Reddit mentions of The Illustrated Tao Te Ching

I'm days late to the party but still wanted to reply.

​

"All of them and none of them" is going to be ( albeit frustratingly ) your best answer haha!

​

Like most philosophy its a bit like fine art... meant to be thought provoking yet very personally interpreted. The empty spaces between concepts laid out by words are where the real value is. So really you are trying to capture the 'accurate' feeling of those gaps, of that nothingness.

​

Yet at the same time one of the best concepts from the Tao Te Ching is simply that if you can put it into words then it is not 'the eternal tao'. Really this means that it cannot be neatly defined by language. This makes the fact, that we require translations, to be less impactful on our attempts to understand the text.

​

So I cannot answer you as you would like. But I can honestly say that this is because there really is not a best translation. I own many different copies and related works ( on mentoring, on parenting, on this on that etc etc ) simply because there is not a single best iteration.

​

I have ended up favoring two copies both of which are actually 'illustrated' - but do not hate on illustrations! Since they are illustrated I leave them out in the open like coffee table book style. Over time I've grown fond of them and their particular translations. Worth noting, the illustrated aspect of both books came AFTER the translating work... as in these authors didn't set out to make pictures they set out to translate accurately first then after many years made illustrated versions.

​

One is by Stephen Mitchell. He is a renown translator. His Book

​

The other is by Man-Ho Kwok, Martin Palmer, Jay Ramsay w/ calligraphy by Kwok-Lap Chan. Link for convenience

​

I also found this on Mentoring and this classic on Parenting to both be very good.

​

Final thought. I wanted to address your direct inquiry honestly ( ie: cannot label a 'best' ) but also provide some specific works that I have found value in. I also want to make a final recommendation to learn about Taoist philosophy. The Tao of Pooh and the Te of Piglet. Amazon Link to box set of the two.

​

Those two books are excellent for the studied as well as the unfamiliar reader. They thoughtfully explain how Winnie the Pooh is almost a perfect representation of taoist principles and concepts. I found these two books to be a really great way for me to personally cement philosophical concepts to real world practice. Having to read and think about full situations ( even if cartoon ) really helped me to memorize practical take-aways.

​

So in summary, the TL;DR is this...

​

• No best translation. This is not bad though, the exact translation doesn't matter so much. Literally the first words in the Tao Te Ching are saying if you can use words to describe it accurately then you are not actually describing the Tao. So its a "feeling" you learn over time, not a definition you memorize succinctly
  
• On the Tao Te Ching - I highly recommend, since they are cheap and short, to obtain several copies. One copy I linked, by Man-Ho Kwok, has a 20 page intro which dives into detail and nuance of translating. I found this highly insightful which is why I recommend to learn about the translation process a bit.
  
• If you want to learn about Taoism in general ( just as recommended as reading the tao te ching ) then I recommend Tao of Pooh and Te of Piglet.
  
• I would also recommend to pick up related works like the one on Mentoring for example. Have kids? Get the parenting one too. Works such as these take the core principles of the Tao Te Ching and describe discuss and 'illustrate' their meaning for the reader. Thinking about these concepts in as many ways and situations in life as possible truly helps to further your understanding - and solidify the memories.
  
  ​
  
  Whether you just want to explore a copy, or dive headfirst into The Way, I hope you can find some of this advice helpful!
  
  ​
  
  ​
  
  ​
  
  ​
  
  ​