alternate title of the early Chinese text better known in the West as
the Daodejing, and the moniker of a deity in the pantheon of organized
"religious Daoism" that arose during the later Han dynasty (25-220
CE). Laozi is the pinyin Romanization for the Chinese characters which
mean "Old Master." Laozi is also known as Lao Tan ("Old Tan") in early
Chinese sources (see Romanization systems for Chinese terms). The
Zhuangzi is the first text to use Laozi as a personal name and to
identify Laozi and Lao Tan. The earliest materials associated with
Laozi are in the Zhuangzi's Inner Chapters. The Outer Chapters of that
work have ten logia in which Laozi is the main figure, four of which
contain direct attacks on the Confucian virtues of ren, yi, and li
that are reminiscent of passages from the Daodejing and probably date
from the period in which that collection was reaching some near final
form. The earliest ascription of authorship of the Daodejing to Laozi
is in Han Feizi and the Huainanzi, but several themes from the Laozi
logia of the Zhuangzi are traceable into the Daodejing and on at least
two occasions in that text Laozi counsels following dao (the Way) to
possess de (virtue). Laozi became a principal figure in
institutionalized religious forms of Daoism. He was often associated
with many transformations and incarnations of the dao itself.
1. Laozi and Lao Tan in Early Sources
Zhuangzi gives the following, probably fictional, account of
Confucius's impression of Laozi:
"Master, you've seen Lao Tan—what estimation would you make of
him?" Confucius said, "At last I may say that I have seen a dragon—a
dragon that coils to show his body at its best, that sprawls out to
display his patterns at their best, riding on the breath of the
clouds, feeding on the yin and yang. My mouth feel open and I couldn't
close it; my tongue flew up and I couldn't even stammer. How could I
possibly make any estimation of Lao Tan!" Zhuangzi, Ch. 14
According to The Book of Rites (Li ji), a master known as Lao Tan was
an expert on mourning rituals. On four occasions, Confucius (kongzi,
Master Kong) is reported to have responded to questions by appealing
to answers given by Lao Tan. The records say that Confucius once
assisted him in a burial service.
In the Zhuangzi (late 4th century BCE), Lao Tan is usually a critic of
Confucius. This is the first text to use Laozi as a personal name and
to identify Laozi and Lao tan. The Zhuangzi contains materials from a
teacher known as Zhuang Zhou who lived between 370-300 BCE, according
to Sima Qian. Chapters 1-7 of the present 33 are those most often
ascribed to Zhuangzi (meaning Master Zhuang). Guo Xiang edited the
text in the first half of the 3rd Cent. CE. He had 52 sections handed
down to him. He rejected the material he thought was inferior and
spurious, keeping 33 chapters which he divided into the "inner
chapters" (chs. 1-7), "outer chapters" (chs. 8-22) and "mixed
chapters," (chs. 23-33). Aside from chs. 1-7, the remaining 26 had
origins other than Zhuang Zhou and they sometimes take different
points of view. In the citations below, I have followed the practice
of prefacing the chapter with its literary critical designation (that
is, inner, outer, mixed). These designations are oversimplified
textually and arguable, but at least some acknowledgment of where they
are located in this textual system may help one understand that some
of the passages come from different time periods and have specific
polemical agendas.
Assuming that Lao Tan and Laozi are the same figure and counting the
one dialogue in Mixed Ch. 27 attributed to Lao Laizi as Laozi, then
there are eighteen (18) passages in which Laozi plays a role in the
Zhuangzi. It is on the basis on Inner Chapter 3, The Secret of Caring
for Life that we identify Lao Tan and Laozi. The passage begins "When
Lao Tan died" but then when his disciple Ch'in Shih is attacked by his
fellow students for only making three cries and then leaving the
funeral hall, the text calls them "Laozi's disciples." Ch'in Shih's
defense is "Your master happened to come because it was his time, and
he happened to leave because things follow along. If you are content
with the time and willing to follow along, then grief and joy have no
way to enter." His association of the dead master with the students
who are Laozi's disciples, and the opening of the chapter makes the
identification of Lao Tan and Laozi pretty clear. Then, there are
dialogues in which Lao Tan and Laozi are used interchangeably (see
Outer Ch.14, Turning of Heaven and Mixed Ch. 27, Imputed Words). Other
biographically significant material includes a reference to Laozi's
being the keeper of the Royal Archives of the house of Zhou in Outer
Ch. 13, The Way of Heaven.
