Lao Zi's great Chinese philosophical classic, Dao De Jing, serves as the inspiration for a new book, The Path and Its Power, by Walcott-Bartlett Professor of Religious Studies Jay G. Williams '54.
The Path and Its Power is not a translation of Lao Zi's Dao De Jing. "Rather it is a total restatement of the classic as though Lao Zi had been reborn to speak anew to the 21st century," according to the publisher. By using 81 short poems, Williams interprets the message of Dao De Jing for modern society through the voice of Lao Zi himself as he reflects on current personal and political conflicts.
Intrigued by the Dao de Jing since college, Williams aims to provide his "own understanding of the work as whole." In The Path and Its Power, Williams offers his own personal reflections about the Dao de Jing and the role it plays in the present day.
Williams is the Walcott-Bartlett Professor of Religious Studies at Hamilton and has been teaching about Chinese thought for 40 years. He has extensively applied his philosophical understanding to the thought of both west and East Asia, having published articles on the I Ching, The Confucian Analects, the Tao Teh Ching, and the Lotus Sutra.
The Path and Its Power is not a translation of Lao Zi's Dao De Jing. "Rather it is a total restatement of the classic as though Lao Zi had been reborn to speak anew to the 21st century," according to the publisher. By using 81 short poems, Williams interprets the message of Dao De Jing for modern society through the voice of Lao Zi himself as he reflects on current personal and political conflicts.
Intrigued by the Dao de Jing since college, Williams aims to provide his "own understanding of the work as whole." In The Path and Its Power, Williams offers his own personal reflections about the Dao de Jing and the role it plays in the present day.
Williams is the Walcott-Bartlett Professor of Religious Studies at Hamilton and has been teaching about Chinese thought for 40 years. He has extensively applied his philosophical understanding to the thought of both west and East Asia, having published articles on the I Ching, The Confucian Analects, the Tao Teh Ching, and the Lotus Sutra.
