Tao Te Ching Journal by Stephen Mitchell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Very refreshing and insightful read. This gave me much to think about. I thought I would go through this slowly, but I found myself completely in love with this book after reading on the first few pages. My favorite passage:
"Therefore the Master acts without doing anything and teaches without saying anything. Things arise and she lets them come;things disappear and she lets them go. She has but doesn't possess, acts but doesn't expect. When her work is done, she forgets it. That is why it lasts forever."
I will admit that it can be somewhat repetitive. I don’t know if that’s because of this particular translation or if Lao Tzu really was being repetitive. It’s not a bad thing, though. It’s sort of like saying, “This is what you need to remember.” Repetition is a learning method—after all.
A couple of things to note. Some people I talked to about this while I was reading said this translation is “dry,” but after finding some of the other translations online, I believe this one speaks to me the most. Also, this is a modern interpretation of this, so Mitchell uses modern things that would make sense to the modern reader.
Note: This is actually an old review I wrote some years ago. I reread this last night. It's a very quick read.
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