The Classic of the Way and Virtue - (Translations from the Asian Classics) (Paperback)

About the Book

At last, the most influential book of Taoist tradition is available in an edition that allows English-language readers to experience it the way Chinese readers have for centuries. Richard John Lynn's translation includes the essential commentary of the third-century scholar Wang Bi, whose interpretations of this classic helped to define it as a philosophy of life and one of the most significant works in the East Asian tradition. The text consists of eighty-one short, aphoristic sections presenting a complete view of how the sage rules in accordance with the spontaneous ways of the natural world.

Book Synopsis

The essential Taoist book and one of a triad that make up the most influential religious and philosophical writings of Chinese tradition, the Tao-te Ching is the subject of hundreds of new interpretive studies each year. As Taoism emerges as one of the East Asian philosophies most interesting to Westerners, an accessible new edition of this great work-written for English-language readers, yet rendered with an eye toward Chinese understanding-has been much needed by scholars and general readers.

Review Quotes

Lynn's translation is excellent. He approaches Wang Bi's text as it should be approached, that is as a piece of philosophical writing... [A]n important contribution to our knowledge of commentarial methodology which played a dominating role throughout the intellectual history of imperial China.-- "Journal of the Oriental Society of Australia"

Lynn's translation is finely crafted, following the high standard he established in his The Classic of Changes: A New Translation of the I Ching as Interpreted by Wang Bi... [An] excellent, high-impact stud[y].--Alan K. L. Chan "Journal of Chinese Religions"

About the Author

Richard John Lynn is professor of Chinese thought and literature at the University of Toronto. He is the author or translator of five books, including The Classic of Changes: A New Translation of the I Ching as Interpreted by Wang Bi. (Columbia)