zgoat

One thing I used to narrow down a few translations for deeper reading is to understand the author's background, because each of them bring their own flavor to the text. For example, based on the three I have handy - John C. Wu - chose it because of his background in Law and Policy (things I'm into), and his history with other religions and religious texts (ie, Christianity). Red Pine - being a westerner that transitioned reasonably far into Chinese language and culture, and his involvement in Taoism as a religion William Scott Wilson - because of his extensive work with translating Japanese texts and exposure to Zen / Bushido, and the flavor it brings to his translation This may be a dud metric to assess texts but I find each brings elements of the author's experiences with them in the conversion process. Found Wing-tsit Chan's translation a very nice read as well. Red Pine's is a lot of fun too, it's very rough and abrupt (in a good way).

Good to see you here. I'm a long time lurker, recent poster, but I came from a Catholic background before pursuing Zen Buddhism for about a decade and more recently focusing on studies in Taoism. It's great to see someone else who has come from an interfaith background. In terms of translations, don't sweat "best" too much. Get exposed to a few different ones and you'll get a feel for how each author has approached the translation. I use http://terebess.hu/english/tao/_index.html when I'm hunting for different interpretations, and there's the Textual Studies forum on this board that explores the TTC chapter by chapter with people providing feedback on their readings of the different texts. Much like yourself I focus on a very small core with Taoism, consisting of daily practice, meditation and study of the Tao Te Ching. Happy to discuss things further around this approach.

Hi, Practiced Zen Buddhism for about 13 years, in the last few years have been working more or less directly with the Tao Te Ching and meditation. Live a very sparse / simple lifestyle, practice daily, avoid most media and distractions as far as possible. Keen to engage in discussions about philosophical Taoism and practice in lay life.