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Laozi: the story on HearLore | HearLore
Laozi
The name Laozi, meaning Old Master, was never a personal name but an honorific title designed to create an archaic anonymity that could converse with Confucianism. Modern scholarship generally regards his biographical details as later inventions and his opus as a collaboration of various writers, yet traditional accounts insist he was born in the 6th-century BC state of Chu during China's Spring and Autumn period. He served as the royal archivist for the Zhou court at Wangcheng, which is modern Luoyang, and met and impressed Confucius on one occasion before composing the Dào Dé Jīng in a single session and retiring into the western wilderness. The earliest biographical reference to Laozi is found in the 1st-century BC Records of the Grand Historian by Sima Qian, who presented multiple accounts of Laozi's biography with various levels of doubt in his sources. One account claims he was the son of the Censor-in-Chief of the Zhou dynasty and Lady Yishou, while another suggests he was a different contemporary of Confucius named Lao Dan, who lived during the 4th century BC reign of the Duke Xian of Qin. The stories assert that Laozi never opened a formal school but nonetheless attracted a large number of students and loyal disciples, and his birthday is popularly held to be the 15th day of the second month of the Chinese calendar.
The Plum Tree Birth
Taoist myths state that Laozi was a virgin birth, conceived when his mother gazed upon a falling star, and he supposedly remained in her womb for 62 years before being born while his mother was leaning against a plum tree. Laozi was said to have emerged as a grown man with a full grey beard and long earlobes, both symbols of wisdom and long life, and other myths state that he was reborn 13 times after his first life during the days of Fuxi. In his last incarnation as Laozi, he lived 990 years and spent his life traveling to reveal the Tao. The character Li is a common Chinese surname which also has the meaning plum or plum tree when used as a common noun, and there is a legend tying Laozi's birth to a plum tree. Laozi has long been identified with the persona Lao Dan, and Dan similarly means Long-Ear or the Long-Eared One, with the character being the Chinese word for ear. The stories assert that Laozi never opened a formal school but nonetheless attracted a large number of students and loyal disciples, and 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.
The Book Without A Master
The Dào Dé Jīng is one of the most significant treatises in Chinese cosmogony, often called the Laozi, and has always been associated with that name, yet 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, and 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 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, and these passages correspond with roughly one third of the received text, cited in some 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, and 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.
Common questions
When was Laozi born and where did he live?
Traditional accounts state that Laozi was born in the 6th-century BC state of Chu during China's Spring and Autumn period. He served as the royal archivist for the Zhou court at Wangcheng, which is modern Luoyang.
Who wrote the Dào Dé Jīng and when was it created?
Modern scholarship generally regards the Dào Dé Jīng as a collaboration of various writers rather than a single author. 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.
What is the meaning of the name Laozi and how is it connected to his birth?
The name Laozi means Old Master and was never a personal name but an honorific title designed to create an archaic anonymity. A legend ties his birth to a plum tree, and the character Li is a common Chinese surname which also has the meaning plum or plum tree when used as a common noun.
How did Laozi influence the development of Taoism and religious worship?
The story of Laozi has taken on strong religious overtones since the Han dynasty, and as Taoism took root, Laozi was worshipped as a god. In later Taoist tradition, Laozi came to be seen as a personification of the Tao and is said to have undergone numerous transformations and taken on guises in various incarnations throughout history.
What is the relationship between Laozi and the Li family lineage?
Due to his traditional name Li Er, Laozi has been venerated as the ancestor of all subsequent Lis, and many clans of the Li family trace their descent to Laozi. This family was known as the Longxi Li lineage, and the emperors of the Tang dynasty belonged to this family.
How have modern philosophers interpreted the political ideas of Laozi?
Many contemporary philosophers have seen Laozi as a proponent of limited government, and the right-libertarian economist Murray Rothbard suggested that Laozi was the first libertarian. Anarchists such as John P. Clark and Ursula K. Le Guin have written about the conjunction between anarchism and Taoism in various ways, highlighting the teachings of Laozi in particular.
