The Eternal Tao Te Ching: The Philosophical Masterwork of Taoism and Its Relevance Today

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Countless transcriptions and translations of The Tao Te Ching over millennia have created many opportunities for errors to creep in, due to mistakes in copying or false additions by later authors. The text is often enigmatic and, in usual translations, can even seem nonsensical. This excellent new translation by Benjamin Hoff addresses all those issues by returning to the deepest roots of the Tao Te Ching texts to find the original meaning and clarity that later translations have obscured. Hoff has painstakingly researched not only past translations, but the original Chinese characters, reconstructing this work with a deep sensitivity to the original author’s writing style and sensibility. The result is a beautiful set of observations about life and The Way (Tao). Reading these chapters brings focus and stillness, and the accompanying photographs (the author’s own) add the sense of renewal that comes from nature, offering balm to soothe a harried mind. The author’s notes about his translations are helpful for interpreting some of the more obscure passages and are an interesting side note, and are worth reading at least once; the main text is one you will want to return to often, to re-center your mind and heart on serenity.


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Author Benjamin Hoff
Star Count /5
Format Hard
Page Count 272 pages
Publisher Harry N. Abrams
Publish Date 07-Dec-2021
ISBN 9781419755507
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Issue March 2022
Category Philosophy
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