Audible sampleThe Eternal Tao Te Ching: The Philosophical Masterwork of Taoism and Its Relevance Today
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From Benjamin Hoff, author of The Tao of Pooh and The Te of Piglet, which have sold millions of copies worldwide, comes The Eternal Tao Te Ching, a new translation of the Chinese philosophical classic, the Tao Te Ching.
The Eternal Tao Te Ching is the first translation to employ the meanings of the pre-writing brush characters in use 2,400 years ago, when the classic was written, rather than relying on the often different meanings of the more modern brush characters, as other translations have done. Hoff points out in his chapter notes the many incidents of meddling and muddling that have been made over the centuries by scholars and copyists, and he corrects the mistakes and removes such tampering from the text. Hoff also makes the provocative claim—and demonstrates by revealing clues in the text—that the author of Tao Te Ching was a young nobleman hiding his identity, rather than the long alleged author, the "Old Master" of legend, Lao-tzu. And Hoff's chapter notes shed new light on the author's surprisingly modern viewpoint. This is a unique, and uniquely accessible, presentation of the Tao Te Ching.
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©2021 Benjamin Hoff (P)2022 Tantor
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The bestselling author of The Tao of Pooh offers a uniquely authentic translation of the enduring Tao Te Ching, based on the meanings of the ancient Chinese characters in use when the Taoist classic was written.
From Benjamin Hoff, author of The Tao of Pooh and The Te of Piglet, which have sold millions of copies worldwide, comes The Eternal Tao Te Ching, a new translation of the Chinese philosophical classic, the Tao Te Ching.
The Eternal Tao Te Ching is the first translation to employ the meanings of the pre-writing brush characters in use 2,400 years ago, when the classic was written, rather than relying on the often-different meanings of the more modern brush characters, as other translations have done. Hoff points out in his chapter notes the many incidents of meddling and muddling that have been made over the centuries by scholars and copyists, and he corrects the mistakes and removes such tampering from the text. Hoff also makes the provocative claim—and demonstrates by revealing clues in the text—that the Tao Te Ching’s author was a young nobleman hiding his identity, rather than the long-alleged author, the “Old Master” of legend, Lao-tzu. And Hoff’s chapter notes shed new light on the author’s surprisingly modern viewpoint. With a selection of lyrical color landscape photographs by the author, this is a unique, and uniquely accessible, presentation of the Tao Te Ching.
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Print length
272 pages
===
Audio
Listening Length
1 hour and 56 minutes
Product details
Listening Length 1 hour and 56 minutes
Author Benjamin Hoff
Narrator George Newbern
Audible.com Release Date May 10, 2022
Publisher Tantor Audio
Best Sellers Rank #91,017 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals)
#110 in Tao Te Ching (Books)
#141 in Eastern Philosophy (Audible Books & Originals)
#256 in Taoist Philosophy
Top reviews from the United States
Michael Hathaway
4.0 out of 5 stars Several minor grammatical errors so farReviewed in the United States on July 27, 2022
I'm really excited about this book and its method, but I'm only 1/5 through and I've already noticed numerous errors. Examples: "The Ancient Masters Patience" - missing an apostrophe. "In around 120CE was published" - not grammatically correct... these sorts of things just make me worry a little about the rigor and quality of the text / interpretation.
4 people found this helpful
HelpfulReport
Trio
3.0 out of 5 stars An Interesting Addition to the WorkbookReviewed in the United States on June 14, 2022
Granted, it was a number of years ago now, but my undergraduate minor was East Asian Studies. At the time I got hooked on the Tao Te Ching, and consulted it daily (sometimes multiple times a day). It's totally addictive! And it's a wonderful way to aid in decision making.
I haven't used it in years, but when the opportunity came up to review the audio version of Benjamin Hoff's The Eternal Tao Te Ching, I couldn't resist.
The book begins with an introduction where Benjamin Hoff explains how he became interested in the Tao Te Ching. He explores his reasonings behind his translations, and describes how mistakes have changed the meanins behind some of the original scriptures.
I enjoyed the book a lot more once Mr. Hoff moved on to his translations. This book would be a good resource for folks consulting the Tao Te Ching.
High praise to the narrator, George Newbern. He has a very pleasant voice, and does a nice job reading this book.
2 people found this helpful
HelpfulReport
Gary Jaron
VINE VOICE
2.0 out of 5 stars The beginning of wisdom is the realization that you might be mistaken-this author failsReviewed in the United States on December 31, 2021
To begin with I really enjoy and highly recommend the author's book The Tao of Pooh. It is the single most accessible introduction to Taoism I have ever come across.
I went to the author's website and was delighted to discover that he was about to present a new translation of the Tao Te Ching. I preordered the book through the vendor link on that website, thus it was not an Amazon purchase.
I have to confess I was extremely disappointed.
The author presents his endeavor as a new and innovated way to approach the text. However, he is claiming to be the ONLY one in the history of this planet to do what he is about to do when he translate the text.
This is a dubious claim but I was willingly to let him prove his case.
