(The Daode Jing Commentary of Cheng Xuanying) They provide the framework the earlier ones add to its richness. 180-157 BCE, and 王弼 Wang Bi manuscripts, 226-249 CE, which are great main sources for translating the poems. Future manuscripts are much easier to read because they include the correct characters in many cases. These too, because of their many imperfections, serve as great supplemental sources.

The next to oldest are the Mawangdui A and Mawangdui B manuscripts, c. It is quite incomplete, but serves as a great supplemental source. The earliest is the Guodian manuscript, c.

It has two parts: Part One is the D ao jing (道經), which is chapters 1–37 Part Two is the De jing (德經), which is chapters 38–81. The whole of Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching is well worth savoring-as much for the ancient substance as for Le Guin’s stylistic splendor.The Daode jing is a short book of about 5,000 Chinese characters. “The type of work which the great Polish poet and Nobel laureate Wisława Szymborska meant when she spoke of ‘that rare miracle when a translation stops being a translation and becomes. “A student of the Tao for several decades, Le Guin has created an English text that will speak to modern readers in a fresh and lively way, while conveying the humor, insight, and beauty of the original.” - Lion’s Roar magazine Le Guin’s intuitive and personal ingenuity.” - Chuangliang Al Huang, founder of the Living Tao Foundation and coauthor (with Alan Watts) of Tao: The Watercourse Way There is something startlingly fresh and creatively alive here, brought forth by Ms. Le Guin’s new version is a special treasure-a delight. “Among the many translations of Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching, Ursula K.

These words are akin to water in the desert.” - Terry Tempest Williams, author of Refuge “Each day I open this book at random and receive a contemplative gift. Drawing on a lifetime of contemplation and including extensive personal commentary throughout, she offers an unparalleled window into the text’s awe-inspiring, immediately relatable teachings and their inestimable value for our troubled world. Le Guin presents Lao Tzu’s time-honored and astonishingly powerful philosophy like never before. In this landmark modern-day rendition of the ancient Taoist classic, Ursula K.

Le guin tao te ching