The Teachings of Lao-Tzu : The Tao-Te Ching

Rating:
Summary: The Standard
Review: Honestly, while many consider this translation dated, I find it to be an unsurpassed take on Lao Tzu's masterpiece. In clear language that captures the mystical and poetic essence perfetcly, Carus does a great job of making this enlightening, rather than mystifying. The running commentary is of great help, as is the introduction. I reccomend you buy THIS before any other book, seriously.

Rating:
Summary: A Dated but Still Valuable Translation
Review: To Paul Carus we owe much of the understanding of and enthusiasm for the literary pearl of Eastern philosophy, Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching. For that alone, this book is worth having in a library shelf of Tao Te Ching essentials. But better still would be Carus' verbatim translation, which includes the first English ideogram-to-English rendering, from which non-Chinese poets such as Stephen Mitchell and Ursula LeGuin drew their inspiration and practical reference. Though the verbatim translation of Carus has since been wonderfully exceeded by Jonathan Star's lucid and beautifully organized work, Carus still deserves reference from those of us who love Lao Tzu and are always reading and re-reading the Tao Te Ching, in both the Chinese and the many translated permutations of the TTC. However, the Carus verbatim text is probably difficult to find these days, so this work may have to do: when you allow for its flaws and often dated expression (as in referring to the Tao as "Reason"), there are a few gems still of insight and articulation that make Carus' rendering worth owning, but only for the most dedicated of Lao Tzu enthusiasts...