Thing #2: That was Zen, This is Tao

My first copy of Tao Te Ching was a Shambhala pocket edition, translated by John C. H. Wu. For almost three years that very copy never left my pocket. The picture to the left is what it looks like now.

Nice, huh? Much loved, much read, much beat up.

It wasn't long after I first got interested in Taoism that my friend Tim became interested as well, spawning years of great conversation between the two of us.

Almost since the beginning we've talked about doing our own translation of the Tao Te Ching. Now, 'translation' is a pretty loose term here, as neither of us are Chinese scholars. Rather this would be more of a 'poetic interpretation'. (Oooh. Fancy.) Our pipe dream has always been to create a version of the Tao Te Ching that was accessible without being fluffy and mystical without being abstruse. (12 points for using the word abstruse.)

But, translating the entire Tao Te Ching seems a bit daunting. As Lao Tzu himself said, "A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step."

So...

Thing #2: Pick a poem from the Tao Te Ching to 'translate' with Tim, and see if the bigger project is doable.

Now all we have to do is decide on a poem. Easier said than done...