Tao Te Ching

The Power of Goodness, the Wisdom Beyond Words
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Translators Lineage

In deep, serious ways, all people who think for themselves are translators. In fact, “thinking for yourself” and “translating” could be considered synonyms. Translating may be the first step in moving from understanding the words to understanding the sense, from being a true believer to something more authentic; from a sectarian to a Rimé, non-dogmantic understanding. Translating from one language to another affords good opportunity to practice translating our own cultural, religious, and political cliches and truisms into something more like wisdom. And making ancient texts from far off countries accessible to modern societies brings us a step closer to a true world culture and basis for peace.

Translating from English to English opens unexpected windows of creativity and exposes a continuum between edits and complete translations. On a more external level, going from Chaucer's English to 21st century American English more easily stays in the "editing" range; from Shelley's more modern imagery to our own, more "translating." Another, probably more relevant approach would be "condensing." A dark side of the great information technology benefit of easy access to so much information becomes mental indigestion from consuming too much without reflection or integration. Younger people read books much less and rely on short, easy-access digital information bites. Condensing and summarizing the vast storehouse of history's wisdom could help save it, make it relevant to modern minds, and bring much needed sanity into contemporary culture, spiritual life, and politics.

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People (55)

Anonymous
-800 to present
Freedom from the narrow boxes defined by personal history

(127 quotes)

Anonymous (5000 BCE - )
Most of us, most of the time stay busy trying to impress people looking for approval, praise and fame. This enslaves and sells our souls to the tyrants of public opinion, the status quo, and to external personal whim. As an antidote to this, the cloak of anonymity opens wide doors of personal expression, creativity, and innovation. In ancient times, perhaps less personal ego fostered this approach, perhaps names were just eroded away by time as is surely the case with many of the quotations that comes to us through the annals of history, perhaps people needed to avoid religious or political persecution. The venerable tradition of using pseudonyms exemplifies both the need and benefit of freeing ourselves from the narrow boxes defined by our personal histories.

Wang Bi 王弼
226 – 534 CE

(24 quotes)

Although he only lived 23 years, for more than 1,700 years most Chinese scholars have considered Wang Bi the most important interpreter of the Tao Te Ching and his edition of this has been used for almost every translation into a Western language. A political theorist who challenged the prevailing Confucian orthodoxy, he interpreted Lao Tzu in a way consistent with Confucius and compatible with both indigenous Chinese beliefs and the introduction of Indian Buddhism. Interesting and inspiring how one so young can understand so deeply and influence the course of history so much.

Kumārajīva कुमारजीव, 鸠摩罗什
344 – 413 CE


One of the world's greatest translators, the first to teach Nagarjuna’s Madhyamaka school in China, and symbol of early cultural cooperation; Kumārajīva supervised a team that translated the Diamond, the Lotus, the Prajñāpāramitā and more than 74 scriptures. This helped bridge the traditions of India, Central Asia, and China. With a non-sectarian and open mind, he focused on the sense rather than a literal translation and “revolutionized Chinese Buddhism.” His teaching became the Huayan or Flower Garland school, a foundation for the Chan (Zen) Buddhiist school as well as for the later revival of Taoism. The Emperor Yao Xing became his disciple and because of their work together, c. 90% of the Chinese population became Buddhists.

Marpa Lotsawa
1012 – 1097 CE

(17 quotes)

Founder of the Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, teacher to the great Milarepa, businessman, farmer, family man and exemplar of enlightenment in everyday life; Marpa made many, perilous journeys to India and Nepal where he studied Vajrayana teachings, translating and bringing them back to Tibet. Wild, uncompromising, and outrageous; he flourished on physical dangers, psychological and spiritual challenge bringing “tasting the flavor of realization” into his translations that went to the depth of understanding rather than staying on the surface of the words.

Petrarch
1304 – 1374 CE

(11 quotes)

The “Father of Humanism,” troubadour of romantic love, lover of nature, “Virgil born again,” the most famous unrequited lover, and most important poet of his age; Petrarch inspired an interest in ancient history and as “the first tourist” discovered and translated many old manuscripts including Cicero’s letters that sparked the 14th-century Renaissance. Holding the sense over the words, he challenged orthodoxy and invented new Latin terms to describe Greek philosophy, developed the concept of an historical “Dark Age” after the fall of Rome, a need for a cultural revival, inspired the political, military, and religious leaders of his time to ground their lives in classical values and contemplation. and his sonnets became a model for lyrical poetry through modern times.

