Here we get into the tricky territory of
so-called holy books, books which various organized religions take extremely seriously.
Though weighed down ocer the centuries by the barnacles of political and legalistic
interpolations, they all contain grains of, well, salt. To change the metaphor, reading
them is very much like panning for gold: one tiny glittering nugget turns up for every ton
of detritus. Some, of course, are better than others. They are arranged subjectively here,
in decreasing order of application as sources of saltlicks.
Original Teachings of Ch’an Buddhism. Chang Chung-Yuan. Vintage Books,
1971. Out of print.
Zen originated in China. The Japanese word "Zen" comes from the Chinese
"Chan," which means "sitting." The Zen which became known in the West
is very much a Japanese thing, with its rigid strictures, structures, and practices, far
from the open (and open-minded) guidelines in the early development in China. This book is
as close as you can come to the origins without being able to read the first texts in
Chinese.
Tao Te Ching. With the Bible, Shakespeare, and Marx, one of the most
translated books in the world. Adding to the usual problems of translating any serious
work is the fact that the Tao Te Ching is poetry. No one translation can even come
close to capturing the rich ambiguities of the Chinese text. Reading several English
versions side by side gets you closer to the original.
A quick way to check a translation: Look at the first line of Chapter 63. The Chinese is:"wei wu wei,"
which literally means "act not act." It's the
central paradox of the entire work. And obviously even a Chinese reader is hard put to
begin explaining the line.
For your entertainment, here's a sample of various englishings of that little statement:
"Act without acting."
"Act through nonaction."
"Act in repose."
"Do that which is done by not doing."
"Do the Non-Ado."
"Whoever practices non-action occupies himself with being occupied."
Te Tao Ching. Translated by Robert G.
Henricks. Ballantine, 1989. Now available in a Modern Library edition.
For general use, Henricks’ matter-of-fact translation will serve. What’s
he’s done is take the poetry out of the poetry, which is like taking the feeling out
of sex.
A helpful appendix contains a word-by-word translation, including comments on terms which
have caused special difficulties for translators. With Chinese text.
The Henricks title is Te Tao Ching, because it is based on the Ma-wang-tui texts,
the oldest known versions, discovered in 1973, in which the two divisions of the work
("Tao" and "Te") are in reverse order.
Tao Teh Ching. Translated by John. C.H. Wu. Shambhala, 1989 (originally
published 1961). With Chinese text.
A carefully considered and re-considered version.
Tao Te Ching. Translated by Stephen Mitchell. Harper, 1992.
The most poetically inspired of the modern renderings.
Tao Te Ching. Translated by James Legge. Originally published 1891, still in
print in various editions.
Dhammapada. Translated by Eknath Easwaran. Nilgiri, 1986.
One of the less historically polluted collections of the sayings of Buddha. Bear in mind,
the Buddhist canon is much like the Christian in that centuries of accretions, revisions,
and interpolations make it almost impossible to know what the historical Buddha might have
actually said (or done).
The Zen Teaching of Bodhidharma. Translated by Red Pine. North Point Press, 1989.
Bodhidharma is the semi-legendary figure from India who brought Buddhism to China in the
third century. He wrote nothing. These transcriptions of his talks survive.
Talmud.
Sufi tales. Any of the collections compiled by Idries Shah.
Bhagavad-Gita.
Psalms.
Zen and Zen Classics, Vol. 1. Translated by R.H. Blyth. Tuttle, 1988.
Includes a line-by-line translation and commentary on the Hsin Hsin Ming.
Chuang-Tzu.
Dark Night of the Soul. Juan de la Cruz.
The Perennial Philosophy. Aldous Huxley.
The Flight of the Eagle. Krishnamurti.
Zen Flesh, Zen Bones.
The Gospel According to Zen. Ed. Robert Sohl and Audrey Carr. New American
Library, 1970.
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