Note 9 — Chapter XVI · Myths and Doctrines of Taoism

When the Rev. Dr. Chalmers of Canton translated the Taoist Texts into English in 18689, he wrote: “I have thought it better to leave the word ‘Tao’ untranslated, both because it has given the name to the sect—the Taoists—and because no English word is its exact equivalent. Three terms suggest themselves—‘the Way’, ‘Reason’, and ‘the Word’; but they are all liable to objection. Were we guided by etymology, ‘the Way’ would come nearest to the original, and in one or two passages the idea of a Way seems to be in the term; but this is too materialistic to serve the purpose of a translation. ‘Reason’ again seems to be more like a quality or attribute of some conscious Being than Tao is. I would translate it by ‘the Word’ in the sense of the Logos, but this would be like settling the question which I wish to leave open, viz. what amount of resemblance there is between the Logos of the New Testament and this Tao, which is its nearest representative in Chinese.”