Tao Te Ching is the 2,500 years old source to Taoism, written by the legendary Taoist philosopher Lao Tzu. In 81 short chapters, he presented the world according to Tao, the Way, and how mankind should adapt to it.

     The Tao Te Ching book has become one of the foremost world classics of wisdom - maybe even more relevant today than it was to Lao Tzu's contemporaries. Here's the book with my translation and explanations of the Tao Te Ching at Amazon:

Tao Te Ching Explained

In this translation of the Tao Te Ching, I focus on the clarity and simplicity by which Lao Tzu expresses his fascinating cosmology and profound ethics.

     This simple directness of his text is often corrupted in Western versions, especially if they try for a poetic rendering. That may be aesthetic, but much of Lao Tzu's thinking gets lost in the process.

     I have strived for a literal translation of the Tao Te ching, as much as is possible with an ancient Chinese text. I wanted the clarity of thought in the Tao Te Ching to stand out. That's what has always impressed me the most about it.

     Also, I have added my comments and explanations in the traditional manner for both Chinese and Western classics: immediately following each chapter. That's how Chinese commentators treated the Tao Te Ching and the other books they cherished, and that's how European scholars of old transmitted the ancient texts of their culture. I found it very inspiring and I hope that the reader will enjoy this guided tour through Lao Tzu's text and thoughts.

     In this way, I explain each Tao Te Ching chapter thoroughly, also regarding how this old wisdom can be understood and applied today. Society has changed significantly since the days of Lao Tzu - but much of it is forever the same. His ideas still have tremedous value and relevance.

I was introduced to the Tao Te Ching by my Japanese aikido instructor, when I was at the end of my teens. He gave me a copy of the book, explaining its tremendous importance in East Asian culture and philosophy. I was immediately fascinated by the text, just by reading the first chapter. I still am.

     The gentle wisdom of Lao Tzu still strikes me as one of the most profound in the history of human thought. It deserves to be transmitted to every new generation. We need it. Without the teaching of the noblest minds of our past, how can we manage our way into the future?

     In 1991, twenty years after I was introduced to the Tao Te Ching, I published my first commented translation of it. That was in Swedish. I did so simply because no Swedish versions was to be found in the bookstores. Also, the Tao Te Ching manuscripts found in Mawangdui in the 1970's, much older than previous known versions, raised the need for a new translation. They clarified a lot about the ancient classic.

     Through the following decades I published several revised editions of my Tao Te Ching translation. Thereby I could also include discoveries made through the 1990's finding of the Guodian manuscript, a century older than the Mawangdui ones. But I never dreamed of making an English version.

In the English language, there is a constantly increasing number of Tao Te ching translations, their quality differing as much as their approach to Lao Tzu's text. I couldn't imagine that there would be need for one more.

     I can't say I've read them all, not even most of them. But I have studied all the significant and respected English Tao Te Ching translations of the last two centuries. That's normal when you make your own interpretation of a classical text. That's part of the book's history and the clue to how it can be understood today.

     Well, considering the many English versions I read and the many more I glanced at, a deficiency became visible. In most of the versions, the wonderful simplicity and clarity of the Tao Te Ching was dimmed by the translators rushing to their own interpretations, which were often quite far-fetched, to say the least. I was gradually convinced that there was room for the kind of Tao Te Ching version I prefer, also in the English language.

     Still, I couldn't make myself rush the project. After a lot of hesitation, I got started with the first Tao Te Ching chapters and my comments to them. It went fine and I was delighted. But at the twntieth chapter of the 81 in the book, I suddenly stopped and couldn't write another word.

     I knew why. The Tao Te Ching is nothing to rush through. The simplicity by which it expresses its thoughts doesn't make it light, but heavy as lead. Although I had been very familiar indeed with the book for almost 40 years, this new translation also took its toll - in time. It took me almost two years before I could resume my work.

     But then it went like a charm. In just a few months - and that's light speed when it comes to books - I was finished with my English version of the Tao Te Ching. It was published in February, 2011 - twenty years after my first Swedish version of the book, and 40 years after I was introduced to it. A double personal jubilee.

     But the years have taught me - I'm still not finished with Lao Tzu's masterpiece, the Tao Te Ching. I don't think anyone of its readers ever is.

     For more on how I approached the Tao Te Ching, see the book's Table of Contents and the whole Preface below.

You can get the Tao Te Ching book at most international web based bookstores, such as Amazon. Here are links to the book on Amazon US and Amazon UK. Of course, you find it at any Amazon web store: Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain.

At Amazon US:

At Amazon UK:

Now also a Kindle ebook:
Tao Te Ching: The Taoism of Lao Tzu Explained.
by Stefan Stenudd
Paperback, 318 pages
ISBN: 978-91-7894-039-4