I thought this video was well worth a listen. Respectfully, he was saying "wu wei" was written for rulers and not for you (though he goes on later to qualify that), not "The Tao was not for you". Looking forward to listening to more.
posted by jcworth at 6:12 AM on August 1

This was excellent. As a many times reader of the Tao de Ching, much of the text seems specifically addressed to leaders. Lao Tzu was the librarian for such a leader. In old age he decided to leave. At the gate, the gatekeeper, knowing that Lao Tzu was wise, asked him to write down his wisdom before he left. That is where this book came from according to tradition. This way of looking at the book makes good sense.
posted by njohnson23 at 6:55 AM on August 1 [3 favorites]

It’s really interesting hearing the actual Chinese read and then translated word by word. This was probably the best video about the Tao Te Ching I have ever seen.
posted by wittgenstein at 7:30 AM on August 1 [3 favorites]

Ah he also has a short video on Chef Ting one of my favorites, but rarely discussed in western audiences. I am not sure how much it translates without the story in full, but I found his analysis lovely.
posted by Bottlecap at 8:03 AM on August 1 [1 favorite]

lalochezia: Have you seen Ursula Le Guin's version? Any thoughts?
posted by aleph at 8:59 AM on August 1 [1 favorite]

Look if I can't be one of the 10,000 immortals what's even the POINT?
posted by symbioid at 11:42 AM on August 1 [2 favorites]

Le Guin did not translate the Tao - she did a lovely poetic interpretation, and she would have been the first to say so. I have a copy, but it is not one that I would read for any sort of reference material or understanding of the text.
posted by Bottlecap at 1:03 PM on August 1 [6 favorites]

After reading some of the 'legalists'
Especially Han Fei, Huang–Lao makes an interesting read for Syncretism.
posted by clavdivs at 7:32 PM on August 1

This is actually one of my favorite YT channels and worth following.
posted by interglossa at 6:33 AM on August 4

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