Laozi
Laozi was a legendary Chinese philosopher considered to be the author of the Tao Te Ching, one of the foundational texts of Taoism. 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 of various writers. Traditional accounts addend him as, born in the 6th-centuryBC state of Chu during China's Spring and Autumn period. Serving as the royal archivist for the Zhou court at Wangcheng, he met and impressed Confucius on one occasion, composing the Dào Dé Jīng 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 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 Dào Dé Jīng was the avatarembodied as a bookof the god Laojun, one of the Three Pure Ones of the Taoist pantheon, though few philosophers believe this.
The Dào Dé Jīng 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 Dào Dé Jīng was not composed until the Warring States period, and was the product of multiple authors.
Name
Lǎozǐ is the modern romanization of 老子. In English, a variety of pronunciations and spellings of the Chinese name exist, such as Lao Tzu and Lao-tse. It is not a personal name, but rather an honorific title, meaning 'old' or 'venerable'. Its structure matches that of other ancient Chinese philosophers, such as Kongzi, Mengzi, and Zhuangzi.Traditional accounts give Laozi the personal name Li Er, whose Old Chinese pronunciation has been reconstructed as. Li is a common Chinese surname which also has the meaning 'plum' or 'plum tree' when used as a common noun; there is a legend tying Laozi's birth to a plum tree. Laozi has long been identified with the persona Lao Dan. Dan similarly means "Long-Ear" or "the Long-Eared One". The character 耳 is the Chinese word for 'ear'.
Laozi is recorded bearing the courtesy name Boyang, whose Old Chinese pronunciation has been reconstructed as. The character 伯 was the title of the eldest son born to the primary wife, or an uncle of the father's family who was older than one's father, also used as a noble title indicating an aristocratic lineage head with rulership over a small to medium domain, and as a general mark of respect. The character 陽 is yang, the solar and masculine life force in Taoist belief. Lao Dan seems to have been used more generally, however, including by Sima Qian in his Shiji, in the Zhuangzi, and by some modern scholars.
Identity
By the mid-twentieth century, consensus had emerged among Western scholars that the historicity of a person known as Laozi is doubtful and that the Dào Dé Jīng is "a compilation of Taoist sayings by many hands", with an author being invented afterwards. While multiple authorship over time is typical for early Chinese texts, the book's conspicuous absence of a central Master figure places it in marked contrast with nearly all other early Chinese philosophical works., the oldest manuscript containing text from the Dào Dé Jīng dates to the late 4th century BC, written on bamboo slips excavated as part of the Guodian Chu Slips. These passages correspond with roughly one third of the received text, and some are placed in the same order. These are mixed in with passages not carried by the transmitted Dào Dé Jīng, indicating that its makeup was still undergoing revisions and modifications. The oldest manuscripts of the Dào Dé Jīng in a complete form by itself were discovered at a tomb in Mawangdui, and date to the early 2nd century BC. Analysis of early commentary on passages that appear in the received Dào Dé Jīng supports an accretionary evolution for the text rather than a singular authorship event.
Traditional accounts
The earliest biographical reference to Laozi is found in the 1st‑century BC Records of the Grand Historian by Sima Qian. Multiple accounts of Laozi's biography are presented, with Sima Qian expressing various levels of doubt in his sources.In one account, Sima Qian reports that Laozi was said to be a contemporary of Confucius during the 6th or 5th centuryBC. His personal name was Er or Dan. He was born in the village of Quren in the southern state of Chu, within present-day Luyi in Henan. He was said to be the son of the Censor-in-Chief of the Zhou dynasty and Lady Yishou, and was a scholar who worked as the Keeper of the Archives for the royal Zhou court. This reportedly allowed him broad access to the works of the Yellow Emperor and other classics of the time, and he wrote a book in two parts before departing to the west.
In another, Laozi was a different contemporary of Confucius called , one of the Twenty-four Filial Exemplars, and wrote a book in 15 parts. The story tells of Zong the Warrior who defeats an enemy and triumphs, and then abandons the corpses of the enemy soldiers to be eaten by vultures. By coincidence Laozi, traveling and teaching the way of the Tao, comes on the scene and is revealed to be the father of Zong, from whom he was separated in childhood. Laozi tells his son that it is better to treat respectfully a beaten enemy, and that the disrespect to their dead would cause his foes to seek revenge. Convinced, Zong orders his soldiers to bury the enemy dead. Funeral mourning is held for the dead of both parties and a lasting peace is made.
