The Contemporary Tao Of Peace And Harmony : Tao Te Ching

The Tao te Ching by Dr. John WorldPeace JD. The Tao te Ching was allegedly written by Lao Tzu about 2,500 years ago. It is not known if he simply wrote down oral traditions or whether he had some unique insights. It is not even known if the Tao was written by Lao Tzu or compiled by several others after his death. We also do not know how many manipulations the text has endured over the last 2,500 years. We cannot even be sure that the traditional Tao is the original Tao. What we do know is that this body of ideas has survived for 2,500 years. Therefore, we must acknowledge that these ideas have validity when applied to humanity. The Tao has been translated by many competent scholars into English. However, the words used in the various translations are rather diverse. A translation compares one language to another. Translating Chinese into English is tricky because one is translating abstract pictographs into a linear language. Words can never fully translate a pictograph. This probably accounts for the wide variation in words used in the various translations. I am not a scholar. I did not translate even one pictograph. What I did was to look for the consensus among the various translations. Therefore, the result is more an interpretation than a translation. In addition, I tried to relate all the ideas to an underlying theme of peace and harmony. "How does a particular passage relate to the manifestation of peace and harmony?," is the question I asked about every idea. I tried to relate every word to a peace and harmony theme because I believe that this was the original intent of the Tao. Further, I tried, where appropriate, to replace some of the abstract concepts with something more concrete. I believe this allows more of a consensus of what is being communicated and makes it easier to determine whether or not what is being communicated fosters peace and harmony. In essence, I have simply done what many others have done over the last 2,500 years. I have tried to relate the Tao in contemporary language with the hope that the level of peace and harmony in the world will increase. My objective has been peace and harmony and not a literal translation. The following is simply my personal perspective of peace and harmony as seen through the Tao te Ching.

• | Author: John WorldPeace
• | Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
• | Publication Date: Jul 06, 2018
• | Number of Pages: 112 pages
• | Language: English
• | Binding: Paperback
• | ISBN-10: 1722633018
• | ISBN-13: 9781722633011