Lao Tzu

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Lao Tzu

Lao Tzu

Lao Zi riding on a buffalo

Lao-tzu (Laozi, Lao Zi, Lao tzu, Lao Tse, Laotze, and other variants), is the name of a legendary Chinese thinker, the alleged author of the ancient text known as the Lao-tzu, or the Tao-te Ching, also called Dao-de Jing. However, little can be said about him with certainty, and Tao-te Ching is regarded by many scholars as a compilation. Be that as it may, Lao Zi (Lao-tzu) means "Master Lao" or "Old Master". His original name was Li Erh, and is also called Lao Tan or Lao Tun.
Lao Zi is still venerated, but is an obscure figure. The main source of information about his life is a biography by the historian Ssu-ma Ch'ien, who wrote in about 100 BC. He says Lao Zi was a native of a village in the district of Hu in the state of Ch'u (Honan province now), and was appointed to the office of scholar (shih) at the royal court of the Chou dynasty.
The historian also tells of a meeting of Lao Zi with the younger Confucius (551–479 BC). The sources are inconsistent and contradictory, however. And Confucius allegedly was so impressed with Lao Zi that he compared him to a dragon that rises to the sky, riding on the winds and clouds. In another ancient classic, the Chuang-tzu, Lao Zi is said to have instructed Confucius on points of ceremony too.
In another early classic of Taoism, the Chuang-tzu, Lao-tzu is described as one of Chuang-tzu's own teachers, and the same book contains many Lao-tzu discourses.
According to one legend Lao Zi went to the west on a water buffalo when he was 160 years old. On his way he came to the Hsien-ku pass. The guardian of the pass begged him to write a book for him, and Lao Zi wrote about the Way (Tao, "the Premier Principle" etc.) and the te (its "prowess, power, etc."). Then he left, and "nobody knows what has become of him," says Ssu-ma Ch'ien, the historian.

Sides to Being Legendary

Ssu-ma Ch'ien also alludes to other men that Lao Zi was sometimes identified with. One was Lao-Lai-tzu, another was an astrologer named Tan. Ssu-ma Ch'ien adds, "Maybe Lao Zi has lived one hundred and fifty years, some say more than two hundred years." The ancient Chinese believed that superior men could live very long. However, Chuang-tzu, the Taoist sage of the 300s BC, speaks of the death of Lao Zi without emphasizing any unusual longevity.
Many scholars have asked whether there was a historical Lao Zi, among other reasons because the Tao-te Ching that is handed over, contain sayings where some may date from the time of Confucius; others are later; and the book as a whole dates from about 300 BC. It has also been considered that the name Lao Zi represents a certain type of sage rather than an individual.
During the Later Han dynasty (AD 25-220), Lao Zi had become a mythical figure. Several stories about his birth appeared. In one of them his mother is said to have carried him seventy-two years in her womb - another says sixty-two years. And his hair was white already when he got out of the womb. One legend explains his family name, Li, thus: the baby came to light at the foot of a plum tree, and then said that li ("plum") should be his surname.
Read more:

Literature
Welch, Holmes. Taoism: the Parting of the Way. Boston: Beacon Press, 1965. — Excellent.
Arthur Waley, Arthur. The Way and Its Power: A Study of the Tao Te Ching and Its Place in Chinese Thought. (1934, reissued 1977). — A very good translation with a good introduction.
Watson, Burton, tr. The Complete Works of Chuang Tzu (1968). — A very readable translation.
Chan, Wing-tsit. "The Natural Way of Lao Tzu". Chapter 6, A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1963.
Lau, D. C. Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching. London: Penguin Classics, 1963.
Encyclopaedia Britannica 2008 DVD Suite, sv. "Lao Tzu" and "Tao Te Ching".

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