Laozi's relationship to Confucius is also a major part of the
Zhuangzi's picture of the philosopher. Of the eighteen passages
mentioning Laozi, Confucius figures as a dialogical partner or subject
in nine (9). While it is clear that Confucius is thought to have a
long way to go to become a zhen ren (the Zhuangzi's way of speaking
about the true man), Lao Tan seems to feel sorry for Confucius in his
reply to "No-Toes" in Inner Chapter 5, The Sign of Virtue Complete. He
recommends seeking to release Confucius from the fetters of his
tendency to make rules and human discriminations (e.g., right/wrong;
beautiful/ugly).
Lao Tan addresses Confucius by his personal name "Ch'iu" in three
passages. Since such a liberty is one that only a person with
seniority and authority would take, this style invites us to believe
that Confucius was a student of Lao Tan's and acknowledged him as an
authority. However, continuing the theme that Laozi taught Confucius,
who was confused and having no success, we should note that the point
of the story that mentions Laozi's occupation as an archivist is that
Confucius' writings, offered to Laozi by Confucius himself, are simply
not worthy to be put into the library. And on another occasion,
Confucius claims that he knows the "six classics" thoroughly and that
he has tried to persuade 72 kings to their truth, but they have been
unmoved. Laozi's reply is, "Good!" He tells Confucius not to occupy
himself with such worn out ways, and to live the dao himself (Outer
Ch.14, Turning of Heaven).
Another important set of exchanges occurs between Laozi and Confucius
over the latter's principal ideas of benevolence (ren) and
righteousness (yi). Laozi tells Confucius to forget this teaching and
be natural: "Why these flags of benevolence and righteousness so
bravely upraised, as though you were beating a drum and searching for
a lost child? Ah, you will bring confusion to the nature of man!"
(Outer Ch. 13, The Way of Heaven)
Finally, in Outer Ch.14, Turning of Heaven, Lao Tan makes a direct
attack not only on the rules and regulations of Confucius, but also
the teachings of the Mohists, and the veneration of the ancient
emperors and legendary sages of the past.
2. Laozi and the Daodejing
The Daodejing (hereafter, DDJ) has 81 chapters and over 5,000 Chinese
characters, depending on which text is used. Its two major divisions
are the dao jing (chs. 1-37) and the de jing (chs. 38-81). Actually,
this division probably rests on nothing other than the fact that the
principal concept opening Chapter 1 is dao (way) and that of Chapter
38 is de (virtue). Nonetheless, the text has been studied by literary
critics for centuries. In spite of the long standing tradition that
the text had a single author named Laozi, it is clear that the work is
a collection of short aphorisms. Most of these probably circulated
orally perhaps even singly or in small collections.
For almost 2,000 years, the Chinese text used by commentators in China
and upon which all except the most recent Western language
translations were based has been called the Wang Bi, after the
commentator who used a complete edition of the DDJ sometime between
226-249 CE. Although Wang Bi was not a Daoist, his commentary became a
standard interpretive guide, and generally speaking even today
scholars depart from it only when they can make a compelling argument
for doing so. Based on recent archaeological finds at Guodian in 1993
and Mawangdui in the 1970s we are certain that there were several
simultaneously circulating versions of the Daodejing text.
Mawangdui is the name for a site of tombs discovered near Changsha in
Hunan province. The Mawangdui discoveries consist of two incomplete
editions of the DDJ on silk scrolls (boshu) now simply called "A" and
"B." These versions have two principal differences from the Wang Bi.
Some word choice divergencies are present. The order of the chapters
is reversed, with 38-81 in the Wang Bi coming before chapters 1-37 in
the Mawangdui versions. More precisely, the order of the Mawangdui
texts takes the traditional 81 chapters and sets them out like this:
38, 39, 40, 42-66, 80, 81, 67-79, 1-21, 24, 22, 23, 25-37. Robert
Henricks has published a translation of these texts with extensive
notes and comparisons with the Wang Bi under the title Lao-Tzu, Te-tao
Ching. Contemporary scholarship associates the Mawangdui versions with
a type of Daoism known as the Way of the Yellow Emperor and the Old
Master (Huanglao Dao), since the Yellow Emperor was venerated
alongside of Laozi as a patron of the teachings of Daoism. The
prevailing view is that the present version of the DDJ probably
reached its final form at the Qixia Academy of the Ji kingdom
associated with Huanglao Daoism around the beginning of the 3rd
century BCE.