Giovanni Boccaccio dʒoˈvanni bokˈkattʃo
1313 – 1375 CE

(10 quotes)

Close student, friend and collaborator with the “Father of the Renaissance,” Petrarch; Boccaccio became a popular poet/writer, “the first Greek humanist in Western Europe,” and promoted the ancient literature, philosophy, and history which set the stage for the Renaissance. His book on classical mythology became a key reference for 400+ years and challenged Christian belief that only the Bible was relevant, that there was only harm in “pagan” writings. In an early nod to feminist proposition, he wrote the first collection devoted to the biographies of famous women. Living through a tumultuous time of political intrigue, the executions of his friends, bitter poverty and bad health; he resisted many of the era’s superstitious and setting-sun forces; translated works by Homer, Euripides, and Aristotle; and helped launch one of history’s most influential shifts, the Renaissance.

John Wycliffe
1320 – 1384 CE


Iconoclastic theologian, philosophical dissident, and champion of the common people; Wycliffe translated the Bible into English undermining Church authoritarianism and belief that people needed a spiritual mediator to tell them what was true, ethical and good. He criticized the political power, materialistic wealth and corruption common with the clergy and papal hierarchy of his time helping to even out the extreme rich-poor gap. He influenced Jan Hus, Martin Luther, and the beginnings of Protestantism; he was condemned as a heretic, his bones were dug up, his writings were burned and banned - and his influence continues.

Poggio Bracciolini
1380 – 1459 CE

(4 quotes)

Gladiatorial orator, personal secretary to 7 popes including the “Antipope” John XXIII, scholar, early humanist, prolific and for his time astonishing writer; Poggio helped develop the Italic font, invented the Roman font still popular today, and helped spark a rebirth of old wisdom that led Europe out of the Dark Ages, into science and our modern age. Profuse traveller, friend to the great scholars of his time as well as politicians like Pope Nicolas V, Cosimo and Lorenzo de' Medici who supported his efforts to find and preserve ancient Greek and Roman manuscripts; he discovered and copied a large number of important classical works forgotten and decaying in old libraries including De Rerum Natura, Lucretius’ only surviving book.

Erasmus (Desiderius Roterodamus)
1466 – 1536 CE
"Greatest scholar of the northern Renaissance"

(19 quotes)

"Prince of the Humanists,” famous translator, globalist and true citizen of the world; Erasmus emphasized a middle way approach between Luther and the Pope during the Reformation angering both sides. Not many know much about about him but his legacy is well known in the sayings and phrases he compiled and popularized. Some of his sayings like “The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence,” “God helps those who help themselves,” “Don’t put the cart before the horse,” “Leave no stone unturned,” “In the land of the blind the one-eyed man is king,” “No sooner said then done,” “Between a rock and a hard place,” “Call a spade a spade,” “Women – can’t live with them or without them,” “Like father like son,” “To look a gift horse in the mouth,” “To break the ice,” “To cut to the quick,” “One step at a time,” “A necessary evil,” “What’s done cannot be undone,” “Up to his eyeballs,” “To sleep on it,” have not only entered into common conversation; but also, become a powerful influence on Western culture.

Thomas Hobbes
1588 – 1679 CE

(16 quotes)

Secretary, student, friend to Francis Bacon; Hobbes established the foundation for most modern political philosophy. Formulating social contract theory, he promoted individual rights, natural equality, government based on the will of the people, only representative government as legitimate, and the freedom to do anything that laws don’t forbid. He described human nature as “self-interested cooperation” and introduced mathematical reasoning to the philosophy of science. Though called “the father of totalitarianism” and fixated on peace and order, his radical shift from religion and belief to applying science for understanding human nature helped undermine that same “order” creating more personal, political freedom.

Balthasar Gracian
1601 – 1658 CE

(133 quotes)

Spanish Jesuit, philosopher and prolific writer, Gracian amplified the slogan/quote tradition of Aesop, Yang Xiung, the Dhammapada, Atisa and continued by Erasmus and Ben Franklin. At times highly respected, he was also exiled by outraged superiors for his provocative philosophy and lost his teaching tenure. An important influence on Nietzsche, Voltaire, Schopenhauer and Winston Churchill; his book Art of Worldly Wisdom - translated into many languages – continues today as a best seller and exceptionally valuable resource of helpful advice.

François Pétis de la Croix
1653 – 1713 CE
Early and influential orientalist

(1 quotes)

Translator, orientalist, interpreter, diplomat, and extensive traveler; Pétis de la Croix knew and spoke Arabic, Persian and Turkish. This led him into pioneering oriental studies of Sufism, the Masnavi Philosopher's stone, and the Muslim Qur'an. Much of his work however needed to be discrete and unpublished because his era was constrained by Catholic censorship, the witch craze, and extreme penalties for unorthodoxy. His influence did, however, inspire other works including Carlo Gozzi's The King Stag and Turandot. Benjamin Franklin popularized his publication of Genghis Khan's biography which became an influence on Thomas Jefferson and his Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom.

