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Rating: 
Summary: Best Translation of this Ancient Text
Review: By far this translation stands out as the absolute best in my eyes. We will never have a "word for word" translation of this old book, and so we are left with comparing one translation with another. I study and practice Zen, and although The Tao Te Ching in a technical sense is not considered a Buddhist work, I would dare say it should be included as a Buddhist Sutra. This translation, for those of us who speak primarily in English, is quite illuminating and very deep.After having compared Richard Wilhelm's translation with 3 other sources, I've concluded that his is the most alive. I feel that my practice with Zen allows me to see this more clearly, so to me this work is synonymous with Zen Buddhism. I recommend that anyone, of any religious affiliation or philosophical background, grab this book immedietely. I don't think you will at all be disappointed. Enjoy!:)
Rating:
Summary: Best Translation of this Ancient Text
Review: By far this translation stands out as the absolute best in my eyes. We will never have a "word for word" translation of this old book, and so we are left with comparing one translation with another. I study and practice Zen, and although The Tao Te Ching in a technical sense is not considered a Buddhist work, I would dare say it should be included as a Buddhist Sutra. This translation, for those of us who speak primarily in English, is quite illuminating and very deep. After having compared Richard Wilhelm's translation with 3 other sources, I've concluded that his is the most alive. I feel that my practice with Zen allows me to see this more clearly, so to me this work is synonymous with Zen Buddhism. I recommend that anyone, of any religious affiliation or philosophical background, grab this book immedietely. I don't think you will at all be disappointed. Enjoy!:)
Rating:
Summary: Valuable
Review: In my view, the main advantages of this particular version of TTCh is the close translation (no interpolation or artistic license) along with an extensive and detailed commentary that help as lot to understand the text as presented as well as know what in it remains admittedly ambiguous. Not the most readable translation, but taken in conjunction with Wilhelm's commentary, a valuable option. This should probably not be the only TTCh that you read, nor the very first one, but it's worth to have read it in addition to other ones. Btw, FYI: the most readable, in my view, translation (well, more like a free-form variation on the theme) is Briggs' "The New Lao Tzu".
Rating:
Summary: Lao Tzu's Dao is higher than GOD!!
Review: Tao Te Ching : The Book of Meaning and Life by Lao Tzu, Richard Wilhelm A Harvard Professor first introduced Lao Tzu to me in the late sixties. He translated the Tao Te Ching into American from the English. Tim's version of "Psychedelic Prayers," still stands as essential Tao. The Tao many of us will travel forever. I came across the Ching in a completely different way. I had read the introduction to John Blofeld's translation of Richard Wilhelm's version of the I Ching; not knowing it could me used as an oracle. That night a few mystifying ladies from Yale University campus, took me home and in an incense & candle lit session, showed me how to enter the mysterious consciousness of the Tao. My concern then as now has been the philosophy of Tao. Book two of Wilhelm's I Ching teaches of the philosophical background of the pattern of change. Everything changes but change has a design. This probably led to my trading Commodities Futures for a living. Recently I found this magnificent Wilhelm's Tao Te Ching. Just as in Book Two, Wilhelm dives right into Lao Tzu's mind with clarity like no one else. "Lao Tzu's Dao is higher than GOD!!"
Rating:
Summary: An edition for the more studiously inclined.
Review: The title-page of my earlier Arkana (1985) edition of this book (which
does not include the later supplementary material by Darrell T. Liu)
reads: "TAO TE CHING - The Book of Meaning and Life - Lao Tzu -
Translation and Commentary by Richard Wilhelm - Translated into
English by H. G. Ostwald." Wilhelm's German translation was first
published in 1925 and appeared in Mr Ostwald's clear and vigorous
English in 1985. Richard Wilhelm, of course, is better known for his
translation of the 'I Ching,' a translation that has had an enormous
influence. His remains the key edition of this classic for English
readers, and was so well done it is unlikely ever to be superseded.
In the present work, Wilhelm has given us a remarkably fine edition
of the 'Tao Te Ching,' a text whose author he feels was greatly
influenced by the 'I Ching.' His edition breaks down into three main
parts. After a brief Preface we are given an interesting and
informative 20-page Introduction which covers The author, The text,
Historical context, and Content. Although relatively brief, Wilhelm
covers a lot of ground in this Introduction, and the general reader
might find the fourth part of it heavy going. It seems clearly
intended for the serious student who is prepared to come to grips with
some of the deeper philosophical implications of the text.
As for the text itself, I've
no idea what Wilhelm's original German is like, but Mr Ostwald is to
be congratulated on having given us a brisk and lively English
translation. Much of it somehow seems more readable than other
versions, possibly because Wilhelm himself found a certain amount of
drama in the 'Tao Te Ching' that other translators have either
overlooked or tended to ignore, and one often gets more of the feel of
a real person speaking. Here is a
brief example from Chapter
30, with my slash marks added to indicate line breaks:
"Whosoever in true DAO helps a ruler of men / does not rape the world by
use of arms, / for actions return onto one's own head. / Where armies
have dwelt thistles
and thorns grow. / Behind battles follow years of hunger" (page 40).
The translation is followed by a 30-page
Commentary on 'The Teaching of Lao Zi [Tzu]' which covers the DAO
[TAO], The phenomenal world, On the attainment of DAO, Worldly wisdom,
State and society, and Daoism after Lao Zi. The book is rounded out
with 28-pages of detailed chapter-by-chapter Notes, and a brief
Bibliography of Chinese and Western sources. All in all, and
although the translation could be read with pleasure and profit by
anyone, Wilhelm's is a scholarly edition for the more studiously
inclined who are interested in such things as the historical and
philosophical context, and who may already have a certain amount of
background. The general reader who is new to the 'Tao Te Ching,'
and who would prefer a more straightforward edition, might be better
served by the text-only editions of Gia-Fu Feng or John C. H. Wu.
These too read very well, and there's something to be said for the
immediate exposure to the text that such editions offer. I don't
think Lao Tzu would have had any quibbles.
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