I own two dozen translations of the text, including Bradford Hatcher's Word by Word Chinese to English Matrix/translation as well as Jonathan Star's 'Definitive Edition' of the text that also contains a Chinese to English matrix - which presents the Chinese characters and then the varying meanings of that character that is associated with it in English. Both also go over variations of the text due to the interpretations and readings of the many manuscripts of the text. This practice of examining the characters of the text and realizing that they could be read in differing manners is not a new challenge. Everyone who has commented on the text and who has translated the text has grappled with this issue.
So, I am very familiar with the text and how scholars both traditional and modern have translated this text.
As Hoff correctly states on page 17, "The important question is, or should be: What is the author saying?"
Hoff offers an acceptable translation of the opening line of the text as: The Way can be followed is not the Eternal Way. I have seen this translation offered by others and it is a valid one. However, when Hoff goes on to explain why he presents this translation he shows that he doesn't understand what Lao Tzu is doing or saying. Hoff says, pg 18: "Before I give an explanation of that wording [his own rendering of the text into English] and in so doing explain why I believe that the usual interpretation misses the author's [Lao Tzu] point, I'll say that, to me--and, from what I've read and heard, to many other people--the usual interpretation is confusing. After all, if the author truly believes that "The way that can be told is not the eternal way", why does he then proceed to tell about it in five thousand characters? What way is he then telling about--a false one?"
Hoff in that statement clearly presents his failure as reader of the text, his failure to be wise and his basic assumption that only he posses the true wisdom and knowledge needed to translate the text.
Hoff's failure to understand that very line sums up his failure to be a translator of the text.
Lao Tzu was a mystic and had a mystic realization about the nature of the Cosmos and the Infinite that Lao Tzu uses the word/character Tao to represent. To understand mystics I would direct you to the seminal work by William James in his 1902 work The Varieties of Religious Experience, specifically lectures 16 and 17, pg. 379-429, as it was paginated in the first edition [Dover Publication Inc sells a reproduction of this text.] The key to a mystic is that you have both certainty of your understanding, a compulsion to communicate that understanding and lastly a humility that goes with the certain knowledge that what you were offered was a glimpse into the Infinite and all you can do is present a static, fixed and finite set of words to describe that Infinite. Clearly whatever you are going to say is not the complete and eternal. Thus it is obvious that what you are telling is not to be confused with the Eternal Tao. It is only a finite approximation of it. Not the complete fullness of it. This is the wisdom of the opening line.
Hoff doesn't understand. Hoff is so enamored of his own genius that he fails to doubt himself and thus fails to act wisely.
Hoff goes on to delete completely chapters 5, 36, 45, 58, and 80. For hundreds of years within the Chinese tradition great Chinese scholars have wrestled with those chapters and presented commentary on those chapters explaining how they fit within the teachings of Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching presentation of Taoism. Hundreds of scholars have offered up credible translations of those chapters into English. Basically the reason that Hoff deleted those chapters comes down to he doesn't like what they say and thinks that they don't agree with his, Hoff's, idea of what Taoism means.
However, the translator and reader of a text's job, as Hoff said at the beginning is to understand what the author is saying. To understand is to accept what is found on the page. If you do not understand then the problem is with you and not with the author. Hoff does give a lot of 'hand waving' justification as an explanation as to why he deletes those chapters but it boils down to - I am the only person in the history of the planet that understands what Lao Tzu wrote.
I can not accept that.
I own and have read many excellent translations and studies of the Tao Te Ching. They have all struggled successfully to render into English this text, starting with the very first complete English translation done by John Chalmers in 1868.
I can not recommend fully recommend Hoff's efforts. He presents his own interpretation and translation of the text but do not be fooled into thinking that he is the only one in the history of readers of this important text to finally understand it.
You can easily find other credible and wiser translators of the text.
31 people found this helpful
HelpfulReport
Audio
Listening Length
1 hour and 56 minutes
Product details
Listening Length 1 hour and 56 minutes
Author Benjamin Hoff
Narrator George Newbern
Audible.com Release Date May 10, 2022
Publisher Tantor Audio
Best Sellers Rank #91,017 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals)
#110 in Tao Te Ching (Books)
#141 in Eastern Philosophy (Audible Books & Originals)
#256 in Taoist Philosophy
Top reviews from the United States
Michael Hathaway
4.0 out of 5 stars Several minor grammatical errors so farReviewed in the United States on July 27, 2022
I'm really excited about this book and its method, but I'm only 1/5 through and I've already noticed numerous errors. Examples: "The Ancient Masters Patience" - missing an apostrophe. "In around 120CE was published" - not grammatically correct... these sorts of things just make me worry a little about the rigor and quality of the text / interpretation.
4 people found this helpful
HelpfulReport
Trio
3.0 out of 5 stars An Interesting Addition to the WorkbookReviewed in the United States on June 14, 2022
Granted, it was a number of years ago now, but my undergraduate minor was East Asian Studies. At the time I got hooked on the Tao Te Ching, and consulted it daily (sometimes multiple times a day). It's totally addictive! And it's a wonderful way to aid in decision making.
I haven't used it in years, but when the opportunity came up to review the audio version of Benjamin Hoff's The Eternal Tao Te Ching, I couldn't resist.