Alexander Pope
1688 – 1744 CE
Second most quoted English writer

(32 quotes)

Second most quoted English writer after Shakespeare, anonymous and profound influence on culture, compassionate commentator on humankind’s foolishness; Pope foresaw and criticized the growing materialism and consumerism of his era. His critiques were so pointed and insightful, they aroused such hatred that he was viciously slandered with lies and was forced to carry a pistol when he went for walks. From a Catholic family in England when Catholics were banned from teaching or going to a university; Pope’s aunt had to teach him to read and he was largely self-taught with help of sages like Homer, Horace, Virgil, Shakespeare, and Chaucer. Suffering ill health from an early age, he had a kind of tuberculosis from age 12 that turned him into a severe hunchback and limited his height unto only 4 feet, 6 inches. Transmuting his difficulties into art, he completed impressive translations, critical essays, and poems that created new forms as well as inspiring both people of his times and ours.

William Godwin
1756 – 1836 CE
Provocative and influential social, political, and literary critic

(20 quotes)

Mary Shelley’s father, married to pioneering feminist Mary Wollstonecraft, journalist, philosopher, publisher, translator, and author; Godwin became the first to promote utilitarianism and modern anarchism. He attacked aristocratic privilege, advocated the abolition of marriage, wrote numerous novels, and became a major influence on British literature and culture. His views on progress, life extension, and human perfectibility gave inspiration for his daughter’s novel, Frankenstein. He opposed Malthus, became a literary influence on Dickens and Poe, a political influence on Peter Kropotkin, libertarianism, and communism.

Friedrich Viktor Strauß
1809 – 1899 CE
First German Tao Te Ching translator


Theologian, poet, minister, translator, and scholar; Strauß published the first German Tao Te Ching translation in 1880. He also translated Chinese classic poetry, wrote novellas and gypsy romance. Sill popular today, his Tao Te Ching translation's 11th edition was published in 2004. His translation of the Shijing (Book of Songs) in 1880 became the first German translation. An ambassador and minister, he also translated his insight and understanding of Chinese wisdom into Western culture. Some of his hymns are still sung in churches and for weddings.

James Legge
1815 – 1897 CE

(1 quotes)

Prolific translator, editor of the first Chinese newspaper in Hong Kong, publisher of the first major volume of Chinese poetry into English, first Professor of Chinese at Oxford University, Christian missionary to China for 33 years; Legge helped translate the extensive Sacred Books of the East series, 50 volumes of Chinese classics. His purpose in this though was to provide knowledge and understanding to Christian missionaries so that they could better convert Chinese so his translations easily became corrupted by his strong sectarian point of view. In spite of these flaws, his work helped make great strides in helping “West meet East.”

George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans)
1819 – 1880 CE
Pioneering literary outsider

(104 quotes)

Poet, journalist, translator, novelist, agnostic humanist, political agitator, and courageous follower of her own path; George Eliot wrote what some consider the best novel ever written in the English language (Middlemarch). Known for their psychological insight, her novels reflected her personal experience on the edges of the social, religious, and political fringe. Using a male pen name to escape the strong, feminine stereotypes of her era, this strategy also helped shield her from personal life scandals arising from norm-breaking situations like her adulterous relationship with philosopher George Henry Lewes and her marriage to John Cross who was 21 years younger. Her father didn't consider her beautiful enough to ever find a husband but clearly saw her high intelligence and financed a classical education for her far beyond what was normally available for women. Her father's wealth and high social status also gave her a clear perception of the extreme contrasts between the rich landowners and impoverished people living on those estates. This became a frequent theme in her books.

Samuel Butler
1835 – 1902 CE
Iconoclastic philosopher, artist, composer, author, and evolutionary theorist

(62 quotes)

Friend and student of Charles Darwin, serio-comic satirist, champion of small-is-beautiful everyday experience; Butler composed Handelian-style cantatas and piano pieces, painted works of art hung in London museums, and translated the Iliad and the Odyssey that he believed were written by a Trojan and by a Sicilian woman. In his book Erewhon, crime is considered a disease while disease and physical imperfections are considered crimes. Aldous Huxley thought Butler's ideas transformed Western culture's attitudes toward crime, technology, and 'progress'.

Paul Carus
1852 – 1919 CE
The Teachings of Lao Tzu

(6 quotes)

Self-described as “an atheist who loved God,” Paul Carus was one of the first Americans with a serious interest in Buddhism. He saw Taoism and Buddhism as complementary and published 75 books and 1500 articles on social issues, history, science, religion, politics, logic, anthropology and mathematics. He worked closely with D. T. Suzuki and corresponded with thought-leaders of his time like Tolstoy Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla, and Booker T. Washington. He defined his philosophy as, “everything is fraught with life; it contains life; it has the ability to live” and promoted a “Religion of Science,” interfaith dialog, and a “cosmic religion of universal truth.”

