Waterway: a new translation of the Tao Te Ching and introducing the Wu Wei Ching Kindle Edition

I have read several books on the Tao and this is the first one that makes sense.When you understand that you are creating your world, then whole new dimension of understanding will come.

I enjoyed this interpretation of the Tao Te Ching and the Wu Wei Ching. Thanks for all of your hard work author!

Reading it side-by-side with other translations, this author gives some really good alternative translations that were helpful. What was missing for me? Was commentary like it would’ve been really good if he had written the first verse and then explained why he translated it that way the way that verse has been translated by others. But all in all this book is a keeper for me.

Prof. Sartwell's rendition of Lao Tse is forceful yet playful, free of the sentimentality and self-helpishness that run through some versions. If you've found other translations/interpretations of the Tao Te Ching unsatisfying, give this one a try.

Excellent edition and I love Sartwell's treatment of Wu-Wei.

This translation goes to the grain; it aims you where you must and then lets go-- like a bow releasing an arrow.

I rarely write reviews as I do not often feel I have much to add that cannot be found in another review. But, this translation corrected something that has always bothered me about the other translations I have read of the Tao Te Ching (or whichever version they have gone with of the title). What irritated me is that the Tao presupposes, in my mind at least, both sides of any concept we generate, yet there always seems to be an emphasis given to one side of every dichotomy. Basically, Lao Tzu appears to favor emptiness, nothingness, nonaction etc. in almost all of the translations I have read. I figured that it was a manner of emphasizing what most people would not emphasize to drive the point home rhetorically; however, why wouldn't he simply say what he meant to say and be done with it? Why twist what does not need twisting? Perhaps Mr. Sartwell is correct, and it is just a reaction against Confucianism. Whatever the reason, this translation aligns better with my intuitive understanding of Taoism. The selections from Kuo Hsiang help to apply this understanding of Taoism to life in a more direct manner. I particularly appreciated the comment on those who mistake "wu wei as a prescription for laziness...That is not enlightenment. Act according to your capacity and nothing [will] be left undone." I think this version of Taoism is far more suitable for those of us not living a cloistered life. Perhaps I will prefer the Red Pine or Mitchell translation when my life is less active, but, for now, this is my favorite.

The bulk of the writings are compete cliches.They read as though they were written at a bar table by drunk football players!