The Guodian find consists of 730 inscribed bamboo slips found near the
village of Guodian in Hubei province in 1993. There are 71 slips with
material that is also found in 31 of the 81 chapters of the DDJ and
corresponding to Chapters 1-66. It may date as early as c. 300 BCE. If
this is a correct date, then the Daodejing was already extant in a
written form when the "inner chapters" (see below) of the Zhuangzi
were composed. These slips contain more significant variants from the
Wang Bi than the Mawangdui versions.
Thus, there is really no scholarly support for the idea that the text
was written by a single author, and certainly not by a person named
Laozi. Having said this, it is true that twice in the Outer Chapters
there are extensive passages in which Lao Tan makes remarks that are
very close parallels to the Daodejing. The most prominent of these is
Outer Ch. 33, The World. "Lao Tan said, 'Know the male but cling to
the female; become the ravine of the world. Know the pure but cling to
the dishonor; become the valley of the world.' He said, 'What is
brittle will be broken, what is sharp will be blunted.'"
Perhaps these allusions lie behind the fact that both the Han Feizi
and Huainanzi (180-122 BCE) attribute the authorship of the Daodejing
to Laozi. Then, in Sima Qian's biography of Laozi, he not only says
that Laozi was the author of the Daodejng, but he explains that it was
a written text of his teachings given when he departed China to go to
the West. So, by the 1st Cent. BCE, this was accepted. Any discussion
of Laozi's philosophy, is inseparable from a discussion of the
Daodejing.
3. Fundamental Concepts in the Daodejing
The term Dao means a road, and is often translated as "the Way". This
is because sometimes dao is used as a nominative (that is, "the dao")
and other times as a verb (i.e. daoing). Dao is the process of reality
itself, the way things come together, while still transforming. All
this reflects the deep seated Chinese belief that change is the most
basic character of things. In the Yi jing (Classic of Change) the
patterns of this change are symbolized by figures standing for 64
relations of correlative forces and known as the hexagrams. Dao is the
alteration of these forces, most often simply stated as yin and yang.
The Xici is a commentary on the Yi jing formed in about the same
period as the DDJ. It takes the taiji (Great Ultimate) as the source
of correlative change and associates it with the dao. The contrast is
not between what things are or that something is or is not, but
between chaos (hundun) and the way reality is ordering (de). Yet,
reality is not ordering into one unified whole. It is the 10,000
things (wanwu). There is the dao but not "the World" or "the cosmos"
in a Western sense.
The Daodejing teaches that humans cannot fathom the Dao, because any
name we give to it cannot capture it. It is beyond what we can
conceive (ch.1). Those who wu wei may become one with it and thus
obtain the dao. Wu wei is a difficult notion to translate. Yet, it is
generally agreed that the traditional rendering of it as "nonaction"
or "no action" is incorrect. Those who wu wei do act. Daoism is not a
philosophy of "doing nothing." Wu wei means something like "act
naturally," "effortless action," or "nonwillful action." The point is
that there is no need for human tampering with the flow of reality. Wu
wei should be our way of life, because the dao always benefits, it
does not harm (ch. 81) The way of heaven (dao of tian) is always on
the side of good (ch. 79) and virtue (de) comes forth from the dao
alone (ch. 21). What causes this natural embedding of good and benefit
in the dao is vague and elusive (ch. 35), not even the sages
understand it (ch. 76). But the world is a reality that is filled with
spiritual force, just as a sacred image used in religious ritual might
be (ch. 29). The dao occupies the place in reality that is analogous
to the part of a family's house set aside for the altar for venerating
the ancestors and gods (the ao of the house, ch. 62). When we think
that life's occurrences seem unfair (a human discrimination), we
should remember that heaven's (tian) net misses nothing, it leaves
nothing undone (ch. 37)
A central theme of the Daodejing is that correlatives are the
expressions of the movement of dao. Correlatives in Chinese philosophy
are not opposites, mutually excluding each other. They represent the
ebb and flow of the forces of reality: yin/yang, male/female;
excess/defect; leading/following; active/passive. As one approaches
the fullness of yin, yang begins to horizon and emerge. Its teachings
on correlation often suggest to interpreters that the DDJ is filled
with paradoxes. For example, ch. 22 says, "Those who are crooked will
be perfected. Those who are bent will be straight. Those who are empty
will be full." While these appear paradoxical, they are probably
better understood as correlational in meaning. The DDJ says,
"straightforward words seem paradoxical," implying, however, that they
are not (ch. 78).
