#laozi

Doğanın konuşması duyulmaz Deli rüzgar sabaha kadar sürmez Yağmur sağanağı bir gün bile dayanmaz Ama kimdir bu rüzgarı ve yağmuru yaratan? Yer ve Gök. Bir şey var ki, ondan kaos meydana geldi Gökten ve yerden önce de vardı Tek başına ve sessiz, sonsuz, uçsuz, bucaksız Kendi başına ve başkalaşmadan Sürekli hareket halinde ve yılmadan Göklerin anası da diyebiliriz ona Adını bilmiyorum Ona Tao adını verdim. Nitelemem gerektiği için de Ona "yüce" diyorum Yüce, çünkü o sürekli akmaktadır. (Laozi, MÖ. 6. yy.)

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There are hundreds of translations of the Tao Te Ching. My favorite one is by Alexander Ular, in German, from 1903, which is still known and considered relevant (and also controversial) in German-speaking countries, but was never translated into English. I have long wanted to do it, and now I did — here it is:

https://dunyazad-library.net/authors/alexander-ular.htm

I do not speak a word of Chinese and do not claim to offer a new translation of the Tao Te Ching. I have translated Alexander Ular’s text as faithfully as I could, without being able to assess how close, or not, it comes to the ancient Chinese original — but it has always been Ular’s German version that has fascinated me, and to which I wanted to give a wider audience.

Ular’s German text is very difficult to translate — I did my best, but if you can suggest any improvements or otherwise want to comment, I'd be happy to hear from you.