Edith Hamilton
1867 – 1963 CE

(44 quotes)

Historian, professor, translator, mythologist, and classicist; Edith Hamilton wrote insightful, best-selling books on mythology, Greek, and Roman culture. Her younger sister became the first woman on the faculty at Harvard University and Edith received Greece's highest honor, the Golden Cross. John F. Kennedy consulted with her and Robert F. Kennedy quoted her in his speeches. An educator most of her life in change of the only private US high school for women that prepared all of its students for college, she began her second career as an author publishing her first book, The Greek Way, when she was sixty-two. A biographer, her life was "ruled by a passionately nonconformist vision.. her strength and vitality, her appeal as public figure and author."

Richard Wilhelm
1873 – 1930 CE
Translator bridging East and West

(7 quotes)

Theologian, missionary, early sinologist, and personal friend of Carl Jung; Wilhelm gave us two culturally transformative translations: the I Ching and The Secret of the Golden Flower. He moved to China as a young man and lived there for 25 years. During that time, he met a sage driven out of his hermitage by the revolution—Lau Nai Suan who introduced him to the philosophy of Chinese yoga and the I Ching's psychology. This meeting and his studies produced a bridge between east and west but also a deep conflict within Wilhelm between consciousness and unconsciousness, between his Christianity and eastern philosophy.

Lionel Giles
1875 – 1958 CE
Victorian "Taoist at heart"

(3 quotes)
Translator, philosopher, sinologist, and museum curator; Giles followed in his father's footsteps—Herbert Giles who co-created the famous Wade-Giles method of Chinese translation. His translation in 1910 of Sun Tzu's Art of War made monumental strides in accuracy over previous translations. Some of his other translations include The Analects of Confucius, the Sayings of Lao Tzu, the Book of Mencius, A Gallery of Chinese Immortals, and Taoist Teaching of Lieh Tzu.

Helena Roerich Елéна Ивáновна Рéрих
1879 – 1955 CE

(12 quotes)

Theosophist, translator, archeologist, adventurous traveler to unknown inner and outer realms, founder of the Institute of Himalayan Studies, co-creator of the "Agni Yoga" practice of “Living Ethics”; Helena Roerich with her husband Nicholas fearlessly explored remote regions of Mongolia, Tibet, India, China, and the Altai regions of Russia. During these travels, they discovered rare manuscripts, enclaves of wisdom, and many insights into the cultural unity of diverse people. This led to her writing 20 books including the 1926 "Foundations of Buddhism" that helped spark an early Western interest in Buddhism. She co-authored an international treaty signed by heads of 22 countries that helped protect historical monuments, scientific and artistic institutions. A frequent correspondent with president FDR and VP Henry A. Wallace, she was at first a positive influence but then a political liability that led to Wallace’s defeat by Harry Truman.

Witter Bynner (Emanuel Morgan)
1881 – 1968 CE

(14 quotes)

Translator, poet, and scholar; Bynner traveled and lived in China, intensely studied Chinese culture, and worked for 11 years translating T'ang Dynasty poems. A student of George Santayana at Harvard, he was a conscientious objector during World War I, and championed the women’s suffrage movement. Writing more than 39 books himself, he also actively supported poets and artists becoming friends with D.H. Lawrence, Georgia O'Keeffe, Carl Sandburg, Ansel Adams, Willa Cather, Igor Stravinsky, Robert Frost, W. H. Auden, and Aldous Huxley. Sponsoring Kahlil Gibran, he helped him publish The Prophet.

Lǔ Xùn 鲁迅 (Zhou Shuren; Lusin)
1881 – 1936 CE
Insightful satirist representing the "Literature of Revolt"

(16 quotes)

From an impoverished background, Lu Xun rose to become one of modern China’s most popular and influential writers. He was highly admired by Mao Zedong who called him "the saint of modern China" and the "chief commander of China's Cultural Revolution” but who also misquoted his words, purged his followers, suppressed the intellectual openness and penetrating political insight that Lu Xun represented, and said that if he was still alive, he would have stopped writing or gone to jail. A prolific translator and biting satirist, his works are established classics still popular today, required reading in both Chinese and Japanese schools but were banned in Taiwan for almost 50 years. A penetrating social critic often compared to Nietzsche, he was a "champion of common humanity,” an amplifier and translator of ancient wisdom into modern idiom.

Will (and Ariel) Durant
1885 – 1981 CE

(91 quotes)

Much more than ivory-tower, intellectual academics, Will and Ariel Durant worked to put the lessons of history into practical lessons useful for average people. He worked for women’s right to vote, equal wages, better working conditions for American labor, and wrote a “Declaration of Interdependence,” that was read into the Congressional Record and started a movement against racial intolerance 10 years before the Civil Rights Movement. Writing “the most successful historiographical series in history,” and awarded a Pulitzer Prize for literature as well as the Presidential Medal of Freedom, he critiqued the West’s “fatal error of perspective:” Eurocentrism, intolerance and provincialism.

