Sam Hamill

Si a todos los poetas, pintores y escritores chinos que han vivido les preguntaran cuál había sido su lectura favorita, la ganadora sería, sin duda, la obra del Maestro Chuang. El libro que acabó conociéndose bajo el título de Chuang Tse, es una antología del pensamiento taoísta temprano. Junto con Lao Tse, el también semilegendario Chuang Tse es el máximo representante del taoísmo, el maestro de maestros. En alguna medida, se le puede identificar con el filósofo Chuang Chou (369-286 a. C.), autor de una parte del libro; sin embargo, al igual que Homero o el propio Lao Tse, constituye también la encarnación mítica de una antiquísima corriente de pensamiento, plasmada en fragmentos dispersos de depurada sabiduría que fueron configurando, a lo largo del tiempo, una obra canónica. Sea cual fuere su inescrutable origen, lo cierto es que este libro es el que más ha influido en los poetas, artistas y filósofos chinos de todos los tiempos, superando en importancia a los legendarios I Ching y Tao Te Ching.

The Chuang Tzu has been translated into English numerous times, but never with the freshness, accessibility, and accuracy of this remarkable rendering. Here the immediacy of Chuang Tzus language is restored in a idiom that is both completely fresh and true to the original text. This unique collaboration between one of Americas premier poet-translators and a leading Chinese scholar presents the so-called "Inner Chapters" of the text, along with important selections from other chapters thought to have been written by Chuang Tzus disciples.

Part poetry, part paradox, always stirring and profound, Lao Tzus Tao Te Ching has been inspiring readers since it was written over two thousand years ago. This masterpiece is also one of the most frequently translated books in all of history, in part because the multiple meanings of the Chinese characters make it impossible to translate into a Western language in a strictly literal way. For this reason, many translations are either too loosely interpretive or are too overloaded with notes, thereby losing the clarity of the terse poetry found in the original Chinese. The extraordinary strength of Sam Hamills translation is that it has captured the poetry of Lao Tzus original without sacrificing the resonance of the texts many meanings and possible interpretations. The result is a beautiful and deeply meditative rendering, one that is a delight to read over and over again. Accompanying Sam Hamills translation are seventeen Chinese characters brushed by one of the great masters of calligraphy, Kazuaki Tanahashi. Hamill provides a comment for each character, giving the reader a fuller sense of the richness of the original text and insight into the process of translation itself.