Best edition of the Tao Te Ching

December 8, 2015 4:12 PM

What is the best translation/edition of the Tao Te Ching that includes both a good English translation and the original Chinese?

My little brother is interested in comparative religions, and he requested a copy of the Tao Te Ching as a Christmas gift. He does not, last I checked, actually read Chinese, so I am unclear on why that part is necessary, but he specifically mentioned that a dual language edition was preferred, and I want to give him what he wants!

posted by naoko to Religion & Philosophy (8 answers total)

not sure if you've seen this, but a similar question (but not dual language) was asked a while back. some of the replies there might be helpful (there's a link to a site with many reviews, for example).
posted by andrewcooke at 4:15 PM on December 8, 2015 [1 favorite]

The one that I have with Chinese is the Jonathan Star "Definitive Edition". I'm not wild about his translation but he lays out the way that the language functions in a very helpful manner.

As is pointed out in that (actually pretty unhelpful) thread above, strict translations of the Tao Te Ching are kind of impractical, so what you end up with is versions more than translations. Everyone has their favorite but mine (which doesn't include the original language text) is this one.
posted by selfnoise at 4:25 PM on December 8, 2015

Upon looking at Amazon reviews, it appears that newer versions of the Star may not include everything that was originally in there, so YMMV... might be worth tracking down a physical copy to make sure.

Also my comment above was not meant to slight andrewcooke... it's been a long day and that thread irritated me.
posted by selfnoise at 4:41 PM on December 8, 2015 [1 favorite]

Aw, the Jane English translation is my sentimental favorite, sort of gently transitioned me into my post hippy era.
posted by Chitownfats at 5:30 PM on December 8, 2015 [1 favorite]

The Gia Fu Feng/Jane English translation is definitely my favorite out of the 20-something versions I've studied. It includes the original Chinese in brush script.

http://www.amazon.com/25th-Anniversary-Edition-English-Mandarin-Chinese/dp/0679776192
posted by rmmcclay at 1:24 AM on December 9, 2015

Not a dual language version, but just since nobody's mentioned it yet, I'm quite partial to the Ursula K. Le Guin edition. It's the most... different version on the text that I have read, but it certainly does feel the most immediate, and her annotations are out of the way enough that you can take them or leave them easily.

What I'm saying is it's an excellent starter Tao Te Ching!
posted by Krazor at 6:50 AM on December 9, 2015

Response by poster: St. John's has spoken and they are team Red Pine, although Jane English, John Wu, and David Hinton also got positive reviews in our conversation for various reasons. Left to my own devices, I would have continued to go in circles forever googling this, so I was very happy to defer to an expert opinion. Thanks stoneweaver and everyone!
posted by naoko at 2:25 PM on December 9, 2015

Response by poster: I should add that the (awesome) woman at the bookstore picked that one for its scholarly approach, which she thought appropriate given my brother's academic background in religious studies, which I didn't think to make explicit in my question here (but probably should have).
posted by naoko at 2:32 PM on December 9, 2015