Will Durant
1885 – 1981 CE
Philosophy apostle and popularizer of history's lessons

(289 quotes)

Apostle for philosophy, Catholic priest vocation drop-out, socialist reporter, librarian, professor who quit so he could marry his much younger 15 year-old student who became his 68-year married wife; Durant became not just an ivory-tower intellectual and academic but someone who put the lessons of history into practical lessons useful for average people. He worked for women’s right to vote, equal wages, better working conditions for American labor, and wrote a "Declaration of Interdependence,” that was read into the Congressional Record and started a movement against racial intolerance 10 years before the Civil Rights Movement. Writing “the most successful historiographical series in history,” and awarded a Pulitzer Prize for literature as well as the Presidential Medal of Freedom, he critiqued the West’s “fatal error of perspective:” Eurocentrism, intolerance and provincialism.

Arnold Toynbee
1889 – 1975 CE

(13 quotes)

Philosopher of history, international affairs expert, research professor, and prolific author; Toynbee was the the world’s most translated, read, and discussed scholar for much of the 20th century. He wrote hundreds of books and articles translated into more than 30 languages. Applying his insights from studying history to modern political problems, he became a delegate to the 1919 Paris Peace Conference, worked in the British Foreign Intelligence Office, and held a long-term position at the London School of Economics. His historical studies led to persuasive theories about how civilizations arise as a response to extreme challenges by "creative minorities" and how these solutions change the course of cultural evolution. Believing that civilizations most often die from suicide rather than invasion or natural causes, he describes the process of how civil-success leads the people and leaders to a kind of complacency full of nationalism, militarism, and oppressive tyranny.



Ruth Fuller Sasaki
1892 – 1967 CE

(2 quotes)

First foreigner to become a priest in a Japanese Rinzai Zen temple, only woman yet to be a Daitoku-ji temple priest, and pioneering welcomer of Buddhism into the USA; Sasaki was an early student of yoga and Eastern philosophy during the 1920’s. She translated herself and—supervising a team including Gary Snyder—initiated many of the first translations of important Zen texts into English. Student of D. T. Suzuki, mother-in-law to Alan Watts, married to Zen master Sokei-an; she created places for people to practice, provided texts, and helped open the door for most of the early American Zen practitioners.

Paul Reps
1895 – 1990 CE

(1 quotes)

Author, artist, and early Western haiku poet; Paul Reps became a major welcoming influence for Zen coming to America

Lín Yǔtáng 林語堂
1895 – 1976 CE

(89 quotes)

One of the most influential writers of his time, translator, linguist, journalist, inventor, and nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature; Lin Yutang worked hard to bridge the divides between East and West. He invented and built a Chinese typewriter, romanized the Chinese language, helped publish a Chinese-English dictionary, and brought Chinese culture and wisdom into the Western world’s awareness. Many of his classic Chinese translations became bestsellers helping to popularize Chinese philosophy. A prolific writer, he published magazines, wrote innumerable essays, and his books include more than 14 in Chinese and more than 30 in English. Born into a Christian minister’s family, he later studied and followed Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism but returned to a Christian path in his 60’s.

Jorge Luis Borges
1899 – 1986 CE
Literary Explorer of Labyrinthian Dreams, Mirrors, and Mythologies

(30 quotes)

Argentinian, pioneering poet, translator, librarian, lecturer, and short-story writer; Borges helped begin the magical realism style of literature. A world traveler and completely blind by the time he was 55 years old, his lack of external sight contributed to his vast and colorful worlds of imagination. He wrote many and popularized the style of writing commentaries on imaginary books and biographies of imaginary authors. A harsh critic of Juan Perón and his wife, Evita, he described in detail their private lives of corruption as well as their effective propaganda, "tales and fables made for consumption by dolts." After he died, Peronist leaders wouldn't even accept him as an Argentine.

Arthur Waley
1899 – 1969 CE

(7 quotes)

East to West ambassador, remarkable Chinese and Japanese translator called a "great transmitter of the high literary cultures of China and Japan,” sinologist, and poet in his own right; Waley’s poetic translations based on understanding not just the words but the sense as well, pioneered a new understanding and appreciation of oriental philosophy in the west. His Tao Te Ching translation, The Way and Its Power is one of the best older version translations with clear and insightful commentaries.

Wing-tsit Chan 陳榮捷
1901 – 1994 CE

(9 quotes)

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.

