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The Second Book of the Tao
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About this ebook
Enhanced by Stephen Mitchell’s illuminating commentary, the next volume of the classic manual on the art of living
The most widely translated book in world literature after the Bible, Lao-tzu’s Tao Te Ching, or Book of the Way, is the classic manual on the art of living. Following the phenomenal success of his own version of the Tao Te Ching, renowned scholar and translator Stephen Mitchell has composed the innovative The Second Book of the Tao. Drawn from the work of Lao-tzu’s disciple Chuang-tzu and Confucius’s grandson Tzussu, The Second Book of the Tao offers Western readers a path into reality that has nothing to do with Taoism or Buddhism or old or new alone, but everything to do with truth. Mitchell has selected the freshest, clearest teachings from these two great students of the Tao and adapted them into versions that reveal the poetry, depth, and humor of the original texts with a thrilling new power. Alongside each adaptation, Mitchell includes his own commentary, at once explicating and complementing the text.
This book is a twenty-first-century form of ancient wisdom, bringing a new, homemade sequel to the Tao Te Ching into the modern world. Mitchell’s renditions are radiantly lucid; they dig out the vision that’s hiding beneath the words; they grab the text by the scruff of the neck—by its heart, really—and let its essential meanings fall out. The book introduces us to a cast of vivid characters, most of them humble artisans or servants, who show us what it means to be in harmony with the way things are. Its wisdom provides a psychological and moral acuity as deep as the Tao Te Ching itself.
The Second Book of the Tao is a gift to contemporary readers, granting us access to our own fundamental wisdom. Mitchell’s meditations and risky reimagining of the original texts are brilliant and liberating, not least because they keep catching us off-guard, opening up the heavens where before we saw a roof. He makes the ancient teachings at once modern, relevant, and timeless.
The most widely translated book in world literature after the Bible, Lao-tzu’s Tao Te Ching, or Book of the Way, is the classic manual on the art of living. Following the phenomenal success of his own version of the Tao Te Ching, renowned scholar and translator Stephen Mitchell has composed the innovative The Second Book of the Tao. Drawn from the work of Lao-tzu’s disciple Chuang-tzu and Confucius’s grandson Tzussu, The Second Book of the Tao offers Western readers a path into reality that has nothing to do with Taoism or Buddhism or old or new alone, but everything to do with truth. Mitchell has selected the freshest, clearest teachings from these two great students of the Tao and adapted them into versions that reveal the poetry, depth, and humor of the original texts with a thrilling new power. Alongside each adaptation, Mitchell includes his own commentary, at once explicating and complementing the text.
This book is a twenty-first-century form of ancient wisdom, bringing a new, homemade sequel to the Tao Te Ching into the modern world. Mitchell’s renditions are radiantly lucid; they dig out the vision that’s hiding beneath the words; they grab the text by the scruff of the neck—by its heart, really—and let its essential meanings fall out. The book introduces us to a cast of vivid characters, most of them humble artisans or servants, who show us what it means to be in harmony with the way things are. Its wisdom provides a psychological and moral acuity as deep as the Tao Te Ching itself.
The Second Book of the Tao is a gift to contemporary readers, granting us access to our own fundamental wisdom. Mitchell’s meditations and risky reimagining of the original texts are brilliant and liberating, not least because they keep catching us off-guard, opening up the heavens where before we saw a roof. He makes the ancient teachings at once modern, relevant, and timeless.
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Author
Stephen Mitchell
Stephen Mitchell's many books include the bestselling Tao Te Ching, Gilgamesh, and The Second Book of the Tao, as well as The Selected Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke, The Gospel According to Jesus, Bhagavad Gita, The Book of Job, and Meetings with the Archangel.
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Reviews for The Second Book of the Tao
Rating: 2.6666666666666665 out of 5 stars
2.5/5
3 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5This is a very personal book for the author, perhaps too personal. He selected and translated sections of two writers, Chuang-tzu and Tzu-ssu, and then added his own commentary for each section.
While I have enjoyed Mitchell's other translations, and found the selections he chose for this book to be interesting, the commentary for each section was rambling, filled with cliches, uninteresting and uninspired. - Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I found Stephen Mitchell's version of the Tao Te Ching powerful and moving. Sadly, the 'Second Book of the Tao' is pop-psych mush. It combines excerpts from two different ancient Chinese writers: Chuang-Tzu, famous for asking whether he is himself dreaming of a butterfly, or a butterfly dreaming of Chuang-tzu; and Tzu-ssu, a grandson of Confucius. That is, one is a Taoist mystic; the other, both intellectually and genetically, a full-blooded Confucian. Mitchell does make clear in the notes which selections are drawn from which author.Mitchell apparently took similar approaches to creating both books. Not speaking Chinese, he gathered together numerous translations, and then wrote his own version, updating metaphors and images for a modern audience. For the Second Book, he also added his own commentaries, which rarely add much to the texts, and are dreadful -- flippant and condescending. For example: "Suddenly, one fine day, mind realizes that it knows nothing, that it *is* nothing, and sets itself free. Being? Non-bring? Give me a break." Or: "The Master lived in the center of the universe, which turned out to be the center of himself. He discovered that there's nothing to it. No self, no other. Amazing! Wherever you go, there you aren't." Some readers will experience this as witty and striking, piercing pretension while maintaining a casual style. I had exactly the opposite reaction; reading this book was like listening to a guest dominate a cocktail party, trying to be deep and hip and subversive all at the same time, with ego boiling beneath a surface so nonchalant it's almost mannered. The collected passages themselves include some gems, and I'll hope to read them in one of the faithful translations Mitchel consulted while assembling this work.