The Divine Feminine Tao Te Ching
eBook - ePub

The Divine Feminine Tao Te Ching

A New Translation and Commentary

  1. 160 pages
  2. English
  3. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

The Divine Feminine Tao Te Ching

A New Translation and Commentary

About this book

• Restores the feminine essence of the Tao Te Ching as well as the simplicity and poetic undertones of the chapters • Offers commentary for each of the 81 chapters and key Chinese characters to reveal their profound wisdom • Translated from ancient silk and bamboo slip manuscripts, the oldest known copies of the Tao Te Ching • Paper with French flaps In this book, Rosemarie Anderson shares her discoveries of the Divine Feminine Tao alongside her original translation of the Tao Te Ching. Working from ancient silk and bamboo slip manuscripts, the oldest known copies of the Tao Te Ching, the author slowly translated all 81 chapters over the course of two years, allowing each section to reveal its intimate poetic and spiritual nature. To her surprise, she discovered that the Tao was unmistakably feminine, consistently referred to as "mother, " "virgin, " and the "womb" of creation. Anderson explains how the Tao is a feminine force, the Dark Womb of Creation, the Immortal Void renewing life again and again in ordinary times and in times of crisis. She offers commentary for each of the 81 chapters to help reveal their profound wisdom. The author also restores the chapters' simplicity and musical undertones, explaining how, in the original Chinese manuscripts, the text is poetic and rhymed because the Tao Te Ching was often recited or sung--yet most English translations are written in scholarly prose with long sentences and complex syntax. She shows how the great Tao's message of wei wu wei --"act without acting" and "do without doing"--offers a path of peace and well-being for ourselves and for our relationships with others and the earth, a path that arises from spontaneous action that seeks no gain for the self. Capturing the original feminine nature of this ancient text, Anderson's translation sheds new light on the esoteric wisdom contained within the Tao Te Ching and on the mystical feminine essence of the Tao.

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Yes, you can access The Divine Feminine Tao Te Ching by Rosemarie Anderson in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Philosophy & Eastern Philosophy. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Information

Lao-Tzu’s Tao Te Ching
image
Tao, modern script
— 1 —
The Tao that can be told
Is not the everlasting Tao
The name that can be named
Is not the everlasting name
Nameless is the virgin of all things
Named is the mother of all things
Free of desire we see subtleties
Not free we see only things
The two are the same
Yet arise as two
A oneness called dark
Dark beyond dark is
The door to all subtleties
— 2 —
The world knows beauty
Yet when beauty appears
Ugliness arises too
The world knows virtue
Yet when virtue appears
Recklessness arises too
Presence and absence create the other
Hard and easy define each other
Long and short offset the other
High and low position the other
Sound and silence harmonize one another
Front and last follow the other
Hence the wise abide without action
Teach without words
Attend to all things without withdrawing
Act without expectation
Succeed without claiming
In not claiming
Nothing is lost
— 3 —
Not exalting the worthy
Prevents people from fighting
Not cherishing precious objects
Keeps people from stealing
Not displaying possessions
Calms the minds of people
Thus in governing the way of the wise
Empties the mind
Fills the stomach
Softens ambition
Strengthens character
Keeps people innocent and content
And the cunning afraid to act
Act without acting
And nothing is out of place
— 4 —
The Tao is empty
Yet when used
Never exhausts
An abyss!
That seems the ancestor of all
She softens our edges
Loosens our entanglements
Tempers our light
Merges with ordinariness
So still!
She seems ever present
We do not know whose child this is
She seems to have existed
Before creation
— 5 —
Heaven and Earth are without favorites
Neutral toward creation
The wise are without favorites
Neutral toward people
Between Heaven and Earth
Space is like a bellows!
Empty but never lacking
Pump it and more pours out
Much talk exhausts it
Better to hold the center
— 6 —
The immortal void
Is called the dark womb, the dark womb’s gate
From Her
Creation takes root
An unbroken gossamer
That imparts without effort
image
Female, small seal script
image
Female, modern script
— 7 —
Heaven is eternal
And the Earth everlasting
Heav...

Table of contents

  1. Cover Image
  2. Title Page
  3. Epigraph
  4. Acknowledgments
  5. Table of Contents
  6. Introduction. My Journey to the Tao
  7. The Tao as Mother, Virgin, and Womb of Creation
  8. Origins, Legends, and Ancient Manuscripts
  9. Lao-Tzu’s Tao Te Ching
  10. Translation and Calligraphy Notes
  11. Notes on the Poems
  12. Annotated Bibliography
  13. About the Translator and Calligrapher
  14. About the Author
  15. About Inner Traditions • Bear & Company
  16. Books of Related Interest
  17. Copyright & Permissions