Gendün Chöphel དགེ་འདུན་ཆོས་འཕེལ།
1903 – 1951 CE

(5 quotes)

Child prodigy, iconoclast, artist, master debater, greatest Tibetan poet of the 20th century, Buddhist monk from an early age, modern Tibet’s first historian, and one of the most influential modern Tibetan intellectuals; Gendun Chopel kept a non-sectarian view throughout his life and challenged cultural, religious, and political dogmas. He lived with Nicholas and Helena Roerich for 2 years helping their son translate the Blue Annals which became a 1275 page book. He abandoned his monastic vows, drank alcohol, practiced and wrote the first Tibetan guide to love and sex. Having traveled and studied widely, he realized the importance of abandoning blind superstition and integrating Tibetan culture into the modern world. Instead of heading his warnings and developing Tibet in this way however, the conservative, status quo establishment had him whipped and imprisoned, ignored his message until the Chinese army arrived in Lhasa.

Isaiah Berlin
1909 – 1997 CE
"the world's greatest talker"

(20 quotes)

Philosopher, political theorist, translator and historian; Berlin lived in Petrograd when he was six during the Russian revolutions of 1917 and then moved to the UK. A star student, he translated famous books from Russian into English and joined the Diplomatic Service during World War II. Highly respected for his lifetime of defending civil liberties, pluralism, and liberal theory; he also became a strong and lasting voice against Communism. With penetrating insight he applied the lessons of history to modern-day problems like nationalism, totalitarianism, racism, and religious bigotry.

John Blofeld
1913 – 1987 CE

(12 quotes)

When very young, Blofeld came upon a statue of the Buddha and the experience changed his life redirecting it toward the East where he taught and traveled throughout Hong Kong, Tibet, Mongolia, China, India, and Burma. Many of these experiences were before the Cultural Revolution in China so offer a rare glimpse into that pre-Communist world. While studying and practicing with famous Chan and Vajrayana masters like Hsu Yun and Dudjom Rinpoche, he wrote 18+ books that have had a singular and deep influence bringing Eastern insights and practices to the West.

Thomas Merton
1915 – 1968 CE

(18 quotes)

Mystic, Trappist monk, and friend of Thich Nhat Hanh, Chogyam Trungpa, the Dalai Lama, and D.T. Suzuki; Merton championed social justice issues, the civil rights movement, and ending the nuclear arms race. Writing more than 70 books, he continually studied and practiced not only Christian mysticism but also Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism, Jainism, Sufism, and Native American spirituality. In 2015 Pope Francis called him, “a thinker who challenged the certitudes of his time and opened new horizons… a man of dialogue, a promoter of peace between peoples and religions.”

Ralph Alan Dale
1920 – 2006 CE
Translator, author, visionary

(16 quotes)

(1920-2006)

Conductor, composer, clinician, acupuncturist, researcher and prolific writer of over 70 books and videos; Dale translated the Tao Te Ching into verse and wrote a deeply thought-through chapter-by-chapter commentary applying Lao Tzu's wisdom to modern day challenges. In his profession, his writing, and in his life; he seems to both understand the deeper Tao Te Ching messages as well as develop insightful ways of incorporating this wisdom into solutions for modern political, cultural, and social challenges. While not minimizing modern confusions, he stays positive and optimistic, predicts new evolutionary cultural realizations, the actualization of Taoist visions of wholeness and harmony.

Ursula Le Guin
1929 – 2018 CE

(72 quotes)

At an early age, Le Guin saw her father making notes in an old book. In this way she discovered Lao Tzu who became a lifelong teacher and companion. Her father, a famous cultural anthropologist also exposed her to the native American shamanistic traditions. This led to a prolific and influential literary career with works translated into 31 languages and winning 21 Locus, 6 Nebula, 5 Hugo, a Newbery and World Fantasy, many “year's best” and other awards. Not just entertaining, these books challenged and positively shaped modern views on race, gender, society and the environment.

Peter Bien
1930 CE –


Although in his 90's, Bien continues in his excellent work of translating Greek writers particular Nikos Kazantakis—into contemporary and understandable English. With a distinguished academic background, became a professor of Comparative Literature for 36 years at Dartmouth College where he was known as the "cat-in-the-hat professor" because his position was endowed by Dr. Seuss.

Shan Dao 山道
1933 CE –

(80 quotes)

Translator, entrepreneur, farmer, engineer, inventor, house-holder, and single father; Shan Dao grew up in a remote but culturally diverse village. Alienated from the materialism and militarism of his environment, he was drawn toward a spiritual path and at 4 years old began experiencing at first a mystical Christianity and later one more in harmony with Doestoevesky and Teilhard de Chardin. He practiced at first Rinzai and later Soto Zen, Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism, and a Rimé Shambhala tradition which led to an immersion in the Tao Te Ching and the deep wisdom streams hidden but flowing in our many different religious cultures.

