I offer my heartfelt thanks to the people that make this project possible:
Caitlin, Annie, and Trace Addlesperger were my first readers and cheerleaders. I’m so grateful for—and lucky to have—their interest in the Tao Te Ching and their interest in my interest in it. This is equally true of Erik Hoversten, and I especially thank him for his technical expertise, curiosity, and generosity in helping me move my composition books and index cards into an elegant part of the digital realm.
Renée Ballard and Kimberly Gee have also been with me through this whole journey, and their love, enthusiasm, and unconditional support is one of the greatest surprise gifts of my life. That they are both wildly creative and wildly successful creatives is perhaps no surprise, and I must say, it is a huge plus.
Wendy Mead Hammond inspires me daily and was kind enough to ask for and receive a rambling 100-page account of my exploration of the Tao Te Ching. Check out her work if you’re ready for effective, compassionate therapy or coaching.
John Addlesperger not only introduced me to Lao Tzu 34 years ago but provides me literal life support as well as love during this project just as solidly as he has done for our entire relationship.
Sam Western first introduced me to Stephen Mitchell as his favorite Rilke translator in 1996 in a bookstore then co-owned and operated by the poet and photographer Dainis Hazners. (I remember it was April because that’s National Poetry Month, so Dainis had free poems for every visitor. He and Sam conspired to find a Mitchell-Rilke poem for me in the stack of snippets from earlier in the month.) That book led me to Mitchell’s other books including his interpretation of the Tao Te Ching which I’ve had within reach ever since. It’s true that the little exchanges you have with others—events and dates you probably don’t even remember—may influence them more profoundly than you know!
Indeed, I extend to Stephen Mitchell a great deal of thanks.
Dr. Hilmar Alquiros built a useful Tao Te Ching resource website that I used for hours and hours and hours most weeks in the last year and a half. It was there that I first encountered an etymological reference that made me wonder… and thereby changed everything for me. I believe the website is now maintained by Dr. Ralf Schlüter. I know nothing about these two men but am grateful for their work.
James Schindler-Ord’s Tao Te Ching website www.taoteching.org.uk is such an elegant, beautiful, and useful passion project. It’s my go-to. And my favorite translation there is by Dr. Yi Wu, now professor emeritus at the California Institute of Integral Studies. It feels to me so clear, humble, strong, and based in a sincere effort to represent Lao Tzu.
I’m also grateful to Wiktionary, which I didn’t even know existed before starting this project. There’s so much information on there, a collection of different public domain images of the old characters (which I use liberally as you see all over this site!), and, most importantly, details of and links to source references.
My friends who themselves love the Tao Te Ching and have expressed enthusiasm for this project, thank you. Diane Redman may have been the first person to know about and support my intentions to complete this translation—I can’t exactly remember when we first talked about it because we’ve shared everything as it happened for so many fortunate years.
My new friends and colleagues in The Art School’s 2019 sessions provide me the creative community that I now realize is essential for me. It’s massive magic. Of course the not-so-secret ingredient in the massive magic of The Art School is its founder, my friend and coach, the artist, writer, and podcaster Leah Campbell Badertscher. She is a wonder, and I’m so lucky to know her.
The Dào of Lâozî 