain can resist hunger and the need for energy via consumption of something beyond our selves.
Lao Tzu proposes The Way, Wu Wei and Taoism as the right path of life that comes through empathy for each other. To do nothing, ATARAXIA, for him, starts with controlling your inner thoughts and actions. It is not apathy but as the famous internet meme of Bruce Lee says: become water, my friend. It flowed around all that tension and suffering without shape since water can flow.
Wu Wei is also a manual for rulers to rule without involvement; only their presence or their idea should be sufficient for others to do what is right. Kind of like being the holy Ghost, that all know about it, but no one has seen it.
If you think about it, those ideas are embedded in western religion in one form or another. Who influenced first who is a big question becouse Pre Socratic period of Ionian scholars like Heraclitus kind he says the same things: "All things come into being by conflict of opposites, and the sum of things (τὰ ὅλα ta hola ("the whole")) flows like a stream."
On the question of who came first, I need to search more profound on the Yellow Emperor (Ξανθος) myths.
December 7, 2022
Can't help but feel that a lot gets lost in translation, like there's more to the text than what I can glimmer. I'll have to search for alternate translations and compare.
December 7, 2020
"The souls of those who love are like two white clouds floating softly side by side, that vanish, wafted by the same wind , into the infinite blue of the heavens."
April 2, 2023
It’s good, although I don’t really dig the witches…it may be the tao, but it goes against the core values of the teachings in my useless opinion
February 17, 2016
This is good example of what I believe in relation to age of something. Just because a book is old, for example, does not mean it is bad or useless. In some fields that might apply, as, for example, books on astronomy. But when a book deals with spiritual matters age does not matter. This book has some very good translation material in it and is definitely worth reading.
September 29, 2016
Intersting content, enjoyed reading it...
April 20, 2017
When we reach Taoism in the college class I teach, I get each student to read aloud one of the poems.
August 1, 2023
Must read.
April 22, 2019
7.8/10
November 23, 2019
Encantador libro y fácil de leer. Una buena introducción a la filosofía oriental del no-ser y el nada.
April 25, 2023
Having read the Goddard, Legge, and Suzuki translations, I can say the Feng/English/Lippe translation is the best of the four in my opinion.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews