Lao-tse biography

Laozi (Lao Tsu, Lao-Tze) was a Chinesephilosopher best known for Taoism, the Tao Te Ching, and becoming a deity of Taoism and Chinese folk religions. A legendary figure of Chinese culture, Laozi may have lived during the Warring States period. Laozi's work influenced anti-authoritarian and Legalist philosophers.

What was his real name?

Laozi's personal name is supposedly Li Er (李尔). His courtesy name is Boyang (伯阳). A popular posthumous name is Li Dan(李聃,Lǐ Dān). During the Tang dynasty, he was called the "Supremely Mysterious and Primordial Emperor" (太上玄元皇帝,Tàishàng Xuānyuán Huángdì).

Many people of the Li family say they descended from Laozi. For example, the emperors of the Tang dynasty claimed this. This family was known as the Longxi Li lineage (隴西李氏). Although these are questionable, they show Laozi's impact on Chinese culture.

Who was he?

Was he even real?

Some philosophers don't think he was real. Some think the Daodejing was "a compilation of Taoist sayings by many hands".

The first mention to Laozi is in the "Records of the Grand Historian" by Sima Qian. In one account, he was an official who lived around the time of Confucius. His name was "Er Li" or "Dan Li", and he wrote some a book with two parts before leaving west. In another, he has the name "Lao Laizi", and the book has 15 parts. In a third, he appears as a royal astrologer named "Lao Dan" living at the time of Duke Xian during the Qin Dynasty. The oldest Daodejing writing comes from around 375 BCE.

According to traditional accounts, Laozi worked as the Keeper of the Archives (librarian) during the Zhou. H

1. The Laozi Story

The Shiji (Records of the Historian) by the Han dynasty (206 B.C.E.–220 C.E.) court scribe and historian Sima Qian (ca. 145–86 B.C.E.) offers a “biography” of Laozi. Its reliability has been questioned, but it provides a point of departure for reconstructing the Laozi story.

Laozi was a native of Chu, according to the Shiji, a southern state in the Zhou dynasty (see map and discussion in Loewe and Shaughnessy 1999, 594 and 597). His surname was Li; his given name was Er, and he was also called Dan.

Laozi served as a keeper of archival records at the court of Zhou. Confucius (551–479 B.C.E.) had consulted him on certain ritual matters, we are told, and praised him lavishly afterward (Shiji 63). This establishes the traditional claim that Laozi was a senior contemporary of Confucius. A meeting, or meetings, between Confucius and Laozi, identified as “Lao Dan,” is reported also in the Zhuangzi and other early Chinese sources.

“Laozi cultivated Dao and virtue,” as Sima Qian goes on to relate, and “his learning was devoted to self-effacement and not having fame. He lived in Zhou for a long time; witnessing the decline of Zhou, he departed.” When he reached the northwest border then separating China from the outside world, he met Yin Xi, the official in charge of the border crossing, who asked him to put his teachings into writing. The result was a book consisting of some five thousand Chinese characters, divided into two parts, which discusses “the meaning of Dao and virtue.” Thereafter, Laozi left; no one knew where he had gone. This completes the main part of Sima Qian’s account. The remainder puts on record attempts to identify the legendary Laozi with certain known historical individuals and concludes with a list of Laozi’s purported descendants (see W. T. Chan 1963, Lau 1963, or Henricks 2000 for an English translation).

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Semi-legendary Chinese philosopher, founder of Taoism

For the book also known as Laozi, see Tao Te Ching.

Laozi (), also romanized as Lao Tzuamong other ways, was a semi-legendary Chinese philosopher and author of the Tao Te Ching (Laozi), one of the foundational texts of Taoism alongside the Zhuangzi. The name, literally meaning 'Old Master', was likely intended to portray an archaic anonymity that could converse with Confucianism. Modern scholarship generally regards his biographical details as later inventions, and his opus a collaboration. Traditional accounts addend him as Li Er, born in the 6th-century BC state of Chu during China's Spring and Autumn period (c. 770 – c. 481 BC). Serving as the royal archivist for the Zhou court at Wangcheng (modern Luoyang), he met and impressed Confucius (c. 551 – c. 479 BC) on one occasion, composing the Tao Te Ching in a single session before retiring into the western wilderness.

A central figure in Chinese culture, Laozi is generally considered the founder of Taoism. He was claimed and revered as the ancestor of the Tang dynasty (618–907) and is similarly honored in modern China as the progenitor of the popular surname Li. In some sects of Taoism, Chinese Buddhism, Confucianism, and Chinese folk religion, it is held that he then became an immortal hermit. Certain Taoist devotees held that the Tao Te Ching was the avatar – embodied as a book – of the god Laojun, one of the Three Pure Ones of the Taoist pantheon, though few philosophers believe this.

The Tao Te Ching had a profound influence on Chinese religious movements and on subsequent Chinese philosophers, who annotated, commended, and criticized the texts extensively. In the 20th century, textual criticism by historians led to theories questioning Laozi's timing or even existence, positing that the received text of the Tao Te Chin