The Tao Te Ching is translated as ‘The Classic Book of Integrity and the Way’ by Victor Mair, a wonderful Chinese scholar of the Tao. Next to the Bible and the Hindu Bhagavad Gita, the Tao Te Ching is the most translated book in the world, according to Mair. He also pointed out that over a hundred different renditions of the Taoist classic have been made into English alone. The Tao Te Ching is considered by most scholars to be the fundamental text of philosophical and mystical/religious Taoism. Its authors is popularly said to be Lao Zi, but closer to the truth, is the fact that it was written by a number of people over a period of three centuries (circa 650-350 B.C.) Continue reading “Lao Zi and the Tao Te Ching”
Tiong Ah Leng, a trader on the street in front of my block of apartments had a bundle of joss sticks clasped tightly in his hands. His eyes closed, he bowed in staccato motions facing the full moon, while cars whizzed up and down the major highway. An incongruous sight even in Kuala Lumpur, where sights and sounds never fail to amaze me daily. I have been living here for over a month and each day, I sense that I am re-entering my childhood of a Malaysia forty years ago. Some things never change. One of these is the full moon in August. The other is the festival of hungry ghosts. During this lunar year, the two almost coincided.