In his book Right Where You are Sitting Now: Further Tales of the Illuminati, Robert Anton Wilson provides us with a “quote” from Lao Tsu: “When the proper man does nothing
(wu-wei), his thought is felt ten thousand miles,” (p. vii). It seems to me that this is a paraphrase of chapter XXIII of the Dao Do Jing. Does anyone know about the origin of this quote? It is just something Wilson made up, or is it from an actual translation?
Chinese texts are often unrecognizable from translation to translation.
It certainly sounds like it comes fro the Tao Te Ching. Neither of my translations have a chapter 23 with a similar sentiment, but even the chapter order (and number of “chapters” is variable.)
The quote you mention sounds a lot like a bit in the first chapter of Legge’s translation:
This same verse appears in the second “chapter” in John Wu’s translation:
Of course, RAW may have been referring another section altogether-- without knowing which translation he’s referring to, it’s hard to say, especially with a single line out of context-- there are so many references to the passively enlightened in the Tao Te Ching, and they all come out differently depending on the translation. The translator may choose to substitute more familiar idiom for something that would be plain to a chinese-speaking person, but which communicates nothing when transliterated – or they may have a quite different interpretation of something subtle, or they may want to fit the words to their own design or alter it to make it more pleasing to the audience they are preparing it for.
Of course, Robert Anton Wilson being the mercurial spirit that he is, it may also be Thomas Jefferson paraphrased in his best Charlie Chan voice.