Tao Te Ching
Wing-tsit Chan 陳榮捷
1901 – 1994 CE
Chinese academic, scholar and professor; Chan exemplifies the traditional, “objective” scholastic and led his life strictly in that mold getting a Ph.D. from Harvard and teaching in colleges the rest of his life while translating and writing hundreds of barely-read scholarly books and papers. An exception was his 1963 book, A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy that became an influential but dry source for the new academic field of Asian studies. Though probably not that full of understanding in itself, it exposed Westerners to quotations, names, and ideas with the potential to open doors of insight and wisdom.
Lineages
Translators
Eras
Western
Post-Romantic Age (1850 – 2018 CE)Great Depression (1929 – 1941 CE)
Roaring Twenties (1920 – 1929 CE)
Quotes by Wing-tsit Chan (9 quotes)
“According to the Taoist view, honor leads to greed, discrimination, and strife… they frown on the idea of personal honor.”
from Way of Lao Tzu
Chapters:
3. Weak Wishes, Strong Bones
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“[Taoists] not exalting worthy men of superior talent and virtue is directly opposed to that of the Confucianists who honor them”
from Way of Lao Tzu
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“The Taoist interest in non-being [… ] prepared the Chinese mind for the acceptance of the Buddhist doctrine of Emptiness.”
from Way of Lao Tzu
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“Uncarved wood… metaphysically means the One, simple and undifferentiated… simplicity, plainness, genuineness in spirit and heart”
from Way of Lao Tzu
Chapters:
15. Inscrutability
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“Taoist philosophy is naturalistic, if not atheistic, and any idea of a god is alien to it.”
from Way of Lao Tzu
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“The best way to govern is to leave the people alone and to follow the course of taking no action. This ideal of laissez faire originated in Taoism.”
from Way of Lao Tzu
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“Taoism wants the concentration of chi (vital force) to be weak, whereas Confucianism wants it to be strong... Such is the contrast between Confucianism and Taoism.”
from Way of Lao Tzu
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“In Neo-Taoism, [having no trace] developed to mean true reality lies in noumena… the whole history of Taoism shows a tendency to undermine traces”
from Way of Lao Tzu
Chapters:
27. No Trace
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“because of the Taoist insistence on the positive value of non-being that empty space has been utilized as a constructive factor in Chinese landscape painting.”
from Way of Lao Tzu
Chapters:
11. Appreciating Emptiness
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