Scriptures

[GrandTrinity]

I have been enjoying Louis Komjathy's translations of taoist scriptures, the handbooks for taoist practice. Other than the tao teh ching, what are you favorite scriptures?

 

[MatthewQi]

Wen-tzu (not Cleary's translation though)

[el_tortugo]

Pai Wen P'ien

[mbanu]

Jiefangjing by Rogerszi

[Pietro]

Other than the tao teh ching, what are you favorite scriptures?

 

 

Chuang Tzu, in the translation from Victor Mair.

[thelerner]

I just put the 'LINKS' on the bottom of Pietros post onto my permanent favorites list. He has some awesome crossreferences there that cover and link to dozens of subjects that the HT sites have discussed, chewed on, and are too often lost to time.

 

Very impressive link site from someone who must really know there way around cyber space and the tao.

 

Thanks Pietro

 

Michael

[Pietro]

...someone who must really know there way around  cyber space and the tao.

9161[/snapback]

 

Thanks for the undeserved compliments.

 

I have been using del.icio.us to store my bookmarks from quite some time by now.

 

http://del.icio.us/pietrosperoni/meditation

http://del.icio.us/pietrosperoni/taoism

http://del.icio.us/pietrosperoni/healingtao

...

the nice thing is that you can add different keywords for each bookmark, which makes them easier to find back.

 

It would be a nice thing if people from this meatcommunity (taobum/thetaobums/ht/...) started using them as well. I know Sean have a delicious account too. And we could use the keyword 'taobum' for everything that we want to bring to each other's attention.

 

So if anybody else is using delicious it would be a good if they say so.

 

ADDENDUM: meatcommunity stands for metacommunity

Edited November 14, 2005 by Pietro

[el_tortugo]

Wen-tzu (not Cleary's translation though)

9127[/snapback]

 

 

I was wondering what it was about Cleary that people don't like. I have heard others say they don't care for his stuff but I never asked why.

 

 

 

 

Edit..... to answer my own question........

Cleary, Thomas - Cleary is the most prolific translator of Taoist materials into English, and thus deserves some credit for his efforts. But Cleary is not a translator as much as he is an interpreter of Taoist texts. He often substitutes his own understanding of an author's intent for the actual text. Because of this, and because he commonly refuses to provide any notes to this work (as is common in academic translations), academia has great disdain for his work.

 

and this from amazon...but I would still appreciate hearing what people here think....

From Library Journal

It sometimes seems that Cleary translates esoteric texts from several different non-Western languages at a faster rate than many of us can read them in English. For more than 20 years, Cleary, who has a Ph.D. in East Asian Languages and Literature from Harvard, has worked independently, translating 50-plus Confucian, Taoist, Buddhist, and Islamic texts. These two volumes are the first of four projected volumes of Taoist classics and introduce a larger series of Cleary's collected translations. If these indicate what is to come, the remainder of the series should be eagerly awaited. Because he is unaffiliated with any academic institution, Cleary's accuracy has been questioned from time to time, and he has been faulted for not including the footnotes and textual apparatus that usually accompany such works. For most readers, though, having these texts available in consistent versions and with enough explanatory material to place them in context far outweighs any deficiencies scholars might find. Of the two volumes here, the first presents more obscure texts and gives a much fuller picture of the scope and nature of Taoism and its relation to Confucianism and Buddhism in Chinese thought. Libraries unwilling to commit to the series might reasonably choose it as a single acquisition, but for the price, any library would benefit from having both volumes. Highly recommended for academic libraries and appropriate public library collections.

-Mark Woodhouse, Elmira Coll. Lib., NY

Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Edited December 13, 2005 by el_tortugo

[MatthewQi]

I just have found Cleary's work to be filtered through a Chan Buddhist viewpoint. So if one shares that perspective, one might enjoy and get more from his translations. His translations of the Tao Te Ching and Chaung-tzu come up short compared to other translations I have read. But this is my perspective. It is rather a bizzare coincidence that I share this view with academics becuase my basis is more experiential and intuitive.

 

I have enjoyed many of his translations though especially where his translations are the only ones available.

 

Matt