Laozi's "Daodejing", livre ebook

Laozi’s “Daodejing”: A New Translation With Environmentalist Commentary offers a new translation and fresh interpretation of the eighty-one-verse Daodejing, one of the central texts of Eastern philosophy. Likely written during the late Zhou Dynasty between 600–400 BCE, this foundational work is generally attributed to an individual named Laozi, although it is unlikely that any such person actually existed. Here, author Steve Hallett employs contemporary poetic form when translating the document’s approximately 5,000 Chinese characters and provides short analytical essays that illuminate the verses with a specific focus on the teachings they offer about social and environmental sustainability. His examination of this 2,500-year-old text suggests that perhaps not all our modern crises are as modern as they seem: Much of what ails us today may involve the same foolishness that has ailed us for millennia. Ultimately, this timely study posits that lessons from the past can help us avoid making hasty decisions related to the environment and show us how to chart a calmer, more patient, and more persistent path toward a just and sustainable future.

Acknowledgments
Introduction
Laozi and the Daodejing
A Philosophy for People and the Planet
A Radically Gentle Philosophy
Translation and Interpretation
Verse 1. It’s All Here
Verse 2. Yin and Yang
Verse 3. Wei Wuwei: Do Not-Doing
Verse 4. What Is the Dao?
Verse 5. Nature Is Ruthless
Verse 6. Gaia
Verse 7. Unselfishness and Selflessness
Verse 8. As Humble as Water
Verse 9. Moderation
Verse 10. Meditation
Verse 11. The Silence between Notes
Verse 12. Restrain the Senses
Verse 13. The Mind Is Its Own Place
Verse 14. The Great Mystery
Verse 15. The Ancients of the Ancients
Verse 16. Return to the Root
Verse 17. Unobtrusive Leadership
Verse 18. False Loyalty
Verse 19. The Uncarved Block
Verse 20. The Outsider
Verse 21. By This
Verse 22. Daoist Beatitudes
Verse 23. Emulate Nature and Be One with Loss
Verse 24. Short Shrift for Braggarts
Verse 25. The End of Chaos
Verse 26. Be Stoic
Verse 27. Teacher and Student
Verse 28. Sunlight and Shadow
Verse 29. The Pathology of Control
Verse 30. The Pathology of Domination
Verse 31. The Pathology of Victory
Verse 32. The Forest for the Trees
Verse 33. Know Thyself
Verse 34. A Moment of Revelation
Verse 35. Contentment Over Desire
Verse 36. The Weak Are Stronger
Verse 37. Wuwei for the Mind
Verse 38. A Great Second Best
Verse 39. Everything Is Linked
Verse 40. Everything Is Cyclic, Except Everything
Verse 41. Students of the Path
Verse 42. Dao, Qi, Modesty, and a Simple Rule
Verse 43. Be Like Water, Like Air
Verse 44. Enough Is Enough
Verse 45. Stillness Overcomes Heat
Verse 46. The Curse of Craving
Verse 47. See with Other Eyes
Verse 48. Gain the World
Verse 49. Simple Kindness
Verse 50. How to Live
Verse 51. The Primal De
Verse 52. Seal the Openings
Verse 53. Lead Us Not into Temptation
Verse 54. Think Globally, Act Locally
Verse 55. Return to Infancy
Verse 56. Close the Doors
Verse 57. Don’t Meddle
Verse 58. Unobtrusive Government
Verse 59. Lead with Moderation
Verse 60. Let Sleeping Dogs Lie
Verse 61. Spring and Autumn: Warring States
Verse 62. The Greatest Gift
Verse 63. Wuwei, Wushi
Verse 64. Act, Don’t React
Verse 65. Be Wary of Cleverness
Verse 66. Blessed Are the Meek
Verse 67. . . . and the Greatest of These Is Compassion
Verse 68. The Art of Peace
Verse 69. The Art of War
Verse 70. Pearls before Swine
Verse 71. Self-Awareness
Verse 72. Oppression Can Seed Revolution
Verse 73. Dare to Be Pacifist
Verse 74. The Great Executioner
Verse 75. Shape the Path
Verse 76. Bend without Breaking
Verse 77. Negative Feedbacks and Reinforcing Cycles
Verse 78. The Persistence of Water
Verse 79. De-escalation
Verse 80. Utopia
Verse 81. Wisdom over Knowledge
Notes
Index