Re: Tao Te Ching, anyone?

Geoff <gg@xxxxxxx> wrote:
> Does anyone have a Japanese-language version of the Tao Te Ching,

I'd have thought a Chinese version would be better, since that's the
language of the original.

> and if so, could you post the first sentence of the first verse,
> please?

My Shambhala 1989 edition (translated by John C.H. Wu) has this
Chinese text at the beginning of the first chapter:

一章
道可道、非常道。名可名。非常道。
無、名天地之始。有、名萬物之母。

The English translation given is:

= I =
Tao can be talked about, but not the Eternal Tao.
Names can be named, but not the Eternal Name.
As the origin of heaven-and-earth, it is nameless:
As "the Mother" of all things, it is nameable.

Here's an online version of the Chinese text:

<URL:http://www.chinapage.com/laotze2n.html>

> (Usually rendered into English as something like: "The Tao that can
> be discussed is not the real Tao")

And a myriad other variations, in Japanese or any other language,
depending on who does the translation. It's *dense* text, and pulling
enough meaning out to make a translation is a very subjective task. A
search for some official translation, in any language, is vain.

Why do you specifically want it in a Japanese translation?

--
\ "'Did you sleep well?' 'No, I made a couple of mistakes.'" -- |
`\ Steven Wright |
_o__) |
Ben Finney
.

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