Lao Tzu - Tao te Ching : Power for the Peaceful

A new translation

by

Marc S. Mullinax

Fortress Press

Minneapolis

TAO TE CHING

Power for the Peaceful

Copyright 2021 Fortress Press, an imprint of 1517 Media. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical articles or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Email or write to Permissions, Fortress Press, PO Box 1209, Minneapolis, MN 55440-1209.

Unless otherwise indicated, scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture quotations marked American Standard Version are from the American Standard Version.

Scripture quotations marked The Message are from THE MESSAGE, copyright 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, a Division of Tyndale House Ministries.

Scripture quotations marked New International Version are from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.

Scripture quotations marked Amplified Bible taken from the Amplified Bible (AMPC), copyright 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation Used by permission. www.Lockman.org.

Cover design: Rob Dewey

Print ISBN: 978-1-5064-6986-7

eBook ISBN: 978-1-5064-6987-4

For Hazel, through whom Tao shines

This long journey of ten thousand translation miles started in 1974 when my East Asian history professor Jim Lenburg introduced me to Tao Te Ching in a college course on Chinese history. A few years later, when I first taught and lived in Korea, Ms. Woo Geum-Ok () was my classical Chinese teacher, and I am especially indebted to her patient insistence on quality work. There, I first taught Tao Te Ching, using my newly acquired Chinese character work in the class. Since then, I have read and taught this text in Daejeon and Seoul, South Korea, and Mars Hill, North Carolina, USA.

Over the years, Tao Te Ching translated to me a worldview and spiritual reality different than what I encountered anywhere else. Finally, in 2017, I began to translate Tao Te Ching for my context, at a time when I took on new leadership at Mars Hill University. I was joyfully engagedrivetedby this text that kept offering timely reminders of the wonderfully subversive power of Wu-wei and yin-yang balance when serving the faculty during a hard transitional time.

I offer first my deepest thanks to my partner, Grace, for helping me find the space and time for this good work. The following people have read early drafts and made edits, corrections, and contributions both notable and careful: Sharon Bigger, Virginia Bower, Brian Graves, Glenn Graves, John Gripentrog, Beth Honeycutt, Jimmy Knight, Stephanie McLeskey, Allen Mullinax, Dale Roberts, Seamus Robertson, Nancy Hastings Sehested, Mahan Siler, Bryony Smith, John Snell, and Walter Ziffer. Chad Holts critiques have been especially fermentive and led directly to the Notes and Reflections becoming a key part of this work.

Rebecca Gahagan offered needed hospitality and reflective space to bring this effort to completion. Thank you.

I am deeply indebted to Joyce Hollydays careful copyediting. Her work has rendered every paragraph clearer to read and easier to grasp.

Fortress Presss vision and mission have taken this work across the finish line. At once professional and understanding in approach, Will Bergkamps vision for this work has enlarged my own understanding of the relevance and power for peace that Tao actually conveys to readers today. I am deeply indebted to his imagination on how Tao engages us on so many levels. Thank you. Elvis Ramirez and his team of copyeditors were also deeply involved. Their efficient competence has astounded me again and again.

The individual efforts of this great cloud of witnesses and partners have rendered this a truly collective work. If any imprecisions or mistakes remain, I have managed to achieve them singlehandedly.

These are living teachings, discussions to be had, not just ancient riddles preserved in a jar.

Seamus Robertson