What is the image of the ideal person, the sage (sheng ren), the real
person (zhen ren) in the DDJ? Well, sages wu wei (chs. 2, 63). In this
respect, they are like newborn infants, who move naturally, without
planning and reliance on the structures given to them by others (ch.
15). The DDJ tells us that sages empty themselves, becoming void of
pretense. Sages concentrate their internal energies (qi). They clean
their vision (ch. 10). They manifest plainness and become like
uncarved wood (pu) (ch. 19). They live naturally and free from desires
given by men (ch. 37) They settle themselves and know how to be
content (ch. 46). The DDJ makes use of some very famous analogies to
drive home its point. Sages know the value of emptiness as illustrated
by how emptiness is used in a bowl, door, window, valley or canyon
(ch. 11). They preserve the female (yin), meaning that they know how
to be receptive and are not unbalanced favoring assertion and action
(yang) (ch. 28). They shoulder yin and embrace yang, blend internal
energies (qi) and thereby attain harmony (he) (ch. 42). Those
following the dao do not strive, tamper, or seek control (ch. 64).
They do not endeavor to help life along (ch. 55), or use their
heart-mind (xin) to "solve" or "figure out" life's apparent knots and
entanglements (ch. 55). Indeed, the DDJ cautions that those who would
try to do something with the world will fail, they will actually ruin
it (ch. 29). Sages do not engage in disputes and arguing, or try to
prove their point (chs. 22, 81). They are pliable and supple, not
rigid and resistive (chs. 76, 78). They are like water (ch. 8),
finding their own place, overcoming the hard and strong by suppleness
(ch. 36). Sages act with no expectation of reward (chs. 2, 51). They
put themselves last and yet come first (ch. 7). They never make a
display of themselves, (chs. 72, 22). They do not brag or boast, (chs.
22, 24) and they do not linger after their work is done (ch. 77). They
leave no trace (ch. 27). Because they embody dao in practice, they
have longevity (ch. 16). They create peace (ch. 32). Creatures do not
harm them (chs. 50, 55). Soldiers do not kill them (ch. 50). Heaven
(tian) protects the sage and the sage becomes invincible (ch. 67).
Among the most controversial of the teachings in the DDJ are those
directly associated with rulers. Recent scholarship is moving toward a
consensus that the persons who developed and collected the teachings
of the DDJ played some role in civil administration, but they may also
have been practitioners of ritual arts and what we would call
religious rites. Be that as it may, many of the aphorisms directed
toward rulers seem puzzling at first sight. According to the DDJ, the
proper ruler keeps the people without knowledge, (ch. 65), fills their
bellies, opens their hearts and empties them of desires (ch. 3). A
sagely ruler reduces the size of the state and keeps the population
small. Even though the ruler possesses weapons, they are not used (ch.
80). The ruler does not seek prominence. The ruler is a shadowy
presence (chs. 17, 66). When the ruler's work is done, the people say
they are content (ch. 17). This is all the more interesting when we
remember that the philosopher and legalist political theorist named
Han Feizi used the DDJ as a guide for the unification of China. Han
Feizi was the foremost counselor of the first emperor of China, Qin
Shihuangdi (r. 221-206 BCE). It is a pity that the emperor used the
DDJ's admonitions to "fill the bellies and empty the minds" to justify
his program of destroying all books not related to medicine, astronomy
or agriculture.
4. The First Biography and the Establishment of Laozi as the Founder of Daoism
We have now arrived at the stage where studies of Lao Tan usually
begin. The first known attempt to write a biography of Laozi is in the
Shi ji (Records of the Historian, c. 90-104 BCE) by Sima Qian (145-89
BCE). According to this text, Laozi's surname was Li, and his personal
name was Er. The narrative does not use the name Lao Tan, only Laozi.
