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  • The Four Chinese Classics: Tao Te Ching, Chuang Tzu, Analects, Mencius by David Hinton book cover
  • The Four Chinese Classics: Tao Te Ching, Chuang Tzu, Analects, Mencius by David Hinton book cover
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The Four Chinese Classics: Tao Te Ching, Chuang Tzu, Analects, Mencius

by David Hinton

Four foundational texts of Chinese thought in one volume

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AlbakiReads Editorial

Four foundational texts of Chinese thought in one volume

David Hinton brings together the Tao Te Ching, the Analects, the Chuang Tzu, and the Mencius, giving readers a single volume that spans different strands of Chinese philosophy and social thought. The collection sets the Tao Te Ching’s Taoist foundations alongside the Analects’ teachings on social wisdom. The Chuang Tzu offers a prose counterpart to the Tao Te Ching, while the Mencius develops further the Confucian vision associated with the Analects. Hinton’s translations also use consistent renderings of key philosophical terms, linking ideas across the four works. Together, the texts provide several distinct points of entry into traditions that have shaped Chinese thought and influenced Zen Buddhism.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Readers seeking a single volume of classic Chinese philosophical texts.
  • Readers interested in Taoist thought, Confucian teachings, or the sources of Zen Buddhism.
  • Readers comparing different approaches to social wisdom and philosophy.

Themes

TaoismConfucian thoughtSocial wisdomChinese philosophyZen Buddhism

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Book overview

Discover 4 seminal masterworks of Chinese thought--Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching, the Analects of Confucius, the Chuang Tzu, and the Mencius--presented in one volume for the first time in nearly 2 centuries

Award-winning translator David Hinton offers fresh insights on the most influential texts on Taoism, Zen Buddhism, Chinese philosophy, and more

Hinton's award-winning experience translating a wide range of ancient Chinese poets makes these books sing in English as never before. But these new versions are not only inviting and immensely readable--they also apply much-needed consistency to key philosophical terms in these texts, lending structural links and philosophical rigor heretofore unavailable in English. Breathing new life into these classics, Hinton's new translations will stand as the definitive texts for our era.

Perhaps the most broadly influential spiritual text in human history, Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching is the source of Taoist philosophy, which eventually developed into Ch'an (Zen) Buddhism. Equally influential in the social sphere, Confucius' Analects is the source of social wisdom in China. The Chuang Tzu is the wild and wacky prose complement to the Tao Te Ching. And with its philosophical storytelling, the Mencius adds depth and complexity to Confucius' vision.
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