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Friday, Oct 21, 2011 October Read of the Month: Tao Te Ching

Even though October is winding down, there’s still time to indulge in our Read of the Month: Stephen Mitchell’s Tao Te Ching. This book has been a great influence and inspiration to Marydale over the years. She often refers to its teachings in yoga class and at The Gathering, and she wants to encourage our students and clients to experience its wisdom for themselves. This is the kind of book that offers new insights every time you read it. There are many different translations of the Tao Te Ching, but Stephen Mitchell’s version has particular resonance for Marydale. Here’s a description from the publisher:

Lao-Tzu’s Tao Te Ching, or Book of the Way, is the classic manual on the art of living and one of the wonders of the world. In eighty-one brief chapters, the Tao Te Ching looks at the basic predicament of being alive and gives advice that imparts balance and perspective, a serene and generous spirit. This book is about wisdom in action. It teaches how to work for the good with the effortless skill that comes from being in accord with the Tao (the basic principle of the universe) and applies equally to good government and sexual love, to child rearing, business, and ecology.

The Tao Te Ching is the most widely translated book in world literature, after the Bible. Yet the gemlike lucidity of the original has eluded most previous translations, and they have obscured some of its central ideas. Now the Tao Te Ching has been rendered into English by the eminent scholar and translator Stephen Mitchell.

Pick up a copy at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or your favorite retailer and join the discussion. Happy reading!