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Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching
- A Book about the Way and the Power of the Way
- Narrated by: Ursula K. Le Guin
- Length: 1 hr and 22 mins
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Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching
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Summary
In this landmark modern-day rendition of the ancient Taoist classic, Ursula K. Le Guin presents Lao Tzu’s time-honored and astonishingly powerful philosophy like never before. Drawing on a lifetime of contemplation, she offers an unparalleled window into the text’s awe-inspiring, immediately relatable teachings and their inestimable value for our troubled world.
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Critic reviews
“Each day I open this book at random and receive a contemplative gift. These words are akin to water in the desert. (Terry Tempest Williams, author of Refuge)
“The type of work which the great Polish poet and Nobel laureate Wisława Szymborska meant when she spoke of ‘that rare miracle when a translation stops being a translation and becomes...a second original.’...The whole of Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching is well worth savoring - as much for the ancient substance as for Le Guin’s stylistic splendor.” (Maria Popova, Brain Pickings)
“A student of the Tao for several decades, Le Guin has created an English text that will speak to modern readers in a fresh and lively way, while conveying the humor, insight, and beauty of the original.” (Lion’s Roar magazine)
“Among the many translations of Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching, Ursula K. Le Guin’s new version is a special treasure - a delight. There is something startlingly fresh and creatively alive here, brought forth by Ms. Le Guin’s intuitive and personal ingenuity.” (Chuangliang Al Huang, founder of the Living Tao Foundation and coauthor (with Alan Watts) of Tao: The Watercourse Way)
What listeners say about Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Annalie Wood
- 05-10-20
intense and repeatable
This is short audiobook, but it takes so much concentration to follow that it seems much longer. It is an extended meditation on how to live 'The Way'. I don't know if I live the way but I will return to this spoken text time and again in meditation to find out.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Ryan de Kwaadsteniet
- 28-09-23
Truly a co-emergence of wisdom and creativity
This is not like most audio books, and should therefore not be treated as such. Each chapter holds a small collection of verses. Each verse, to me, felt like it needed to be given the same attention as one would a kōan because of the immensity of wisdom suffused in such a small package. This paired with the zen contemporary music can be very stirring. So find a place to simply sit, and don’t be afraid to pause and sit with what each message evokes.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- O. Sheehan
- 12-12-20
Music ruins this reading
Very disappointing. It is impossible to concentrate on the words being read because the music is too loud and too forceful.
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5 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 04-03-22
all perfect thank you
Lao Tzu has left this treasure for humanity , i shall Say thank you for This beautiful Translation and the outstanding music .
great job , God bless .
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- JK
- 05-08-24
I should have read the reviews
The music ruins this production. Ironic really, given the subject matter, that it suffers from over productoon and over complication.
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- L. Taylor
- 06-02-21
Misguided production
This is unlistenable. For unclear reasons this text is presented with a musical accompaniment. This accompaniment consists of someone hitting chimes, plucking strings, and some pipe at random intervals, before, during and after speech. In my opinion, the instruments were introduced to suggest an atmosphere of mystique. The reading is also done in such a way. Both achieve the opposite and detract any actual mystique from the text.
I think these were misguided production decisions. I would advise a revision of the audio recording.
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Mr Hugh Kavanagh
- 16-10-23
Ruined by “music”
I Would love this without the soundtrack. It’s incredibly distracting. A great text well read.
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