COMPLETE TAO TE CHING WITH THE FOUR CANONS OF THE YELLOW EMPEROR

The writings of the Yellow Emperor are the backbone of Chinese thoughts on the nature of leadership.A level of considerations only reached in 17th_19th century in Europe. I consider these writing are transported from China to Europe in the 17th century to influence King William of Orange.

I love the Tao Te Ching and have several versions in my library. When I saw that this one was based on recently discovered manuscripts I felt that I had to have it. I am sorry I purchased it. The translation is one of the worst I have seen (in my opinion). The original of this work was apparently in French, so perhaps the translation from Chinese to French to English didn't help. This example is from Chapter 70, one of my favorites.In the D.C. Lau translation the last verse reads:"Therefore the sage, while clad in homespun, conceals on his person a priceless piece of jade."The Gia fu Feng translation of the same verse reads:"Therefore the sage wears rough clothing and holds the jewel in his heart."Here is the "Complete Tao Te Ching with the Four Canons of the Yellow Emperor" translation:"Sage hiding jade under his homespun robe."How awkward that reads. The idea is there, but the translation reads without any grace or flow. Very stilted.The Gia fu Feng translation of the first two verses of Chapter 43:"The softest thing on the universeOvercomes the hardest thing in the universe."The "Complete Tao Te Ching with the Four Canons of the Yellow Emperor" translation of the same:"Do you not see that in this world the supplest straddles the stiffest?"To each his own, I suppose. I really didn't care for this translation at all.

*Correction. I have to take some compliments back. The translation contains a lot of attacks on Confucian ideas, which the Guodian "A" text does not. Chapter 19 here is "discard goodness and equity". The Guodian A text says discard artificiality and deceit. Some other parts of the translation also seem to favor anti-Confucius versions of the ancient text.yet it's a very nice book for the price.

"This version preserves the unusual, reversed order of the two books..." So the famous verse one - is not at the beginning of the book, but you have find it on page 71. The commentary is valuable, the translation is well done, and the included extra canons and texts are appreciated. I'm dinging this version because I was not expecting the order to be reversed, and that makes it harder to pick up and use as a reference.

Great book!!