The Tao Te Ching Book: a contemporary commentary for the curious

The first rule of the Tao

The Tao Te Ching opens by warning that the Tao that can be talked about is not the true Tao. The first rule of the Tao, in other words, is that we do not talk about the Tao. We have gone ahead and written a whole book about it anyway.

The Tao Te Ching Book: a contemporary commentary for the curious

The Tao Te Ching Book is out now. It brings together all 81 chapters of Lao Tzu's text, in clear and contemporary UK English, with a commentary on every chapter written for curious people who have picked up a translation before, read a few lines about the uncarved block, and put it straight back on the shelf. Each chapter comes with plenty of everyday examples and a fair bit of humour.

Why another Tao Te Ching?

Most editions sit at one of two extremes. Scholarly translations are careful and accurate, and can feel like homework. Loose "versions" read beautifully, and often say more about the author than about Lao Tzu. We wanted both things at once: a faithful text that anyone can read on the bus, and a commentary that does the heavy lifting of explaining what it means for life in the twenty-first century.

So the text itself stays close to the original. It is based on the Wikisource collaborative translation, updated into modern UK English, with gender-neutral language throughout and the sage in place of the old "master". Where a line can be read in more than one way, a footnote gives the Chinese characters and the pinyin, explains what they mean, and says why we chose the reading we did.

What is inside

Every chapter is laid out as a two-page spread, with:

A short chapter title that sums up the chapter in a line, handy for finding a favourite passage again
The text, laid out line by line so the rhythm of the original comes through
The commentary, which takes the old ideas of wu wei, yin and yang, non-duality, and the Three Treasures and finds them in queues, offices, kitchens, and group chats
Footnotes on the Chinese wherever the meaning is worth a second look
A colour photograph filling the space on each spread
"See also" links to related chapters, which can be clicked to jump straight there
I Ching pairings, linking a chapter to one or more hexagrams wherever the connection is a strong one

Around the 81 chapters there is a preface, a glossary of key terms at the front (yin and yang, wu wei, ziran, Virtue, the Sage, and friends), and an introduction tucked away at the back for anyone who likes the history after the main event.

The I Ching connection

The Tao Te Ching and the I Ching have been sharing ideas for a very long time, so this book is designed as a companion to The I Ching Book, with a matching look. The hexagram pairings at the end of each chapter make it easy to move from one book to the other, and anyone who has ever cast a hexagram on ramapani.com will find a few old friends in here.

PDF and EPUB

The book comes in two formats, at the same price:

PDF keeps the full two-page layout, photographs and all, and suits a laptop or a printer
EPUB reflows to fit any screen and suits e-readers and phones

Each format is sold separately, and buying one brings a generous discount on the other, for anyone who likes to read in bed and at the desk.

PDF EPUB