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I picked up the Tao Te Ching, by Lao Tzu, from Barnes and Noble the other day. It was on the discount rack, so I figured, hell, why not? I've read a bit of it here and there (I'm also working on getting through a Song of Ice and Fire at the moment) and so far it's been rather interesting. I've also read up a bit on the history behind Lao Tzu and the text and the different ideas about its origins, and it is all very intriguing. Almost like a Western Homer, in and of the fact that no one can quite seem to decide whether Lao Tzu was an actually individual or a bunch of different people.

My question is, has anyone else read the book? Thoughts? Discussion?

I've only ever studied it in brief. I know a Taoist, though. He pretty much embodies wu-wei.

There is Taoist philosophy and Taoism religion, and while they have some crossover, they are also radically different, and in fact oppose each other. The Tao Te Ching is much more of the philosophy.

You will need to read multiple translations to start to really get a grasp, or learn classical Chinese. There is a lot of untranslatable ideas being tossed about and different authors translate it differently.

Alan Watts is a great place to start with as he is quite approachable, though I would say the best introduction would be The Tao of Pooh. You might also for comparison sake read The Psychedelic Prayers, which is a translation of the Tao Te Ching by Timothy Leary while blasted on LSD.

Read it. Didn't get it. That's about as much as I know There's some passages in there that would make Yoda blush in embarrassment at his simplified view of reality. God speed.

Read it. Not a fan. Prefer the Hagakure.

I'm a big fan. I have read it, multiple time. I don't understand all of it and I don't follow a strick taoist moral code.
Its just cool.


If you like it, maybe you will like the Tao of Pooh. It's kind of cool.

"When you discard arrogance, complexity, and a few, other things that get in the way,
sooner or later you will discover that simple, childlike, and mysterious secret known
to those of the Uncarved Block: Life is Fun."

It's a nice book, and while somewhat oversimplified provides the occasional good point that it's nice to think on.

dæl wrote:It's a nice book, and while somewhat oversimplified provides the occasional good point that it's nice to think on.

Are you referring to the Tao Te Ching of the Tao of Pooh?

M_Stress wrote:
"When you discard arrogance, complexity, and a few, other things that get in the way,
sooner or later you will discover that simple, childlike, and mysterious secret known
to those of the Uncarved Block: Life is Fun."

Funny, because I think life is fun exactly because of arrogance and complexity.