Rating: 
Summary: The Tao will never leave you.
Review: A long time ago I sat down and tried to determine what I considered to be the single most important book that I had ever read. The Tao te Ching was my choice. One of the oldest books of the human race, it is also perhaps the closest to perfection. To meditate on the meaning of the 81 chapters to open your mind. You make a mind shift by contemplating what the Tao is not. I can see where Zen owes a debt to this book, as it is almost one long koan designed to free the mind and transcend the ego.
I've heard criticisms that the Tao te Ching was written as a manual for Emperors on how to rule and therefor has no relevence to modern man. Actually, if you live your life according to Kant's catagorical imperative (live as if your every action or decision might become universal law), then this is the perfect guide. To be one with the Tao is to be one with the Cosmos. A selfish or imbalanced act is impossible. This applies to an Emperor, a wandering holy man, a householder, or to you.
Mr. Mitchelll's translation is the best that I've found. You sense that he has a true intuitive understanding of the text. There are "scholarly" translations that focus so much on detail that they totally miss the meaning. I have both the pocket edition, as well as, the audio cassettes, and I most highly recommend both.
Rating: 
Summary: Why read a paraphrase instead of a translation?
Review: As Mitchell admits, he doesn't read Chinese. Instead of calling this a "translation," he calls it an "English version." But why would you want to read a loose English paraphrase by someone who can't read either the original or the early Chinese commentaries on it when you could read a translation by any one of a number of gifted and insightful scholars? The standard defense of a "version" like Mitchell's is that he has some special insight into the text that entitles him to interpret it. But the danger of an interpretation like Mitchell's is that it projects modern Western preconceptions onto the Tao Te Ching instead of allowing us to be challenged by the powerful, paradoxical, and even frightening original text. In fact, Mitchell projects Zen Buddhist and New Age ideas into his "interpetation." (And, No, Zen Buddhism is not the same as Taoism, any more than Catholicism is the same as Judaism.) Someone who actually reads the original Classical Chinese, and is familiar with the historical and cultural context in which the text was composed is much more likely to be insightful about the text. Another common comment is that someone like Mitchell doesn't get lost in boring scholarly stuff. But there are plenty of exciting, fun to read translations by people who can actually read the original. The first Tao Te Ching translation I read was by D.C. Lau. He was a truly great scholar, but his translation is very elegant and very readable. Other terrific translations by people who actually know the "text and context" include those by Victor Mair, Robert Henricks, and Philip J. Ivanhoe. (Ivanhoe's translation is available both as a separate book, and as part of the anthology he co-edited, Readings in Classical Chinese Philosophy.) Oh, and the "editorial review" that Amazon lists above is actually not a review of Mitchell's translation at all. (There is no way to report that using their "corrections" button.)
Rating:
Summary: This book is little more than Taoist blasphemy.
Review: Mitchell claims his most empowering qualification for writing this version of the Tao Te Ching is that he has been an ardent student of Zen for many years. This is akin to claiming that virginity is an automatic qualification for knowledgeably expounding on sexual love.
Mitchell's Zen influence is apparent throughout. Instead of trying to be true to Lao Tzu's intent, Mitchell obviously delights in simply trying to make Lao Tzu's teachings as mystical-sounding as possible. In the very first chapter, for example, Mitchell begins: The tao that can be told
is not the eternal Tao.
The name that can be named
is not the eternal Name. Wow. How mystic.
Far better would be something like this: The true Tao is not the Tao you may think it is;
The essence of the word Tao lies deep within, not merely
in its surface meaning. This rendition is flawlessly faithful to both Lao Tzu's words and intent. Its meaning is naturally deep, but without artificially trying to make Tao Te Ching passages seem like a series of irrelevant Zen koans. Three lines down, Mitchell adds: Free from desire, you realize the mystery.
Caught in desire, you see only the manifestations. Lao Tzu never taught the nonsensical notion that we should rid ourselves of desire. When we are hungry, we desire food. When we see someone in need, we often desire to help. Only corpses are free from desire. And that is the way it should be. A common attribute of Chinese Taoists is that they are relatively free of sexual fears, phobias, and repressions. Their sexual desires, therefore, are often quite unfettered.
A better rendering of that same passage would be something like: Through the void, we can understand the latent
interconnections,
And through the physical, we can understand the limitless
manisfestations. The only thing a reader will learn from Mitchell's version is precisely what Taoism is not.