Chögyam Trungpa
1939 – 1987 CE

(224 quotes)

A once-in-a-generation kind of teacher, a mahasiddha for our times, a transducer transforming ancient wisdom into modern idiom. Per Allen Ginsberg, “A Renaissance man of the highest peaks of East, meditation emperor, space awareness Dance-master, witty rude calligrapher whose poetry and flower arrangements unite the Mind with Body… Prime Minister of Imagination… Chairman of the Board of Directors of Ordinary Mind.” Meditation master, scholar, teacher, poet, artist, he was honored as a mahasiddha by teachers like Khyentse Rinpoche and the 16th Karmapa. “The father of Tibetan Buddhism in the US,” his influence was and remains beyond words.

Red Pine ( Bill Porter)
1943 CE –
Exceptional translator, cultural diplomat

(41 quotes)

Son of a bank robber turned politician who became the wealthy head of the California democratic party, friends with the Kennedys and nominated for president by Eleanor Roosevelt but who later lost everything; Red Pine at an early age saw through the materialism of western culture and left the US for 22 years to study, practice, and translate in the Far East. After studying with John Wu, John Blofeld, and Chiang Kai-Shek’s personal master, Wu Ming, he traveled through Mainland China documenting his adventures with details about Chinese culture and history on over 1100 radio programs for Chinese audiences. His translations sink through the words, find the essence, and bubble the meaning up into beautiful and vivid English.

Jack Weatherford
1945 CE –

(12 quotes)

Jack Weatherford (1945 - )
Anthropologist, specialist in tribal histories and cultures, and deep thinker about the events and influences of historical events; Weatherford has worked hard uncovering the histories re-written by the victors like the many positive influences of American Indians on US culture, politics, medicine, agriculture, and ecology. This extended to the indigenous cultures of Bolivia, the Amazon, Mongolia and many other little known cultures. For this kind of work, he was awarded Mongolia’s highest national honor for foreigners.

Robin Kornman
1947 – 2007 CE
Scholar, translator, Bodhisattva


Co-director of the first retreat center in the usa that Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche set up in 1970 (Tail of the Tiger, name later changed by HH Karmpapa XVI to Karmê Chöling), co-founder Nalanda Translation Group, university professor, and one of the world's experts on the Gesar of Ling literature; Kornman began translation work on this famous Tibet oral epic in the 1980's and continued this focus until his untimely death in 2007 (because of asbestos exposure caused cancer when he was young). He devoted his life to helping others by teaching, challenging, and humorous but deeply insightful commentary.

Daniel Ladinsky
1948 CE –
Wisdom lineage poetic channeler

(1 quotes)

American poet, translator, and interpreter; Ladinsky lived for 20 years in a Meher Baba spiritual community in India while working in free rural health clinics. Basing his work mainly on Rumi and Hafiz, he describes them not as translations but as interpretations and renderings faithful to the spirit though not to the words of these original sources. Frequently licensed and quoted by Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim and Sufi leaders and organizations, and translated into many languages; his books maintain international best-selling status.

Thomas Cleary
1949 CE –

(12 quotes)

Translator of over 80 books from 8 different languages, Cleary mainly focused on translating Buddhist, Taoist, Confucian and Muslim classics never translated into English. Motivated by his own spiritual path and interest in Eastern wisdom and although credential in the scholastic world with a PhD from Harvard and a JD from Berkeley, he shunned the security of academic and institutional roles staying independent and shunning academic cliques, organized education, sectarian allegiance, and anything with shades of a cult. More recently his interests involve Comparative Constitutional Law and he has translated Gallic law texts written in Old Irish with the intention to help the American legal system evolve past its difficulties adapting to our ever-changing new technological world.

B. Alan Wallace (Bruce Alan Wallace)
1950 CE –

(8 quotes)

Translator, Tibetan Buddhist scholar, professor, and consciousness-studying scientist; Alan Wallace blended his 14 years as a monk and ordination by the 14th Dalai Lama with his scientific, research projects into understanding the nature of mind. He’s written 19+ books, many articles and papers, and translated innumerable Buddhist scriptures into understandable modern texts. However, his inclinations tend to gravitate more toward the words than the sense, the belief rather than the personal experience.

Eva Wong
(c. 1951- )
Champion of Qigong, Fengshui, and a Taoist approach to health and healing

(6 quotes)

Born in Hong Kong and growing up hiking and meditating in the mountains of the New Territories, Eva Wong connected with Taoism at an early age and became a translator and author of many books on Taoist arts, qigong, and fengshui. She began studying Tibetan Buddhism when only 7 years old and is the 19th generation lineage carrier of Xiantianwujimen Taoism (the Pre-celestial Limitless Gate School). She practices several Chinese Fengshui systems and consults on applying these principles for personal homes, commercial sites, and spiritual centers. In this tradition, she also specializes in qigong, divination, and the I Ching. Taking to heart the Taoist principles of simplicity, anonymity, and selflessness; she insists she is not a teacher, doesn’t publish pictures of herself, and doesn’t give out personal details like her birth date.

