LAO TZU’S TAO TE CHING
Translators' Resource
All e-texts are free of any charge
 

"It is vain to hope for a definitive English rendering of the Tao Teh Ching"
 

Arthur W. Hummel
 

Former Head, Division of Orientalia, Library of Congress
 
e-texts to enable anyone with an average command of English, but no knowledge of Chinese, unaided, to access Tao Te Ching directly from Chinese text.
 
In Chapter 70 of Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu says of his own text: “My words are very easy to understand …...”. English translations of Tao Te Ching provide a multitude of different understandings of Lao Tzu’s words. The e-texts available from this web site enable the need to access Tao Te Ching directly from Chinese text.
 
 
LAO TZU'S TAO TE CHING - RUNNING GLOSSARY
 
Each of the 5279 characters of the Lao Chieh Lao edition of Tao Te Ching is presented in sequence. The full range of meaning for each Chinese character is given.
 

A4 book   Pagination:  v, vi, 1-182 

 

1601KB To download click here.

 
 
LAO TZU'S TAO TE CHING - ENGLISH TEXT
  

A5 booklet   Pagination:  iii, 1-30
 

145KB To download click here.
 
 
TRANSLATION AID
 
A mapping of the text of LAO TZU'S TAO TE CHING - ENGLISH TEXT to the indexing of LAO TZU'S TAO TE CHING - RUNNING GLOSSARY
 
A4 notes  Pagination:  1-18
 

107KB To download click here.
 
 
TAO, TE AND CHING in TAO TE CHING 
 
A5 booklet  Pagination:  1-10
 

167KB To download click here.
 
 
wyrd The twelve occurrences in Beowulf + Old English text + posited translations
 
Are Tao and Wyrd one and the same?
 

A4 notes   Pagination:  1-9
 

88KB To download click here.
 
 
TEXTUAL VARIANTS - Some of the textual variants found in Chinese text editions of Tao Te Ching
  

A4   Pagination:  1-7
 

194KB To download click here.
 
 
15.81-15.97 Chinese text + textual variants + a posited translation
 

A4   Pagination:  1-2
 

101KB To download click here.
 
 
39.125- 39.134 Chinese text + textual variants + a posited translation
 

A4   Pagination:  1-3
 

121KB To download click here.
 
 
42.61- 42.67 Chinese text + textual variants + a posited translation
 

A4   Pagination:  1
 

84KB To download click here.
 
 
wu wei The 12 occurrences in Tao Te Ching + Chinese text + posited translations
 

A4 notes  Pagination:  1-7
 

130KB To download click here.
 
 
AN ALTERNATIVE VIEW OF CHAPTER 35   (Includes:  Chinese text, Running Glossary and English text)
 
A4 notes  Pagination:  1-6
 

251KB To download click here.
 
 
THE IDEAL STATE as depicted in Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching, Shakespeare's The Tempest and Goethe's Faust.
 
A5 booklet  Pagination:  1-8
 

190KB To download click here.
 
 
LAO TZU'S TAO TE CHING - CHINESE TEXT   (A reproduction of the Lao Chieh Lao edition of Tao Te Ching) 
 
A5 book   Pagination:  iii, 1-81
 
Microsoft Word Documents.  Each chapter as a whole will copy for pasting elsewhere as a table.  Each Chinese character and punctuation mark will copy for pasting elsewhere and can be resized and/or repositioned on the line to fit in with whatever font and print size is being used.
 
Title page - Chapter 9  401KB To download click here.
 
Chapters 10 - 18  466KB To download click here.
 
Chapters 19 - 27  557KB To download click here.
 
Chapters 28 - 36  497KB To download click here.
 
Chapters 37 - 45  489KB To download click here.
 
Chapters 46 - 54  443KB To download click here.
 
Chapters 55 - 63  514KB To download click here.
 
Chapters 64 - 72  487KB To download click here.
 
Chapters 73 - back cover  450KB To download click here.
 
 
LAO TZU'S TAO TE CHING - James Legge's 1891 translation
  

A4   Pagination:  1-18
 

101KB To download click here.
 
 
THE TEN OXHERDING PICTURES
 
A5 booklet  Pagination:  iii, 1-10
 

774KB To download click here.
 
 
FOREWORD  to the print medium archive of the material on this web site.
 
A4 Pagination:  iii
 

75KB To download click here.
 
 
CORRECTION  to LAO TZU'S TAO TE CHING - RUNNING GLOSSARY.
 

72KB To download click here.
 
 
POST ARCHIVING CORRECTIONS and ADDITIONS
 
The material on the website is archived in the print medium. This document details corrections and additions required since the material was archived.
 

173KB To download click here.
 
 
Notification of any errors  found in any download would be very much appreciated.
 
 
Amendments are incorporated into e-texts as required. The table below lists the most recent amendment dates.
 

e-text

size

last modified
Running Glossary 1601KB 7 Jan 2006
English Text 145KB 1 Dec 2005
Translation Aid 107KB 13 Nov 2005
TT & C in TTC 167KB 9 Nov 2005
wyrd 88KB

9 Aug 2006
Textual Variants 194KB 7 Jan 2006
15.81-15.97 101KB 24 Jan 2006
39.125- 39.134 121KB 24 Jan 2006
42.61- 42.67 84KB 24 Jan 2006
wu wei 130KB

8 Feb 2006
Alt. 35 251KB 2 Nov 2005
Ideal State 190KB 20 Jan 2005
Chinese Text A 401KB 2 Nov 2005
Chinese Text B 466KB 2 Nov 2005
Chinese Text C 557KB 2 Nov 2005
Chinese Text D 497KB 2 Nov 2005
Chinese Text E 489KB 2 Nov 2005
Chinese Text F 443KB 2 Nov 2005
Chinese Text G 514KB 2 Nov 2005
Chinese Text H 487KB 2 Nov 2005
Chinese Text I 450KB 2 Nov 2005
Legge Translation 101KB 1 Dec 2005
Oxherd Pictures 774KB  20 Jan 2005
Foreword 75KB 25 Aug 2006
Correction 72KB 4 Oct 2006
Post Archiving Corrections and Additions 173KB 15 Jun 2008

This table is correct at 20th June 2009.
 

This website grew out of A COMPANION TO LAO TZU'S TAO TE CHING ISBN 0-9535960-0-1. Pages 1-182 of the download LAO TZU'S TAO TE CHING - RUNNING GLOSSARY replicate the main section of this in-print book. 
 
 
e-mail contact concerning any of the downloads on www.taoteching.co.uk is available via dan@taoteching.co.uk
 
 
PLEASE NOTE:
 
Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching - English Text will print accurately if using Microsoft Office 2000. With other versions of Microsoft Office the content of the document is not altered - but the typeset may be compromised: The text may be spread over more pages and some page numbers may be displaced. Altering margin settings will allow the original typeset to be restored or an alternative typeset put in place. The original typeset comprises 36 A5 pages with the pagination iii, 1-30.