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    The Second Book of the Tao
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    The Second Book of the Tao
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    The Second Book of the Tao
    Audiobook2 hours

    The Second Book of the Tao

    Published by Penguin Random House Audio

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    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    "A twenty-first-century form of ancient wisdom . . . Mitchell's flights, his paradoxes, his wonderful riffs are brilliant and liberating." -Pico Iyer

    The most widely translated book in world literature after the Bible, Lao-tzu's Tao Te Ching, or Book of the Way, is the classic manual on the art of living. Following the phenomenal success of his own version of the Tao Te Ching, renowned scholar and translator Stephen Mitchell has composed the innovative The Second Book of the Tao. Drawn from the work of Lao-tzu's disciple Chuang- tzu and Confucius's grandson Tzu-ssu, The Second Book of the Tao collects the freshest, most profound teachings from these two great students of the Tao to offer Western readers a path into reality that has nothing to do with east or west, but everything to do with truth. With his own illuminating commentary alongside each adapta­tion, at once explicating and complementing the text, Mitchell makes the ancient teachings at once modern, relevant, and timeless.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateFeb 19, 2009
    ISBN9781101024966
    Unavailable
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    Reviews for The Second Book of the Tao

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    • 2/5
      This is a very personal book for the author, perhaps too personal. He selected and translated sections of two writers, Chuang-tzu and Tzu-ssu, and then added his own commentary for each section.

      While I have enjoyed Mitchell's other translations, and found the selections he chose for this book to be interesting, the commentary for each section was rambling, filled with cliches, uninteresting and uninspired.
    • 3/5
      I found Stephen Mitchell's version of the Tao Te Ching powerful and moving. Sadly, the 'Second Book of the Tao' is pop-psych mush. It combines excerpts from two different ancient Chinese writers: Chuang-Tzu, famous for asking whether he is himself dreaming of a butterfly, or a butterfly dreaming of Chuang-tzu; and Tzu-ssu, a grandson of Confucius. That is, one is a Taoist mystic; the other, both intellectually and genetically, a full-blooded Confucian. Mitchell does make clear in the notes which selections are drawn from which author.Mitchell apparently took similar approaches to creating both books. Not speaking Chinese, he gathered together numerous translations, and then wrote his own version, updating metaphors and images for a modern audience. For the Second Book, he also added his own commentaries, which rarely add much to the texts, and are dreadful -- flippant and condescending. For example: "Suddenly, one fine day, mind realizes that it knows nothing, that it *is* nothing, and sets itself free. Being? Non-bring? Give me a break." Or: "The Master lived in the center of the universe, which turned out to be the center of himself. He discovered that there's nothing to it. No self, no other. Amazing! Wherever you go, there you aren't." Some readers will experience this as witty and striking, piercing pretension while maintaining a casual style. I had exactly the opposite reaction; reading this book was like listening to a guest dominate a cocktail party, trying to be deep and hip and subversive all at the same time, with ego boiling beneath a surface so nonchalant it's almost mannered. The collected passages themselves include some gems, and I'll hope to read them in one of the faithful translations Mitchel consulted while assembling this work.

      1 person found this helpful