Lao Tzu

[randy_byers]

Do you have the patience to wait
till your mud settles and the water is clear?
Can you remain unmoving
till the right action arises by itself?

-- Lao Tzu (trans. S. Mitchell)

When I find myself in times of trouble, Taoist masters come to me. A few years ago I read several translations of Chuang Tzu. Now I'm starting to look at Lao Tzu more closely. One thing that immediately becomes apparent is that the Chinese text is a kind of Rorschach test for English translators. The sense of it varies vastly from one translation to another, and every translator projects their own preoccupations. There are also a huge number of English translations of Lao Tzu. Does anybody have any favorites? I've got one by Moss Roberts that includes commentary on the Chinese words, which I think is the kind of thing I'm looking for at the moment. I want to get a sense of the problems/ambiguities the translator is wrestling with. Some interesting comments on various translations here.

Comments

[holyoutlaw.livejournal.com]

Ursula LeGuin did a translation/interpretation a few years ago, which has been languishing on my TBR shelves ever since. I'd be happy to lend it to you when next we meet.

It's not a translation as such; she worked with a translator, and based her choices on her skill as a writer and her experience with several translations of the text. (If I recall correctly, that is.)

[don-fitch.livejournal.com]

I have no specific thoughts about the I Ching, but recall that a major subject of discussion in my Chinese Characters class at Berkeley, c. 60 years ago, was a vigorous debate on whether translating Chinese is 3, 5, or 10 % Perspiration, with the rest being Inspiration -- and that's ordinary literary text -- with no-one holding that it's less than 90% Inspiration. Lao Tzu would, I think, be likely to be closer to 1% literal. (Well... yes, I may be exaggerating for effect... but perhaps not too excessively.)

[maryread.livejournal.com]

Better letters. We need better letters. But these ones on the computer screen are not them.

And no, actually, I don't have the patience, but that doesn't do me much good does it now? How long, o lord.

Thanks for the link. I'll get back to you.