A Sufi Commentary on the Tao Te Ching The Way and Its Virtue

In 1974, the oldest copy of Lao Tzu’ s Tao Te Ching was unearthed at Xi’ an along with the ceramic warriors guarding the tomb of the first Chinese Emperor Qin Shi Huang. By 1979, Professor Toshihiko Izutsu— the Japanese Islamicist, philosopher and linguist— collaborated in Tehran with Seyyed Hossein Nasr to translate this treasure into English. Dr. Nasr went on to put it into Persian adding a Sufi commentary which was recently published in Iran. This has now been translated into English with annotations by Mohammad H. Faghfoory. Imagine having a foundational world scripture like the Tao Te Ching explained by such a renowned Sufi scholar and internationally recognized spiritual authority as Dr. Syed H. Nasr. Passages whose subtleties are normally inaccessible to the Western mind become clear. Through Dr. Nasr’ s insightful use of verses from such Persian luminaries as Rumi, Hafiz, and Attar, the reader is introduced to the “ world” behind this world. The scholar recognized as the “ Father of World Religions” , Huston Smith, refers to the Tao Te Ching as a “ Testament to humanity’ s at-home-ness in the universe, [which] can be read in half an hour or a lifetime… .T

Jane Casewit holds a BA Honours degree from University of Durham (UK) and a Master’ s degree in education from Manchester University (UK) and Framingham University (Massachusetts). She studied in Paris and has extensive experience in translation with certificates in translation studies in French and Arabic. After teaching for many years in Morocco, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, she returned to Morocco and worked with the Ministry of Education promoting girls’ education and youth employment training. She has published several articles on traditional views of femininity. Mohammad H. Faghfoory is professor of Islamic Studies at the George Washington University and the director of the MA Program in Islamic Studies. In addition to advising graduate students' research and theses, he teaches courses on Qur'an and Hadith, Islamic Political Thought, Sufism, Islamic Philosophy and Theology, Shi‘ ite Islam, Islamic Art and Spirituality, Islam, and other related courses. Dr. Faghfoory has written, translated, and edited twelve books, numerous book chapters, articles, and book reviews (see Publications section for details). Toshihiko Izutsu (1914 – 1993) was a Japanese scholar who specialized in Islamic studies and comparative religion. He took an interest in linguistics at a young age, and came to know more than thirty languages, including Arabic, Hebrew, Turkish, Persian, Sanskrit, Pali, Hindustani, Russian, Greek, and Chinese. He is widely known for his translation of the Qur?an into Japanese. Seyyed Hossein Nasr, University Professor of Islamic Studies at the George Washington University, is an international authority on Islamic philosophy, mysticism, art, and science as well as comparative religion and religion and ecology. He is the author of dozens of books and hundreds of articles and the subject of a number of books, edited collections, and articles. A small sample of his recent publications include The Garden of Truth: The vision and Promise of Sufism (2007), Islam’ s Mystical Tradition (2007), Islam in the Modern World (2010), In Search of the Sacred (2010), and many more.

Contents Translator’ s Introduction 11 Remarks on the Title of this Work 14 Introduction to the Persian Translation and Commentary 15 BOOK ONE Chapter One 27 Chapter Two 30 Chapter Three 33 Chapter Four 35 Chapter Five 36 Chapter Six 38 Chapter Seven 39 Chapter Eight 41 Chapter Nine 44 Chapter Ten 46 Chapter Eleven 49 Chapter Twelve 50 Chapter Thirteen 52 Chapter Fourteen 54 Chapter Fifteen 57 Chapter Sixteen 60 Chapter Seventeen 63 Chapter Eighteen 65 Chapter Nineteen 66 Chapter Twenty 68 Chapter Twenty-One 71 Chapter Twenty-Two 73 Chapter Twenty-Three 76 Chapter Twenty-Four 78 Chapter Twenty-Five 80 Chapter Twenty-Six 83 Chapter Twenty-Seven 85 Chapter Twenty-Eight 87 Chapter Twenty-Nine 90 Chapter Thirty 92 Chapter Thirty-One 94 Chapter Thirty-Two 97 Chapter Thirty-Three 99 Chapter Thirty-Four 101 Chapter Thirty-Five 103 Chapter Thirty-Six 105 Chapter Thirty-Seven 107 BOOK TWO Chapter Thirty-Eight 111 Chapter Thirty-Nine 114 Chapter Forty 117 Chapter Forty-One 118 Chapter Forty-Two 121 Chapter Forty-Three 123 Chapter Forty-Four 124 Chapter Forty-Five 126 Chapter Forty-Six 128 Chapter Forty-Seven 130 Chapter Forty-Eight 132 Chapter Forty-Nine 134 Chapter Fifty 136 Chapter Fifty-One 138 Chapter Fifty-Two 140 Chapter Fifty-Three 143 Chapter Fifty-Four 145 Chapter Fifty-Five 148 Chapter Fifty-Six 151 Chapter Fifty-Seven 153 Chapter Fifty-Eight 156 Chapter Fifty-Nine 159 Chapter Sixty 161 Chapter Sixty-One 162 Chapter Sixty-Two 164 Chapter Sixty-Three 166 Chapter Sixty-Four 169 Chapter Sixty-Five 174 Chapter Sixty-Six 176 Chapter Sixty-Seven 178 Chapter Sixty-Eight 180 Chapter Sixty-Nine 183 Chapter Seventy 185 Chapter Seventy-One 187 Chapter Seventy-Two 188 Chapter Seventy-Three 190 Chapter Seventy-Four 192 Chapter Seventy-Five 194 Chapter Seventy-Six 196 Chapter Seventy-Seven 198 Chapter Seventy-Eight 200 Chapter Seventy-Nine 201 Chapter Eighty 203 Chapter Eighty-One 205