![]() ![]() Mitchell chose 64 chapters, each including a text and commentary. ![]() $25.95), consists of adaptations from the work of two ancient Chinese scholars: Chuang-tzu, a Laotzu disciple, and Tzu-ssu, Confucius’ grandson. Mitchell’s new book, “The Second Book of the Tao” (Penguin Press: 202 pp. ![]() At the border, a guard asked him to write down his teachings. Legend has it that the 80-year-old, frustrated by his fellow man’s inability to follow the path of natural goodness and harmony, left China for Tibet. The original “Tao Te Ching” was written by Laotzu in the 6th century B.C. He is so in love with his wife and occasional co-author, Byron Katie, that references to her are inextricably woven into every aspect of his world. Today, he lives in Ojai, in a rambling, pristine house nestled in the hills, surrounded by gardens, pools and fountains. The New York Times ran a story on the front page of the business section after Harper & Row bought the book at auction with the headline: “Translation of Ancient Tao Text Brings $130,000.” Asked what he would do with the advance, Mitchell humbly told an interviewer he was hoping to find a workplace with heat. His 1988 translation has sold more than half a million copies. The Tao is Mitchell’s deep well, his Ganges. “If I’m a scholar, I’m an amateur,” says Stephen Mitchell, the soft-spoken translator of Rainer Maria Rilke and the book of Job as well as “Gilgamesh,” the “Bhagavad Gita” and his all-time favorite, the “Tao Te Ching” - “that marvel of lucidity and grace, the classic manual on the art of living.” ![]()
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