The book begins with an introduction where Benjamin Hoff explains how he became interested in the Tao Te Ching. He explores his reasonings behind his translations, and describes how mistakes have changed the meanins behind some of the original scriptures.
I enjoyed the book a lot more once Mr. Hoff moved on to his translations. This book would be a good resource for folks consulting the Tao Te Ching.
High praise to the narrator, George Newbern. He has a very pleasant voice, and does a nice job reading this book.
2 people found this helpful
HelpfulReport
Gary Jaron
VINE VOICE
2.0 out of 5 stars The beginning of wisdom is the realization that you might be mistaken-this author failsReviewed in the United States on December 31, 2021
To begin with I really enjoy and highly recommend the author's book The Tao of Pooh. It is the single most accessible introduction to Taoism I have ever come across.
I went to the author's website and was delighted to discover that he was about to present a new translation of the Tao Te Ching. I preordered the book through the vendor link on that website, thus it was not an Amazon purchase.
I have to confess I was extremely disappointed.
The author presents his endeavor as a new and innovated way to approach the text. However, he is claiming to be the ONLY one in the history of this planet to do what he is about to do when he translate the text.
This is a dubious claim but I was willingly to let him prove his case.
I own two dozen translations of the text, including Bradford Hatcher's Word by Word Chinese to English Matrix/translation as well as Jonathan Star's 'Definitive Edition' of the text that also contains a Chinese to English matrix - which presents the Chinese characters and then the varying meanings of that character that is associated with it in English. Both also go over variations of the text due to the interpretations and readings of the many manuscripts of the text. This practice of examining the characters of the text and realizing that they could be read in differing manners is not a new challenge. Everyone who has commented on the text and who has translated the text has grappled with this issue.
So, I am very familiar with the text and how scholars both traditional and modern have translated this text.
As Hoff correctly states on page 17, "The important question is, or should be: What is the author saying?"
Hoff offers an acceptable translation of the opening line of the text as: The Way can be followed is not the Eternal Way. I have seen this translation offered by others and it is a valid one. However, when Hoff goes on to explain why he presents this translation he shows that he doesn't understand what Lao Tzu is doing or saying. Hoff says, pg 18: "Before I give an explanation of that wording [his own rendering of the text into English] and in so doing explain why I believe that the usual interpretation misses the author's [Lao Tzu] point, I'll say that, to me--and, from what I've read and heard, to many other people--the usual interpretation is confusing. After all, if the author truly believes that "The way that can be told is not the eternal way", why does he then proceed to tell about it in five thousand characters? What way is he then telling about--a false one?"
Hoff in that statement clearly presents his failure as reader of the text, his failure to be wise and his basic assumption that only he posses the true wisdom and knowledge needed to translate the text.
Hoff's failure to understand that very line sums up his failure to be a translator of the text.
Lao Tzu was a mystic and had a mystic realization about the nature of the Cosmos and the Infinite that Lao Tzu uses the word/character Tao to represent. To understand mystics I would direct you to the seminal work by William James in his 1902 work The Varieties of Religious Experience, specifically lectures 16 and 17, pg. 379-429, as it was paginated in the first edition [Dover Publication Inc sells a reproduction of this text.] The key to a mystic is that you have both certainty of your understanding, a compulsion to communicate that understanding and lastly a humility that goes with the certain knowledge that what you were offered was a glimpse into the Infinite and all you can do is present a static, fixed and finite set of words to describe that Infinite. Clearly whatever you are going to say is not the complete and eternal. Thus it is obvious that what you are telling is not to be confused with the Eternal Tao. It is only a finite approximation of it. Not the complete fullness of it. This is the wisdom of the opening line.
Hoff doesn't understand. Hoff is so enamored of his own genius that he fails to doubt himself and thus fails to act wisely.
Hoff goes on to delete completely chapters 5, 36, 45, 58, and 80. For hundreds of years within the Chinese tradition great Chinese scholars have wrestled with those chapters and presented commentary on those chapters explaining how they fit within the teachings of Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching presentation of Taoism. Hundreds of scholars have offered up credible translations of those chapters into English. Basically the reason that Hoff deleted those chapters comes down to he doesn't like what they say and thinks that they don't agree with his, Hoff's, idea of what Taoism means.
However, the translator and reader of a text's job, as Hoff said at the beginning is to understand what the author is saying. To understand is to accept what is found on the page. If you do not understand then the problem is with you and not with the author. Hoff does give a lot of 'hand waving' justification as an explanation as to why he deletes those chapters but it boils down to - I am the only person in the history of the planet that understands what Lao Tzu wrote.
I can not accept that.
I own and have read many excellent translations and studies of the Tao Te Ching. They have all struggled successfully to render into English this text, starting with the very first complete English translation done by John Chalmers in 1868.
I can not recommend fully recommend Hoff's efforts. He presents his own interpretation and translation of the text but do not be fooled into thinking that he is the only one in the history of readers of this important text to finally understand it.
You can easily find other credible and wiser translators of the text.
31 people found this helpful
HelpfulReport
