ZENSHO W. KOPP is one of the most significant western Zen Masters of the present.
He is the direct Dharma successor to Zen Master Soji Enku and the author of a number of books on Zen and Taoism. Zen Master Zensho instructs a large group of students and directs the Tao Chan Zen Center in Wiesbaden, Germany.
The words of the Chinese sage Lao-tse are counted among the inexhaustible sources of eternal wisdom. In a language of incomparable imagery he speaks of the Tao, the divine origin of all existence, and its effect in man as spiritual force.
In radiantly clear aphorisms, like perfectly polished gemstones, the Tao Te King portrays the deep affinity of man with the cosmos. It aims to lead him back to the original oneness with the Tao, and thus into harmony with the all-embracing wholeness of existence, manifest as the unity of all beings.
Translation © 2014 by John Kitching
Original title: “Tao Te King”
Published by Schirner Verlag Darmstadt 2005
Producer and publisher: Books on Demand GmbH, Norderstedt
Cover motive: “Lao-tse riding water buffalo”
with kind permission of the religion study collection,
Philipps University, Marburg
Cover design: Michel Schmidt, Jörg Zimmermann
Photo: Verena Kopp
Typesetting: Torsten Zander
All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may
not be reproduced in any form without permission.
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ISBN: 978-3-84487-687-1
Lao-tse, the Old Master, came into this world when it was his time. When his time was fulfilled he left. Regarding the one who knows of his time and is certain of the fulfilment; coming and going, joy and suffering no longer have power over him.
Chuang-tse (4th. century B.C.)
The Tao Te King is one of the most significant and most translated books of world literature and one can hardly imagine today that anyone interested in Eastern religion and philosophy would be unaware of this book.
The words of the Chinese sage Lao-tse are counted among the inexhaustible sources of eternal wisdom. In a language of incomparable imagery he speaks in his Tao Te King of the Tao, the divine origin of all existence, and its spiritual force in man. In radiantly clear aphorisms, like perfectly polished gemstones, the work portrays the deep affinity of man with the cosmos. It aims to lead him back to the original oneness with the Tao, and so into harmony with the all-embracing wholeness of existence, manifest as the unity of all beings.
The version at hand took its impulse from the wish to convey the mystical expressiveness of the Tao Te King, whilst strictly adhering to the original sense, and thus to allow a deeper insight. Furthermore, it was important to me to formulate the work in a clear way which comes as close as possible to the expressive, simple language found in the Chinese original.
In recent times there have been numerous attempts to freely convey the Tao Te King in an everyday, verbose form in order to make it easily understandable. However; all of these are predestined to fail since the Tao Te King is not suitable for such modernisation attempts, regardless of how well-meant they may be.
Every attempt to linguistically smooth out the text and to lengthen it through additions inevitably leads to a falsification of the deeply mystical predications of Lao-tse and draws them down to the level of profanity. Such violations of the text are not only in complete contradiction to the mystical spirit of the Tao Te King but are ultimately extremely embarrassing and make absolutely no sense. To water down the text in such a way, as though it were a product of the modern esoteric wave, means tearing the work from its historic framework and leaving it bereft of its vivacious originality.
As to the language of the Tao Te King, it is arcane, profound, and highly symbolic, so that the work directs itself at the spiritual intuition of the reader. Therefore, its mystical content only reveals itself in its full depth to the inner eye of mystical contemplation. This means that it can only be fully grasped meditatively, beyond logical thinking. Thus by connecting heart and intellect, intuition and logic build the full basis for comprehending the Tao Te King.
And so, whoever takes this book to hand should be aware that its contents cannot be understood solely by means of discriminating, conceptual thought. Consequently, one should not let oneself become discouraged when time is required for a deeper understanding.