Season 2 — Taoist Threads

Season Two of The Hochmah Text Project is a simple, generous offering: public‑domain audiobook readings of two foundational Taoist works, presented as plain spoken voice. We read the Tao Te Ching in J. H. McDonald’s public‑domain rendering and the Chuang Tzu in Herbert A. Giles’ public‑domain translation. The aim is not commentary or scholarship but the direct experience of the texts as spoken words.

Each episode centers on a single passage delivered in a close, unadorned voice. A brief opening names the passage, the passage is read straight through, and the episode closes with a short, plain note about the translation you heard or a simple listening prompt. The production is intentionally spare: the voice is foregrounded, sound design is minimal, and the text itself is the point.

The two translators give the season a natural variety of tone. McDonald’s Tao Te Ching reads spare and meditative, lending itself to quiet reflection; Giles’ Chuang Tzu carries an older English cadence that can feel formal, playful, or unexpectedly witty, letting the parables land as stories. Listeners are invited to notice those differences and to let each voice shape the text in its own way.

This season is for anyone who wants a free, accessible way to hear these classics aloud—listeners who like to follow along, who prefer to close their eyes, or who want a steady voice to return to. Subscribe to The Hochmah Text Project and let these readings become a small practice: listen, sit with a line, and let it work on you.