The
Book of Tao, by the Legendary Founder of
Taoism,
in the Version Prepared by Lin Yutang
Laotse
A traditional image of Lao-Tzu, Lao-tse or Laotse
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A 2019 Editorial Note:
Helena Blavatsky
wrote that Taoism is “a religion
based upon pure reason
and spirituality”.[1] In “The
Secret
Doctrine”, she
added: “[Lao-tse] is said to have written 930
books on Ethics
and religions, and seventy on magic, one
thousand in all.
His great work, however, the heart of his
doctrine, the ‘Tao-te-King’, or the sacred scriptures
of the
Taosse, has in it,
as Stanislas Julien shows, only ‘about 5,000
Words’ (Tao-te-King, p. xxvii.), hardly a dozen
of pages (…).”[2]
We reproduce below
the work “Tao Teh Ching” as
translated by
Lin Yutang and
published under the title of “Laotse,
the Book of Tao”.
It is included in
the volume “The Wisdom of China and
India”, edited
by Lin Yutang, The
Modern Library, Random House, New York, USA,
1955, 1104 pages,
see pp. 578-624. We have added footnotes.
(Carlos Cardoso
Aveline)
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NOTES:
[1] “Collected
Writings”, H. P. Blavatsky, TPH, USA, vol. III, p. 419.
[2] Helena P.
Blavatsky in “The Secret Doctrine”, vol. I, p. XXV. Click to see “The Secret
Doctrine” in one of our associated websites. (CCA)
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“The Tao Teh
Ching”, in the version made by Lin Yutang, was published in PDF by the associated
websites on 18 June 2019. It had been
previously published as a series of articles in “The Aquarian Theosophist” between April and December 2018.
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