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- Herausgeber: Books on Demand
- Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
- Sprache: Englisch
About 2500 years ago, the imperial archivist Lao Tzu (engl. »The old Sage«), who was already known throughout China for his wisdom, set out to leave the increasingly shattered empire for mountain solitude. He found himself detained, though, by the border guard, who told him, he would not be allowed to leave, until he wrote down his wisdom. This left Lao Tzu in a quandary. After all, he had diligently avoided the latter, in the knowledge of its fundamental impossibility. According to the legend, he finally bowed to the coercion of the official and wrote down the »Tao Te Ching« (literally: »The Book of the Tao«) in the customs house within a few days. In order to escape at least a little from this dilemma, Lao Tzu made it clear right at the beginning: »The words one can speak are not the right words.« Because of this relativization and not least in relation to the central term »Tao«, which is considered incomprehensible, the number of versions and interpretations of the »Tao Te Ching«, now a classic of world literature, became legion. As a makeshift, the scholars and translators commonly attributed the English terms »Meaning« and »Way« to the »Tao«. In reference of Arthur Schopenhauer, the probably most precise and articulate western intellectual ever, the translation undertaken here applies for »Tao« the simple term »The World«, which Schopenhauer characterized as the most comprehensive of all terms. As the reader will notice soon, the use of the term »World« for »Tao«, as well as the Schopenhauerian world-view as the translation-background, lends this literary soul balm a fascinating additional conciseness - timeless in its peace-inducing simplicity and closeness to life.
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Seitenzahl: 39
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023
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Table of Contents
Preface
1. Chapter
2. Chapter
3. Chapter
4. Chapter
5. Chapter
6. Chapter
7. Chapter
8. Chapter
9. Chapter
10. Chapter
11. Chapter
12. Chapter
13. Chapter
14. Chapter
15. Chapter
16. Chapter
17. Chapter
18. Chapter
19. Chapter
20. Chapter
21. Chapter
22. Chapter
23. Chapter
24. Chapter
25. Chapter
26. Chapter
27. Chapter
28. Chapter
29. Chapter
30. Chapter
31. Chapter
32. Chapter
33. Chapter
34. Chapter
35. Chapter
36. Chapter
37. Chapter
38. Chapter
39. Chapter
40. Chapter
41. Chapter
42. Chapter
43. Chapter
44. Chapter
45. Chapter
46. Chapter
47. Chapter
48. Chapter
49. Chapter
50. Chapter
51. Chapter
52. Chapter
53. Chapter
54. Chapter
55. Chapter
56. Chapter
57. Chapter
58. Chapter
59. Chapter
60. Chapter
61. Chapter
62. Chapter
63. Chapter
64. Chapter
65. Chapter
66. Chapter
67. Chapter
68. Chapter
69. Chapter
70. Chapter
71. Chapter
72. Chapter
73. Chapter
74. Chapter
75. Chapter
76. Chapter
77. Chapter
78. Chapter
79. Chapter
80. Chapter
81. Chapter
Preface
About 2500 years ago, the imperial archivist Lao Tzu (engl. »The old Sage«), who was already known throughout China for his wisdom, set out to leave the increasingly shattered empire for mountain solitude. He found himself detained, though, by the border guard, who told him, he would not be allowed to leave, until he wrote down his wisdom.
This left Lao Tzu in a quandary. After all, he had diligently avoided the latter, in the knowledge of its fundamental impossibility.
According to the legend, he finally bowed to the coercion of the official and wrote down the »Tao Te Ching« (literally: »The Book of the Tao«) in the customs house within a few days.
In order to escape at least a little from this dilemma, Lao Tzu made it clear right at the beginning: »The words one can speak are not the right words.«
Because of this relativization and not least in relation to the central term »Tao«, which is considered incomprehensible, the number of versions and interpretations of the »Tao Te Ching«, now a classic of world literature, became legion. As a makeshift, the scholars and translators commonly attributed the English terms »Meaning« and »Way« to the »Tao«.
In reference of Arthur Schopenhauer, the probably most precise and articulate western intellectual ever, the translation undertaken here applies for »Tao« the simple term »The World«, which Schopenhauer characterized as the most comprehensive of all terms.
As the reader has probably just noticed for himself, the use of the term »World« for »Tao«, as well as the Schopenhauerian world-view as the translation-background, lends this literary soul balm a fascinating additional conciseness - timeless in its peace-inducing simplicity and closeness to life.
1.
The world one can conceive
is not the significant world.
The life one can control
is not the genuine life.
The words one can speak
are not the right words.
The origin of the high and the low
is beyond imagination.
So, if you wish to see the meaning of life,
look unintentionally inside,
playful as a child.
Once desire grasps your senses,
you get entangled in external forms.
Both, inside and outside,
is of one origin
and only differs by name.
In its unity it is called the secret.
The secrets’s even deeper secret
is the gate, through which
all the miracles of life are evolving.
2.
He who understands the beauty of beauty as a mere
appearance,
is able to see the meaning of ugliness as well.
He who understands the goodness of the good as mere
appearance,
will deal easier with evil.
Accordingly fullness and emptiness cause each other,
fun and hardship complete each other,
the long and the short measure each other,
height and depth build on each other,
ear and a sound attune to each other,
early and late episode themselves.
Therefore the wise man features with restraint.
He practices in wordless teaching.
He succeeds
without excerting influence.
Things serve him
without his taking possession of them.
He acts without demanding,
completes his tasks
without making any claim.
Since he is not striving for accumulation,
he has nothing to lose.
3.
He who's not distinguishing the excellent,
reduces competition.
