The Sacred Chao Te Ching

[Cramulus]

ATTN: TAOISTS, ZENARCHISTS, EASTERN-THOUGHT SPAGS

This project is an attempt to re-translate the Tao Te Ching with a zenarchist/discordian bent. Anyone that enjoys this stuff is welcome to help. In the end, it'll be published as a Kopyleft PDF.

the project is taking place here: http://www.principiadiscordia.com/cramulus/index.php?title=Sacred_Chao_Te_Ching

if you edit, please make a login so we know who we're talking to.



ETA:
PDF HERE: http://www.scribd.com/doc/34652650/Chao-te-Ching

[LMNO]

So, are you suggesting a 1-to-1 rewording of the Tao te Ching?

Could be interesting.  I may be able to tackle one or two chapters.  Someone tell me what to transliterate, and I'll take a stab at it.

[Cramulus]

nah nothing so faithful as a 1-1 translation

it's more like, read a chapter of the Tao Te Ching, rewrite it how you want

It should feel basically the same, but -- edgier? sillier? funnier? more "relevant", I guess?  it's really up to you and what you get from the chapter.



the link above has the first translation block - the first ten chapters of the Tao Te Ching. If you feel like taking a stab at it, click Edit on the page, and fill in one of those areas where it says TK. (which is editor slang for "text to come") (yes I know that acronym doesn't work)


this idea is still very much in the conceptual stage, so don't worry about "doing it wrong".

[LMNO]

I'll take 4 and 7.

If work is slow, it'll be done by lunch.

[Roaring Biscuit!]

I started on chapter 2...  I have other ideas on that one, so maybe more later?

Though it seems so well written already, that I feel I'm doing a Bad Thing...

oh well...

[LMNO]

Ok, 4 is done.

Working on 7 now.

[LMNO]

Ok, done 7.  Not as happy with the last line.

Fuck it, I'll just start at the beginning, skipping two (for TSo).

Someone stop me if they think I'm being too pushy.


[edit]
Looks like someone's already tackling these.

Question: If we have a very different Idea of how it should go, should we just put an alternate version below it?
[/edit]

[LMNO]

oooh.  I want ch5!

[Cramulus]

Question: If we have a very different Idea of how it should go, should we just put an alternate version below it?

yeah, that'd be fine. Eventually we'll synthesize everybody's ideas into one coherent chapter. But at this stage it's not necessary to pick the "correct" translation. Just list everything and we'll cut  it up and remix it until it works.

I do advise people to look at a few different translations of each chapter. We don't want to be too loyal to one specific translation...  I've a link to an alternate translation at the top of the page, & will be adding more if I find good ones.

[LMNO]

Cool.  I've already done 4, 5, and 7.  I'll keep plugging away.

Question: my text doesn't seem to be registering my carriage returns.  Is there some trick I need to know?

[Cramulus]

Cool.  I've already done 4, 5, and 7.  I'll keep plugging away.

Question: my text doesn't seem to be registering my carriage returns.  Is there some trick I need to know?

just a quirk of media wiki formatting. Use a double-carriage return and it should show up.

If you want to format it like the current translated blocks, add a single space* before each line.



How are you enjoying this so far? Any thoughts on the translations? I've been muddling through, and I find it kind of refreshing. It's been a while since I looked at the Tao Te Ching, and I'm surprised at how well some of it lends itself to translation.

Chapter 2 and 5 are favorites of mine. Surely we can update those metaphors in poignant ways.
*read: spacebar, not carriage return

[Cramulus]

  I like your chapter 5

Life is unfair, wear a helmet.
The wise spag wears a helmet, but also drops hammers.

Chaos never ends!
Even its vacuum has a presence.
To struggle against it,
Is like pissing in the wind.

That's a great translation!
I had wrestled with the bellows metaphor - a Bellows probably isn't as common of an image today as it was in ancient china.

[LMNO]

Yeah, I'm having a pretty good time.

Just another application of the Lo5, innit?

[LMNO]

I like in ch9:

Temper the truth to its very sharpest,
and you will cut both friend and foe.

[Roaring Biscuit!]

if you wanna finish of chapter 2 then feel free, I really can't think of a way of updating the rest of the original with anything that I would find more relevant/meaningful.

x