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/lit/ - Literature

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16588756 No.16588756 [Reply] [Original]

I'm about to read the Tao Te Ching, what should I expect.
>inb4 just read it
Just answer the question.

>> No.16588769

Just read it, it’s a bunch of poetic wisdom

>> No.16588776

You won't understand it clearly.
Read commentary on it. It might have some mystical interpretation from one person, and a practical "Laozi thought kings should do this" interpretation from another.
Compare translations online. Classical Chinese is extremely terse, so there's a lot of variation on how it's put into English.
Remember that 99% of modern Daoism is burning things for pagan gods so that they'll make you lucky.

>> No.16588777

Expect vague statements that benefit from considering in multiple ways.

>> No.16588780

>>16588756
Just fucking read it. Why do you need us to hold your hand?

>> No.16588814

>>16588756
IMO it's one of those books like the bhagavad gita where you don't necessarily need to sit down and read it cover to cover. one of those books where you consult it when feeling lost or have questions about life/happiness

>> No.16589481

>>16588756
Key text. True wisdom. Also read Gita.

>> No.16589609

>>16588756
A solid treatise on metaphysics

>> No.16589920

>>16588756
Start with Watercourse way by Alan Watts, and then read Dao De Jing, then read the Zuangzi.

Then do the Mumonkan.

>> No.16590010

>>16588756
Close this thread, read multiple translations.

>> No.16590661

>>16588756
>what should I expect
The Tao that cant be expected is not the real Tao, man.

>> No.16591062

>>16588756
>what should I expect.
Don't expect much. The most overhyped book I read.
The book is far too "unsaturated" in its content. Half the sentences can mean everything and its opposite. Some see it as a bonus. Even ITT people recommend -in advance- to read multiple interpretations of it. To me Laozi is the writer that most fits what Schopenhauer said of Hegel: "He puts the words, the reader puts the sense".

>> No.16591106

>>16588777
Checked. This is true.

>> No.16591737

>>16588756
It's a book for aristocrats, completely wasted on you

>> No.16591778

>>16588776
>Remember that 99% of modern Daoism is burning things for pagan gods so that they'll make you lucky.
tell me more

>> No.16591939
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16591939

>>16588756

>> No.16591971

>>16588756
several books on classical chinese grammar, literature, and vocabulary
i've yet to read a good translation, though someone else may have reccomendations
i think classical chinese is integral to understanding the text
>>16588777
this
expect to spend more time thinking about it than reading it desu

>> No.16592018
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16592018

Was Lao Tzu a libertarian?

>> No.16592086

Expect to live the next 10 years of your life in China learning their language and culture, and presumably also becoming a zen buddhist monk so you can discuss with your sifu daily.

>> No.16592112

>>16591939
Why is literary re-invention and re-discovery of language so much fun? Literally I wish more thinkers spent more time talking about language, even self-commentating on it as they sometimes do in poetic works.

>> No.16592132

>>16592018
Yes, he was the first libertarian

wuwei = laissez-faire
the dao = the invisible hand

Ronald Reagan even quoted the Daodejing in a State of the Union address

>> No.16592286

>>16592018
he was just dangerously based