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The Dao De Jing is a classic of ancient Chinese philosophy and one of the great wisdom texts of world literature. To recover its original meaning P. J. Laska sets aside the long commentarial tradition of paradox and mysticism and re-interprets the work as a coherent natural philosophy and holistic ecological teaching concerned with the "constancy" of the life community as a whole. In this new translation and commentary the ancient "Way of the Sages" is presented as biocentric political ecology teaching that "Great governance does not cut," but acts to protect the community of life from the "excess, extravagance and extremes" of accumulationist designs. The commentary on each translated verse is designed to convey the holistic understanding of the world-process that the ancient sages' used to guide human designs toward simplicity and integration with nature and away from hierarchical instruments of domination.

1056 days ago

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Two Reader Reviews of P. J. Laska’s THE ORIGINAL WISDOM OF THE DAO DE JING: Translation and Commentary:

Review by Marita Garin:

This book is a treasure! Laska's translation/re-interpretation of these historic verses (dating back to early Chinese history, possibly 350 BCE or before) is a considerable scholarly accomplishment. The "Comment" section that accompanies each is an invaluable guide for focusing this time-honored philosophy on current ecological concerns. The poetry--aphoristic, occasionally elusive--retains the subtlety and wisdom of the ancient text yet reveals ecological insights of startling relevance to today's issues--how to sustain the totality of life without ruining nature's normal cycles. Awareness has become so global now that these questions are urgent, given the onset of climate change and population densities that are impacting resources at an alarming rate. Page by page, here is an illustration of how human intelligence can be brought to bear on governing the whole along with individual responsibility on governing the self in order to preserve natural sufficiency. The poetry is concise, provocative, highly appealing in its logical and profound wisdom--not esoteric, but quite accessible. And always instructive.

Review by Kirk Judd

In this thoughtful and timely translation and interpretation of the ancient classic, P.J. Laska has taken the meaning of the verses back to a context of the time and environment in which they were orginally produced. Doing so provides a fresh look at some of the content, revealing the text as a sort of handbook for living holistically within a civilized society in the early throes of moving from a village/tribal agrarian culture to a feudal/overlord system of governance. The wisdom, says Laska, lies in the advice of the verses to "do no harm" by taking more than is necessary in the name of power, thereby creating a harmful effect on the natural order. In this era of coming to an understanding of the human effect on the planet, this is a powerful point taken - that some have always known, and that we have mostly ignored the wisdom. It should not be ingored longer...

The following posts will introduce "an ecological reading" of the Dao De Jing.  This reading will offer a more detailed commentary than that provided in my book, THE ORIGINAL WISDOM OF THE DAO DE JING (Eccsbooks, 2012)., available in  pbk from various online markets, including Amazon and Barnes & Noble. The translations of the Dao De Jing below are from this book.

The commentary will begin after the introductory posts, the first of which is given below:

  The Ancient Way

“Hold to the ancient Way to cope [with change] in today’s world”              

                                                                                                        -DDJ 14

     According to the legend preserved in Sima Qian’s “Biography of Laozi,” when Confucius went to the Zhou imperial court, then in decline, to ask about the ancient rites, he was rebuffed by Laozi and told, “As for the things you are talking about—those people along with their bones have already rotted away! All that remains is their words” (10).   The legend accurately depicts Confucius’ interest in the past.  It was there that he found a time when the Way [dao], by which he meant “the good system,” (11)  of  social and political harmony “prevailed in the world.” (12)   In Confucius’s time the “good system” of the Zhou had fallen into crisis, and he looked back to the early generations following the Zhou Confederacy’s defeat of the Shang power cult that had previously dominated them (1122 BCE) for the basic principles of a society in which he thought the Way prevailed.  His hero of this earlier era was the Duke of Zhou, whom he said appeared to him in his dreams.  He taught the cultivation of ren, the ethical ideal of an Exemplary Person, and the practice of li, a corpus of ritual observances, ceremonies and appropriate manners.  In Confucius’ vision of the Way these two worked together to “rectify” and harmonize human interaction in society and the family, and to create stable and humane relations between rulers and the people ruled.

     Much of the Dao De Jing is also a response to the crisis of Zhou culture, but its teachings look back to a very different tradition in the past, one that is at odds with Confucius’ celebration of the cultivated ideal of the Exemplary Person and the body of ritual display and deference that substantiates it. (13)  Both the Confucian tradition and the Wisdom tradition of the Dao De Jing call on an ancient Way (dao), but the two ancient Ways are fundamentally different:  the Confucian Way deals exclusively with humanity, while the wisdom tradition in the Dao De Jing is holistic in its approach and, as we would say today, ecological in its practice.  For both traditions, however, it is not a case of returning to the past, but of using an “ancient Way” practiced in the past as a model for dealing with the present, with the crisis brought about by the decay of the former loyalties and ritual observances that stabilized the Zhou Confederacy’s clan-based feudal state.  In response to this crisis the Analects of Confucius presents one vision, the wisdom tradition of the Dao De Jing presents another.  The two share some common ground, but their differences are irreconcilable.  The later Confucian philosopher Xunzi was quite clear about this:  “The tao [Way] is neither the tao of Heaven nor the tao of earth, but the tao of man.” (14)   The wisdom of the Dao De Jing sees Confucius teachings as designed to lubricate the hierarchical system of feudal ranks (call it society, state or empire) while ignoring or minimizing the importance of the larger natural world of the biosphere that supports the system. 

