Frederic Henry Balfour

Frederic Henry Balfour (1846 – 27 May 1909) was a British expatriate editor, essayist, author, and sinologist, living in Shanghai during the Victorian era. He is most notable for his translation of the Tao Te Ching. Many of these translations appeared in his 1884 Taoist Texts: Ethical, Political and Speculative, also known simply as Taoist Texts.

Sinology

Comparing translations of the same passages in the Tao Te Ching by two sinologists, separated by a century, shows the tendency away from literal exposition in favor of figurative, artistic prose in Taoist studies.

Frederic H. Balfour, 1884:

Although the Great Principle of Nature – Tao – has no form, it brought forth and nourishes Heaven and Earth; though it has no passions, it causes the Sun and Moon to revolve; though it has no name, it produces the growth and nurture of all things. As I do not know its name, I am compelled to call it simply, Tao.

Now this Principle includes the pure and the turbid; the active and the motionless. For instance, Heaven is pure, and Earth turbid; Heaven moves, and the Earth is still. The Masculine is pure, the feminine turbid; the Masculine is active and the Feminine at rest. Emerging from its source and flowing on to all its developments, it produced the visible creation. The pure is the origin of the turbid, and the active of the motionless. If a man is able to remain permanently pure and motionless, Heaven and Earth will both at once come and dwell in him. (tr. Balfour 1884)

Livia Kohn, 1993:

The Great Tao has no form; It brings forth and raises heaven and earth. The Great Tao has no feelings; It regulates the course of the sun and the moon. The Great Tao has no name; It raises and nourishes the myriad beings. I do not know its name – So I call it Tao.