"Ursula K. Le Guin, a student of the Tao Te Ching for more than fifty years, offers her own thoughtful rendering of the Taoist scripture. She has consulted the literal translations and worked with the scholar J. P. Seaton to develop a version that lets the ancient text speak in a fresh way to modern people, while remaining faithful to the original Chinese. This rendition reveals the Tao Te Ching's immediate relevance and power, its depth and refreshing humor, illustrating better than ever before why it has been so loved for more than 2,500 years. Included are Le Guin's own personal commentary and notes along with two audio CDs of the text read by the author, with original music composed and performed by Todd Barton."--Publisher's website.

A vivid collection of ancient sayings and commentaries which speaks across the centuries and between cultures and people. Limited edition of 500. Quarter bound in leather, silk gold blocking, silk end papers anti ribbon marker. A beautiful collector's edition.

The book Lao Tzu (aka Tao Te Ching ) is a book originated in the sixth century BCE in China. Unlike most writings of that time, it embodies an intgrated work of philosophy. Furthermore, it encompasses themes on religion, political science, social science and traditional thoughts(e.g. I Ching) before Lao Tzu. All the original Taoism created by Lao Tzu are manifested in a simple book of about five thousand Chinese characters. From a modern prospective his profound thought is expressed in compressed expressions. Even Confucius, like numerous Chinese, treated sayings of Lao Tzu as adages. Hardly any punctilious Chinese intellectual, including antagonists of this book, could argue successfully that the whole text does not deserved to be painstakingly examined. For example, the famous aphorism “A journey of one thousand miles started out from one single step” was initially in this book. This translation and introduction of Tao Te Ching was aimed to be both philosophically and linguistically closest to the original Tao of Taoism. The Chinese version of this English book will shortly be published by People’s Press as well. Sir Karl Popper, the author of Open Society and Its Enemies, has strongly recommended the translator of this version. When the first attempt on translation was made in 1985 Sir Alfred J. Ayer commented “Your work on Lao Tzu promises to be very interesting”.

'Of ways you may speak, but not the Perennial Way; By names you may name, but not the Perennial Name.' The best-loved of all the classical books of China and the most universally popular, the Daodejing or Classic of the Way and Life-Force is a work that defies definition. It encapsulates the main tenets of Daoism, and upholds a way of being as well as a philosophy and a religion. The dominant image is of the Way, the mysterious path through the whole cosmos modelled on the great Silver River or Milky Way that traverses the heavens. A life-giving stream, the Way gives rise to all things and holds them in her motherly embrace. It enables the individual, and society as a whole, to harmonize the disparate demands of daily life and achieve a more profound level of understanding. This new translation draws on the latest archaeological finds and brings out the word play and poetry of the original. Simple commentary accompanies the text, and the introduction provides further historical and interpretative context. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

The Tao te Ching of Lao Tzu is one of the most widely read and deeply cherished books in the world, a work many consider the wisest book ever written. In his introduction, translator Brian Browne Walker says, "It is less a book than a living, breathing angel." In his new translation, Walker stays close to the direct literal accuracy of the Chinese characters while producing a modern, exceptionally clear version that has the ring and voice of Lao Tzu, a man who may or may not have been a single individual. "I have come to think of Lao Tzu less as a man who once lived," Walker writes, "and more as a song that plays, eternal and abiding."

The Tao Te Ching is surely the most terse and economical of the world's great religious texts. In a series of short, profound chapters, it elucidates the idea of the Tao, or the Way--an idea that in its ethical, practical and spiritual dimensions has become essential to the life of China's enormously powerful civilization. In the process of this elucidation, its author Laotzu both clarifies and deepens those central religious mysteries around which our life on earth revolves.