Interactive Daodejing Audiobook with Seal Script Translation

[Lao Tzunami]

If you can't tell by my username, I love Daoism (also spelled Taoism)! I created this interactive UI so I can listen to Wayne Dyer's translation while studying the meaning of the original Chinese. I also included small seal script which is an older version of Chinese that was more pictorial, and my favorite kind of calligraphy.

https://new.observablehq.com/@laotzunami/daodejing-in-seal-script

I have a big work project coming up, and since I'm entirely self-taught, I created this partly to brush up on UI design. I'm still working on this project and would love any feedback.

I hope this connects you to this timeless wisdom from ancient China. Daoism is the only philosophy I know that specifically studies feminine virtue, with Confucianism being the traditional masculine counterpart.

 

[John K]

I love the idea of this @Lao Tzunami - I’ve been a fan of the Tao Te Ching for a long while. The only version I knew for many years is the Gia-Fu Feng translation, brilliantly illustrated with the minimalist photos of Jane English. It's fascinating to see its relationship with the earlier but maybe more organic I Ching - organic in the sense that it evolved over many centuries rather than being attributed to just one author. And just as fascinating to see how it influenced the evolution of Buddhism in China and then Japan. I'm afraid I've never looked very deeply into these relationships, but they are there maybe in the way Zen is expressed.

One of my my favourite chapters of the Tao Te Ching is number 11.

 

[Asa]

Wow! Love this! Very cool.

 

[Lao Tzunami]

One of my my favourite chapters of the Tao Te Ching is number 11.

That's my favorite too!

I found out about Daoism from Jonathan Blow's game, The Witness. in the game, you travel around an island solving puzzles. There are little audio logs you can find, and my favorite was Chapter 11 from the Daodejing, so I read the whole thing.

 

[John K]

That's my favorite too!

I found out about Daoism from Jonathan Blow's game, The Witness. in the game, you travel around an island solving puzzles. There are little audio logs you can find, and my favorite was Chapter 11 from the Daodejing, so I read the whole thing.