In a third, he was the court astrologer Lao Dan who lived during the 4th centuryBC reign of the Duke Xian of Qin who grew weary of the moral decay of life in Chengzhou and noted the kingdom's decline. He ventured west to live as a hermit in the unsettled frontier at the age of 80. At the western gate of the city, he was recognized by the guard Yinxi. The sentry asked the old master to record his wisdom for the good of the country before he would be permitted to pass. The text Laozi wrote was said to be the Dào Dé Jīng, although the present version of the text includes additions from later periods. In some versions of the tale, the sentry was so touched by the work that he became a disciple and left with Laozi, never to be seen again. In some later interpretations, the "Old Master" journeyed all the way to India and was the teacher of Siddartha Gautama, the Buddha. Others say he was the Buddha himself.
The stories assert that Laozi never opened a formal school but nonetheless attracted a large number of students and loyal disciples. There are many variations of a story retelling his encounter with Confucius, most famously in the Zhuangzi. A.C. Graham suggested that the Confucian version of the story presented in the Book of Rites was the original, which was borrowed and re-interpreted by the followers of Zhuang Zhou. His birthday is popularly held to be the 15th day of the second month of the Chinese calendar. In accounts where Laozi married, he was said to have had a son who became a celebrated soldier of Wei during the Warring States period.
''Dào Dé Jīng''
The Dào Dé Jīng is one of the most significant treatises in Chinese cosmogony. It is often called the Laozi, and has always been associated with that name. The identity of the person or people who wrote or compiled the text has been the source of considerable speculation and debate throughout history. As with many works of ancient Chinese philosophy, ideas are often explained by way of paradox, analogy, appropriation of ancient sayings, repetition, symmetry, rhyme, and rhythm. The Dào Dé Jīng stands as an exemplar of this literary form. Unlike most works of its genre, the book conspicuously lacks a central "master" character and seldom references historical people or events, giving it an air of timelessness.The Dào Dé Jīng describes the Tao as the source and ideal of all existence: it is unseen, but not transcendent, immensely powerful yet supremely humble, being the root of all things. People have desires and free will. Many act "unnaturally", upsetting the natural balance of the Tao. The Dào Dé Jīng intends to lead students to a "return" to their natural state, in harmony with Tao. Language and conventional wisdom are critically assessed. Taoism views them as inherently biased and artificial, widely using paradoxes to sharpen the point.
Wu wei, literally 'non-action' or 'not acting', is a central concept of the Dào Dé Jīng. The concept of wu wei is multifaceted, and reflected in the words' multiple meanings, even in English translation; it can mean "not doing anything", "not forcing", "not acting" in the theatrical sense, "creating nothingness", "acting spontaneously", and "flowing with the moment".
This concept is used to explain ziran, or harmony with the Tao. It includes the concepts that value distinctions are ideological and seeing ambition of all sorts as originating from the same source. Dào Dé Jīng used the term broadly with simplicity and humility as key virtues, often in contrast to selfish action. On a political level, it means avoiding such circumstances as war, harsh laws and heavy taxes. Some Taoists see a connection between wu wei and esoteric practices, such as zuowang found in the Zhuangzi.
Alan Chan provides an example of how Laozi encouraged a change in approach, or return to "nature", rather than action. Technology may bring about a false sense of progress. The answer provided by Laozi is not the rejection of technology, but instead seeking the calm state of wu wei, free from desires. This relates to many statements by Laozi encouraging rulers to keep their people in "ignorance", or "simple-minded". Some scholars insist this explanation ignores the religious context, and others question it as an apologetic of the philosophical coherence of the text. It would not be unusual political advice if Laozi literally intended to tell rulers to keep their people ignorant. However, some terms in the text, such as "valley spirit" and 'soul', bear a metaphysical context and cannot be easily reconciled with a purely ethical reading of the work.