Rating:
Summary: Don't waste your money on this trash.
Review: This may be a best seller, but don't waste your money. It is New Age dross, with Lao-tzu flaunting concepts that were politically correct in California in the 90's. Mitchell is totally ignorant of all religious and philosophical aspects of Taoism, and admittedly cannot read Chinese. Loosely based on other versions, Michell ad libs whenever he fancies. Where the Chinese texts literally says: "not competing so no blame," Mitchell interprets: "When you are content to be simply yourself and do not compare or compete, everybody will respect you." Even fortune cookies read better.
Tao Te Ching describes a peace-loving country that gives saddle horses the mundane task of hauling manure. In contrast, the people in the war-mongering country raise warhorses outside the towns. Mitchell boldly substitutes this with contemporary images: When a country is good "factories make trucks and tractors," and when a country is bad "warheads are stockpiled outside the cities." He has turned Tao Te Ching into... manure.
Rating:
Summary: Awful botchup
Review: This is not so much a translation of the Tao Te Ching but rather a new-agish interpretation of such. By incorporating input from Buddhist and other traditions into his interpretation Mr Mitchell misses the difference between the Way and the other forms of eastern religions. Taoism, for lack of a better label for it, is entirely native to the east, as opposed to Buddhism and Hinduism which are both outgrowths of an Indo-european system of beliefs. His efforts then become such a mishmash of ideas that they bear no resemblence to either the Tao Te Ching or the philosophies underlying it. One chapter in the book he even deliberately ignores the meaning of the chapter in order to argue for embracing death. Frankly anyone who uses this translation in an attempt to understand the Way might as well use the Bible, the Koran, the Bagavad-Ghita or the Torah. It would be just as easy to find the writings in them as in his work.
Rating:
Summary: Holding to the paradoxial style of the prose
Review: Stephen Mitchell's rendition of Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching was a very intense but excellent approach at offering you an English version Lao Tzu's teachings. After comparing to the one my professor used, I found it easier to comphrehend and attempt to find the possible meanings what the prose could have meant. It is an wonderful choice and Houston Smith is right on the ball when he gives his recomendation.
Rating:
Summary: Stephen Mitchell's translation of this classic is....
Review: very meaningful to me on many levels. I own several copies and use them as personal manual. Much like you would with, "The big book" or "The Bible." Each and everyday I either think of this wonderful translation or I am busy reading sections. I am familar with more traditional translations and much prefer this one. I can relate to it on many levels. I find the western-zen qualities that others critique, appropriate and very useful. I believe every one is both looking and creating the "truth" in a dialectical sense. This book along with a few others helps me with my struggle to both find that truth and walk the path when it appears.
Rating:
Summary: A horrible translation
Review: This book is entitled "A New English Version"; it should say "A Terrible English Version". This version of the Tao Te Ching is so badly translated it isn't even the Tao Te Ching anymore.
On the cover of this book it says "Tao Te Ching, by Stephen Mitchell," which is interesting because the Tao Te Ching was written by Lao Tzu, not Stephen Mitchell; why isn't the author of this book given credit on the cover for writing it?
Mitchell did not even translate the Tao Te Ching, he basically read it and then re-wrote it in his own words. This book is only his personal interpretation of the Tao Te Ching. If you want the real Tao Te Ching in Lao Tzu's actual words, check out "Tao Te Ching: The Definitive Edition" translated by Jonathan Star, or "Tao Te Ching" translated by David Hinton.
Rating: 
Summary: A stylistic success
Review: This book deserves attention as far as the fundamental ideas of Taoism is concerned. The versified translation is more a stylistic success than a faithful rendering of the text. I find the author has been too audacious in extrapolating the meaning of some word combinations. I'd like to recommend it to students of Chinese literature or the general reader, because it does a better job in transfering the poetic spirit of the pre-Chin philosophers than interpreting their philosophical texts.
Rating:
Summary: Perhaps not a translation per se...
Review: But a great interpretation. The number of translations and/or interpolations of the Tao Te Ching (case in point - alternative spelling is often Dao De Jing) that I believe a serious student should be exposed to all of them in order to benefit from any of them. Take the points you like from any number of them and make your OWN interpretation if you like. But if you're interested in Taoism at all, then this interpolation should also be seriously considered.
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