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Most accurate translation of Chang Tzu?

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Personally, I find that Legge is the most word for word in his translations, however, his old style of English can sometimes be confusing with certain word uses having meanings that they rarely do anymore. He usually puts words in brackets which were not in the original text but required to mean the same thing in English.

 

Maybe cross a Legge translation with a Watson translation for accuracy.

Edited by Harmonious Emptiness

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The Legge is one of the oldest of the translations though, and I have the feeling that he didn't really understand Taoist thought because he was a Christian missionary. However, if you're interested in a Christian mapping of Taoist thought, then Legge's translations may be of interest. Be careful, as missionaries tend to bias the translations so as to avoid glorifying other theological and philosophical systems.

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I don't know what "Chinese like" would mean, but here are some I enjoy. Many translations only include the first 7 (Inner) chapters, which are most likely to have been written by Zhuangzi himself.

 

Thomas Merton's abridged version is elegant and very clear for an American. He also chooses very judiciously outside the Inner Chapters and finds many gems there.

 

David Hinton's translation (Inner Chapters only) is tasty and includes translations of the clearly constructed names, which is unique.

 

Two new ones I haven't seen but look interesting, and I look forward to. Brook Ziporyn's is the latest and highly regarded, selections with commentaries from over the years.

http://www.amazon.com/Zhuangzi-Essential-Selections-Traditional-Commentaries/dp/0872209121/ref=sr_1_1

 

Livia Kohn, a highly regarded scholar and Daoist practitioner, also published in 2011 a "fresh, modern translation of key selections" called "Chuang-tzu: The Tao of Perfect Happiness." Chapter 1 is online:

http://liviakohn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Chapter1.pdf

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Two new ones I haven't seen but look interesting, and I look forward to. Brook Ziporyn's is the latest and highly regarded, selections with commentaries from over the years.

http://www.amazon.com/Zhuangzi-Essential-Selections-Traditional-Commentaries/dp/0872209121/ref=sr_1_1

 

I was wondering what this one was like. I've been looking for a commentary on ZZ for a little while now.

 

Livia Kohn, a highly regarded scholar and Daoist practitioner, also published in 2011 a "fresh, modern translation of key selections" called "Chuang-tzu: The Tao of Perfect Happiness." Chapter 1 is online:

http://liviakohn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Chapter1.pdf

 

Thanks for the link. I had my eye on this one as well and look forward to having a bit of a read of it.

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