Amy Tan
1952 CE –
Rock and roll singer, bartender, and insightfully talented author

(13 quotes)

Rock and roll lead singer (in a band with Stephen King and Dave Barry), carhop, bartender, pizza maker, and insightfully talented author; Amy Tan has given the world memorable characters and a blended, wise view of world culture. A vivid example of how intense problems can transform into the evolution of goodness and wisdom, she had faced and transmuted challenges arising from a domineering, suicidal mother who once held a knife to her throat threatening to kill her, the murder of a college roommate, serious depression, and misdiagnosed Lyme disease that led to epileptic seizures. Exemplifying Einstein’s quote, “Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds,” critics have accused her of perpetuating racial stereotypes, pandering to Western prejudices, and “casting Chinese men in the worst possible light.” If no negative reaction to a work of literature, it’s probably very insipid, meaningless, and not worth the time reading.

Peter Kingsley
1953 CE –

(17 quotes)

Sufi, mystic, author, philosopher, scholar; Kingsley describes a "flowering of consciousness” and the birth/beginning of western civilization during the pre-Socratic Greek period based on the influence of Parmenides and Empedocles. He describes Parmenides' nameless goddess who uses words as esoteric seeds and paradoxical divine logic to reveal unity and reality’s oneness. These seminal Orphic and Pythagorean views later distorted by Plato and Aristotle show remarkable similarities to early Buddhist, Taoist, and shamanistic traditions; modern Vedanta, Zen, and Dzogchen.

Charles Muller
1953 CE –


Tao Te Ching translator, American professor at a Japanese university, founder of an online Buddhist digital dictionary, Karate adept and an early pioneer in developing digital Buddhist resources with a focus on the Korean and Yogacara approaches; Muller also includes theological, Daoist, Confucian, Indian Buddhist and Zen approaches to his work. A strong influence in the field of Digital Humanities, his online publications include bibliographies, translations, reference works, and lexicons and his research extends into the fields of psychology, political and cognitive science.

Ramsay, Kwok, Palmer
1958 CE –
Translators of Tao Te Ching


Yi-Ping Ong
1978 CE –

(9 quotes)

Yi-Ping Ong (c. 1978 - )

Johns Hopkins Assistant Professor, moral and political philosopher, author, human rights activist, and NGO volunteer director; Yi-Ping Ong helped republish the Charles Muller’s translation of the Tao Te Ching and added insightful notes on the chapters, the historical context, and the influence on both Chinese and world culture. A short story she wrote was chosen as one of the 100 Distinguished Stories of 2003 and her Ph.D. dissertation received a major Harvard University award. Although an academic who attended Columbia, Oxford, and Harvard Universities and is now a university professor; her groundedness in the simplicity of Lao Tzu’s vision seems to maintain an allegiance to the sense over the words, reality over ambition, and wu wei over dualistic gaining ideas.

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Quotes about the Translators Lineage (4 quotes)

“Human language is too gross a vehicle of thought—thought being incapable of absolute translation... as there can be no translation from one language into another which will not scant the meaning somewhat, or enlarge upon it, so there is no language which can render thought without a jarring and a harshness somewhere”

Samuel Butler 1835 – 1902 CE
Iconoclastic philosopher, artist, composer, author, and evolutionary theorist
from Erewhon

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“There are few efforts more conducive to humility than that of the translator trying to communicate an incommunicable beauty. Yet, unless we do try, something unique and never surpassed will cease to exist except in the libraries of a few inquisitive book lovers.”

Edith Hamilton 1867 – 1963 CE

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“The original is unfaithful to the translation.”

Jorge Luis Borges 1899 – 1986 CE
Literary Explorer of Labyrinthian Dreams, Mirrors, and Mythologies

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“A work of literature survives because of translations, interpretations, which are, in fact, resurrections: without them, there would be no work.”

Octavio Paz 1914 – 1998 CE
Persuasive poet and convincing social commentator

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Comments (3)

  1. Shan Dao
    Shan Dao 6 years ago
    There are very few if any "original thoughts." Philosophers, theologians, scientists, politicians and everyday-people mainly just translate, put something they’ve read or heard into their own words. "Translators" only differ by being more honest about it by giving credit to a previous thinker. The rest just plagiarize claiming the thoughts as their own.
  2. Shan Dao
    Shan Dao 6 years ago
    Something is always lost in a translation but often something better lost. Like pruning a bonsai tree, at different times, different kinds of cuts and influences become important.
  3. Shan Dao
    Shan Dao 6 years ago
    Translating becomes a habit that we start applying to everything we read or hear or think; making slight adjustments and changes, cropping, amplifying, and moving. It’s time for us all to become translators.