The Tao of Yoda: Based Upon the Tao Te Ching by Lau Tzu

by D.W. Kreger

Historians, philosophers, and professors of ancient literature may tell you that the philosopher named Lao Tzu, who lived in China 25 centuries ago, wrote the passages you'll find in this book. What they do not tell you, because they do not know, is that there is a mysterious connection between the Tao Te Ching and the modern day mythology of Star Wars. "The Tao of Yoda" offers a unique translation inspired by the wisdom of Master Yoda.

Genres: Philosophy, Star Wars

97 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 20, 2012

Reviews

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Luke: Reach out with your feelings. What do you see?
Rey: The island, life, death and decay that feeds new life, warmth, cold, peace, violence.
Luke: And between it all?
Rey: Balance, an energy, a force.
Luke: And inside you?
Rey: And inside me, that same Force.
- The Last Jedi



I appreciate the work Kreger put into this version of the Tao Te Ching. Some of it I found hard to understand, because of the Yoda speak. Considering, however, that the Tao Te Ching should be approached without preconceptions, I found the new version enlightening, a fresh perspective on the same wisdom I've read in other versions.

[Ivaylo Tsvetkov · Rating 2 out of 5]

I bought this book, expecting it to be a consolidation on Yoda's teachings from the movies (which are actually pretty insightful) with the mandatory author's commentary on each one (for added length), exploring the connection between said teachings and Taoism. Instead you get the Tao Te Ching (never fun to read), except the author replaced the words "Tao" and "Holy man" with "The Force" and "Jedi", claiming it to all make perfect sense that way. It doesn't.

[Kris Vislocky · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have not read the original Tao Te Ching so I cannot compare, but it did feel as if the author didn't take this far enough into the galaxy far, far away and instead remained a little too close to Earth, just changing a few words.

His afterword suggests that is exactly what he did, but I think if he was going to make this the words of Yoda based on the Tao Te Ching then he should have gone further with it. It was clear that he seemed to equate the Tao Te Ching with Yoda's speech quirks and didn't know as much about Star Wars and the Force.

Due to that, simply replacing one single concept with concepts of the Force resulted in passages that didn't make sense in context, and also made other passages miss out on the richness of the Force, bringing us out of the Star Wars galaxy and back down to Earth.

It was a valiant attempt, but it fell short of feeling like it actually came from Yoda.

[Doyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some passages fit, some don't.

I can see several of these passages as coming from Yoda and relating to the Jedi and the Force. Others don't really make much sense shifted around. All in all though, it makes you think. And isn't that the point?