Tao Te Ching

We hope you enjoy this preview of an episode from our back catalog available to our premium subscribers. Tonight, we'll read from the "Tao Te Ching". This Chinese classic text is traditionally credited to the 6th-century BC sage Laozi. The text's authorship, date of composition and date of compilation are debated. The "Tao Te Ching" has multiple translations, in general "Tao" means "the way" or "the path", here's some examples of different opening lines: 

"The Tao that can be trodden is not the enduring and unchanging Tao."

Translated by James Legge (1891) 

"The Tao-Path is not the All-Tao. The Name is not the Thing named."

Translated by Aleister Crowley (1918) 

"The tao that can be told, is not the eternal Tao."

Translated by Stephen Mitchell (1988) 

"If you can talk about it,it ain't Tao."

Translated by Ron Hogan (1994) 

"The way you can go, isn't the real way."

Translated by Ursula Le Guin (1998) 

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