![]() So I never have an audience in mind except for my own inner audience. Generally, my experience is that when I'm successful to my own inner ear it works for a lot of people. Stephen Mitchell: I think that is a book of surpassing greatness even in a mediocre translation. I thought I was reading Rilke - and of course I was - but I was reading a version of his work refracted through your particular lens, made accessible by your own special gifts as a translator. I remember buying a copy of Letters to a Young Poet in a used bookstore in London back in the 1980s and having my mind blown wide open. ![]() I found my way to you through your translations of Rilke, a poet I had read in school but never really "discovered" until I came across your translations. ![]() When translators do their jobs well, they become invisible, transparent. I think I was reading your books before I even knew it - which I imagine you hear quite a lot. Scott London: Like many people, I’ve been reading your work for some time now. In this conversation, held in front of a live audience at the Lobero Theater in Santa Barbara, California, I talk with him about The Second Book of the Tao, his perspectives on writing, his longtime Zen practice, and the rich tradition of wisdom literature that informs his work. It would seem that the description applies not just to the ancient Chinese sages but to Mitchell himself, a man with an eye for the genuine, a deep love and respect for words, and an awareness that, paradoxically, connecting with the essence of things always requires going beyond words. "There was only a passion for the genuine, a fascination with words, and a constant awareness that the ancient Masters are alive and well in the mind that doesn't know a thing." "There was nothing to live up to," he says. Mitchell describes their philosophy as a kind of non-philosophy. In The Second Book of the Tao, just published by the Penguin Press, he anthologizes some of the great teachings of Chuang-tzu - Lao-tzu's brilliant and playful disciple - and Tzu-Ssu, the grandson of Confucius. He has also co-authored two bestselling books with his wife Byron Katie. Audio also available as a Podcast.Renowned translator and scholar Stephen Mitchell has brought to life a wide range of literary classics for readers of English, including the Tao Te Ching, the epic of Gilgamesh, the Bhagavad Gita and the poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke. In September 2012, Thomas spoke for the prestigious lecture series, Mind, and Supermind, which is run by Santa Barbara City College.ĭiscussion of this interview in the BatGap Community Facebook Group. ![]() Thomas has taught his book, Living the Paradox of Enlightenment: Spiritual Awakening in Simple, Clear English, as a class for the Center for Lifelong Learning, which is a part of Santa Barbara City College, the highest-ranked community college in the United States. Thomas teaches in plain English, yet much of what he says would be recognized by people familiar with Advaita, Buddhism, or Hinduism. (By the way, Timothy Conway was guest number 28 at Buddha at the Gas Pump way back in July of 2010.) Timothy woke up when he was only 16 and he later was fortunate enough to meet several enlightened masters, such as Sri Nisargadatta, Annamalai Swami, and others among Sri Ramana Maharshi’s immediate followers. The first time Thomas heard this nondual wisdom was in 2005 when he attended one of Timothy Conway’s satsangs and Thomas has continually attended these weekly meetings since they provide the foundation for all his work. Thomas easily digs deeply into the core of this wisdom to reveal both its essential truth and the heartfelt compassion that all true sages embody when they are genuinely engaged in the world without being entangled by it. Thomas Razzeto is one of the newest and freshest voices among the teachers of our balanced, ancient nondual wisdom.
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