     The system Confucius admired, like all forms of civilization, was not an accidental development. There are various theories about the origin of civilization, but none of them can dispense with the use of force.  In the process of establishing “the system” in the ancient world control was gained by conquest and subordination.  Once established, systematic control enabled the elite among the conquerors to live relatively cultivated lives of ritual deference. (15)  As an outcome of what Xunzi called “the tao of man” the system had the order of a purposeful design [which is not to say that all its detailed aspects were planned out in advance].  The Chinese word wei has the sense of designing action, action whose purpose is to realize an aim.  Designing action is intelligent, thought-out, planned and executed as a means to an end.  In the larger scheme of things it includes strategic planning and tactics for implementing policies that establish, refine and guard “the system.”  The system can be regarded as the sum of such actions.   The Dao De Jing depicts this “Way of man” as a system that endangers life by its excessive design activity [wei].  Since the system is vertical in form, with the power concentrated at the top, the danger to life comes mainly from the leading decision-makers in the social and political hierarchy of “names and ranks” (DDJ 32).  The biosphere [tian xia] (16) with all its natural diversity is not the work of humanity.  Within it ecological order arises “of itself,” apart from the Way of man. (17)  According to the Dao De Jing natural order emerges from the Great Way [da dao], which is said to be “constantly without designing action [chang wuwei]” (DDJ 37).  It is in the disconnect between the system of order set in place by the design activity [wei] of humanity and the diverse systems of order in nature arising without design activity [wuwei] that the Dao De Jing locates the danger caused by the Way of man.  The design activity of humanity carried to excess generates a crisis of sustainability.    

review of The Original Wisdom of the Dae De Jing, New Translation and Commentary by P.J. Laska May 13, 2012

By marita in north carolina

Format:Paperback

This book is a treasure! Laska’s translation/re-interpretation of these historic verses (dating back to early Chinese history, possibly 350 BCE or before) is a considerable scholarly accomplishment. The “Comment” section that accompanies each is an invaluable guide for focusing this time-honored philosophy on current ecological concerns. The poetry–aphoristic, occasionally elusive–retains the subtlety and wisdom of the ancient text yet reveals ecological insights of startling relevance to today’s issues–how to sustain the totality of life without ruining nature’s normal cycles. Awareness has become so global now that these questions are urgent, given the onset of climate change and population densities that are impacting resources at an alarming rate. Page by page, here is an illustration of how human intelligence can be brought to bear on governing the whole along with individual responsibility on governing the self in order to preserve natural sufficiency. The poetry is concise, provocative, highly appealing in its logical and profound wisdom–not esoteric, but quite accessible. And always instructive

Dao De Jing: Thematic Index of Verses

      There are four major themes evident in the teachings transmitted in the Dao De Jing.   The following index lists the relevant verses that fall under each of the four major thematic categories.  Due to the non-discursive manner in which the teachings of the Wisdom tradition are presented, verses can and often do appear in more than one of the four categories.

I.   The Cosmological theme of the Constant Way [chang dao] called “great” [da], which the processes of nature (Heaven and Earth) are said to “follow” [fa]:  DDJ 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. 10, 14, 16, 21, 22, 23, 25, 29, 32, 34, 35, 37, 39, 40, 41, 42, 51, 55, 56, 62, 67, 73, 77, 78, 79, 81. 

II.  The Ecological theme of the Wisdom Way or “way of the sages” [sheng-ren zhi dao] that is modeled on the constant “balancing” pattern of the Great Way, as it is observed in the “Way of Heaven” (tian zhi dao) and “practiced” (wei dao) by those who teach the wei wuwei method of harmonizing human designs (wei) with the non-designed processes (wuwei) of the natural world:  3, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 21, 22, 25, 27, 28, 29, 30, 32, 35, 39, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 48, 50, 51, 52, 54, 55, 59, 62, 63, 64, 67, 77, 80, 81. 

III. The Self-cultivation theme of higher attainment (shang de) through inner training leading to enlightened insight regarding the oneness of life and the necessity of caring for the world:  1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 16, 20, 22, 23, 24, 27, 28, 33, 38, 41, 47, 48, 49, 51, 52, 53, 55, 56, 64, 67, 71, 81.   

IV.  The Political Ecology theme, which treats the attempt by people of higher attainment (shang de) in the historical context of the late “Spring and Autumn” period of ancient Chinese history, to teach political rulers the meaning of “greatness” in governing:   3, 4, 5, 6. 7. 8, 9, 12, 13, 14, 17, 18, 19, 24, 26, 28, 29, 31, 32, 34, 35, 37, 39, 42, 46, 48, 53, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68. 69, 72, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79,

PUBLICATION ANNOUNCEMENT:

     THE ORIGINAL WISDOM OF THE DAO DE JING

                                                 A New Translation and Commentary

                                              by P. J. LASKA

The Dao De Jing is a classic of ancient Chinese philosophy and one of the great wisdom texts of world literature.   To recover its original meaning P. J. Laska sets aside traditional mystical interpretations and views the work as a coherent and profound body of thought concerned with the "constancy" of life's capacity for renewal.  In this new translation the ancient "Way of the Sages" is presented as a bio-centric political ecology teaching that "Great governance does not cut," but acts to protect human communities and the natural world from the "excess, extravagance and extremes" involved in designs for power, wealth and privilege. The accompanying commentary links each verse translation to the holistic understanding of the world-process used by the ancient sages in guiding human activity toward simplicity and integration with nature and away from unsustainable efforts at domination and control.  

Publisher: ECCSBooks                                                                                                                                                     Publication Date: February, 2012.                                                                                                                                  Format & Price:  Paperback, 162 pp.,  $12.95.