Wu wei, literally non-action or not acting, is a central concept of the Dào Dé Jīng, and the concept of wu wei is multifaceted, and reflected in the words' multiple meanings, even in English translation, as 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, and 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, and 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, sitting in oblivion, which is emptying the mind of bodily awareness and thought found in the Zhuangzi. Alan Chan provides an example of how Laozi encouraged a change in approach, or return to nature, rather than action, and technology may bring about a false sense of progress, with the answer provided by Laozi being not the rejection of technology, but instead seeking the calm state of wu wei, free from desires.
The God Of The Way
The story of Laozi has taken on strong religious overtones since the Han dynasty, and as Taoism took root, Laozi was worshipped as a god, with belief in the revelation of the Tao from the divine Laozi resulting in the formation of the Way of the Celestial Masters, the first organized religious Taoist sect. In later Taoist tradition, Laozi came to be seen as a personification of the Tao, and he is said to have undergone numerous transformations and taken on guises in various incarnations throughout history to initiate the faithful in the Way. Religious Taoism often holds that the Old Master did not disappear after writing the Dào Dé Jīng but rather spent his life traveling and revealing the Tao, and in some versions of the tale, the sentry Yinxi 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, and others say he was the Buddha himself, while in the Siddhar tradition of Tamil Nadu, the greatly revered Siddhar Bhogar, one of the 18 esteemed Siddhars of yore, is believed to be Laozi and is of Chinese origin.
The Emperor's Ancestor
Due to his traditional name Li Er, Laozi has been venerated as the ancestor of all subsequent Lis, and many clans of the Li family trace their descent to Laozi, including the emperors of the Tang dynasty, and this family was known as the Longxi Li lineage. Under the Tang, Laozi received a series of temple names of increasing grandeur, and in the year 666, Emperor Gaozong named Laozi the Supremely Mysterious and Primordial Emperor, and in 743, Emperor Xuanzong declared him the Sage Ancestor of the dynasty with the posthumous title of Mysterious and Primordial Emperor. Emperor Xuanzong also elevated Laozi's parents to the ranks of Innately Supreme Emperor and Innate Empress, and in 749, Laozi was further honored as the Sage Ancestor and Mysterious and Primordial Emperor of the Great Way, and then, in 754, as the Great Sage Ancestor and Mysterious and Primordial Heavenly Emperor and Great Sovereign of the Golden Palace of the High and Supreme Great Way. A seventh-century work, the Sandong Zhunang, presents Laozi as the perfect Taoist master and a character named Yinxi as the ideal Taoist student, and Yinxi follows a formal sequence of preparation, testing, training and attainment.
The Libertarian Sage
Many contemporary philosophers have seen Laozi as a proponent of limited government, and the right-libertarian economist Murray Rothbard suggested that Laozi was the first libertarian, likening Laozi's ideas on government to Friedrich Hayek's theory of spontaneous order. James A. Dorn agreed, writing that Laozi, like many 18th-century liberals, argued that minimizing the role of government and letting individuals develop spontaneously would best achieve social and economic harmony, and similarly, the Cato Institute's David Boaz includes passages from the Dào Dé Jīng in his 1997 book The Libertarian Reader and noted in an article for the Encyclopædia Britannica that Laozi advocated for rulers to do nothing because without law or compulsion, men would dwell in harmony. The anarcho-syndicalist writer and activist Rudolf Rocker praised Laozi's gentle wisdom and understanding of the opposition between political power and the cultural activities of the people and community in his 1937 book Nationalism and Culture, and in his 1910 article for the Encyclopædia Britannica, Peter Kropotkin also noted that Laozi was among the earliest proponents of essentially anarchist concepts, and more recently, anarchists such as John P. Clark and Ursula K. Le Guin have written about the conjunction between anarchism and Taoism in various ways, highlighting the teachings of Laozi in particular.