Caveat

The Tao Te Ching, "the book of flow and harmony", is the fundamental text of Taoism. Its origins lost in the revolutions of Chinese history, it is known to pre-date the invention of paper. In fact its form exhibits many of the features of an oral tradition, suggesting it may pre-date writing as well. The unknown author of the Tao Te Ching is popularly known as Lao Tse, which is both "the old philosopher" and "the old philosophy". Hence Lao Tse is also a title for the book. Many myths, religions, cults, yogas, and martial disciplines have sprung up around Lao Tse. The poem's parallels with the Bhagavad Gita, its implicit opposition to Confucian thought, its relationship with Chuang Tse and Sun Tse, and its distinction from the discipline of Zen are subjects of some controversy. As a thread connecting human endeavors over thousands of years, there appears no proper historical context for interpretation of the work.

Moreover, ancient Chinese will not properly translate into modern Chinese as the meanings of its thousands of pictograms have evolved, undocumented, over millenia. Translation into English presents further problems as English and Chinese involve very different maps of human understanding. Likewise, its sheer antiquity has burdened the work with plentiful copying errors, editorial remarks, revisions and misunderstandings. Worst of all, most folk that quote Lao Tse are selling something.

The GNL attempts to distill several popular English translations of Lao Tse into a consistent and accessible poem. It is based on the works of Robert G. Henricks, Lin Yutang, D.C. Lau, Ch'u Ta-Kao, Gia-Fu Feng & Jane English, Richard Wilhelm, Victor H. Mair, Kenneth M. Happel, and Aleister Crowley. It is important to keep in mind that the GNL is not translation, but interpolation. In this it reduces several long-standing paradoxes and riddles from the text. Puzzling these old mysteries may be more rewarding than accepting a single gloss on them. So the GNL is best regarded as a starting point; if you enjoy this work, you'll be well served in examining the documents it draws upon.