However, Qian reports that a historiographer named Tan did advise one
of the Dukes of Qin, and that he indeed predicted the Zhou and Qin
would split and a new empire would emerge. Then he says, "Some say Tan
was Laozi, some say not. No one in our time knows whether or not it is
so." (translations from Sima Qian done by A.C. Graham) In yet a
further effort to narrow down the identification of Laozi, Qian
mentions the Lao Laizi of the Zhuangzi and acknowledges that he came
from the same state as Laozi, and that he authored a work of 15
sections on Daoist practice. Qian says Lao Laizi was a contemporary of
Confucius, but clearly he seems to make a distinction between Lao
Laizi and Laozi. Finally, there is the end of the biography in which
Qian talks about Laozi's son's fortunes and ties them to the area from
which the Han ruling family came.
Qian's biographical account follows the Zhuangzi in stating Laozi's
occupation as an archivist for the state of Zhou. Like the Zhuangzi it
also reports exchanges between Laozi and Confucius. Two dialogues are
briefly reported. In one, Laozi tells Confucius to give up his stiff
deportment and prideful airs. It is very similar to Zhuangzi Mixed
Chapter 26. In the other passage, Confucius is reported to have
praised Laozi's wisdom and to have compared him to a dragon in a way
virtually identical to Zhuangzi Outer Chapter 14.
Sima Qian says, "Laozi cultivated the dao and its virtue." We
recognize of course that "dao and its virtue" is Dao de, and that this
is a reference to Laozi's association with the Daodejing. What the
Zhuangzi only alluded to by putting near quotes from the DDJ in the
mouth of Laozi, Sima Qian makes explicit. He tells us that when the
Zhou kingdom began to decline, Laozi decided to leave China and head
into the West. When he reached the mountain pass, the keeper of the
pass (Yin Xi, also called Kuan-yin) insisted that he write down his
teachings, so that the people would have them after he left. So,
"Laozi wrote a book in two parts, discussing the ideas of the Way and
of Virtue in some 5,000 words, and departed. No one knows where he
ended his life."
A.C. Graham has made a study of Sima Qian's account and the other
origins of the Lao Tan (Laozi) legend. Graham believes that the oldest
stratum of the stories about Lao Tan is actually a Confucian tale
relating how Confucius sought instruction in the rites from Lao Tan,
who was known as an archivist of Zhou. Graham dates this part of the
legend as far back as the 4th Cent. BCE. What we do not know is
whether this account actually preserves some factual historical
reminiscence, or simply an exemplary story designed to show that
Confucius sought learning anywhere and was humbly willing to be taught
by anyone. But then what happened was that Lao Tan was adopted in the
"Inner Chapters" of the Zhuangzi (before 300 BCE) as a spokesmen for
Zhuang Zhou's views and an instructor of Confucius.
The next stage in the development of Laozi's biography was the
appearance of Laozi under the name Lao Tan, thereby appropriating the
place Tan had occupied as a teacher of Confucius. We cannot be certain
whether this identification of the two figures was actually done by
Zhuang Zhou or was a later redaction of Inner Ch. 3. But certainly Lao
Tan and Laozi are used interchangeably in Outer Ch.14, Turning of
Heaven and Mixed Ch. 27, Imputed Words. From this point on, Laozi is
offered as a figure representing a definite philosophical trend.
Another movement in the evolution of the Laozi story was completed by
about 240 BCE. This was necessitated by Lao Tan's association with the
grand historiographer Tan during the Zhou, who predicted the rise of
the Qin state. This information, along with that of Laozi's journey to
the West, and of the writing of the book for Yin Xi (Kuan-yin) won the
favor for Laozi from the Qin. And the association of Laozi with a text
(the DDJ) that was becoming increasingly significant was important.
However, with the demise of the Qin state, some realignment of Laozi's
connection with them was needed. So, Qian's final remarks about
Laozi's son helped to associate the philosopher's lineage with the new
Han ruling family. The journey to the West component now also had a
new force. It explained why Laozi was not presently advising the Han
rulers.
Sima Qian classified the Six Schools as Yin-Yang, Confucian, Mohist,
Legalists, School of Names, and Daoists. Since his biography located
Laozi earlier than Zhuangzi, and the passages in the Zhuangzi seemed
to be about a person who lived before the text (and not to be simply a
literary or traditional invention), then Laozi became established as
the founder of the Daoist school.
5. The Laozi Myth
Livia Kohn has written a historical account of the development of the
Laozi myth from the Han through the Six Dynasties period (200 BCE to
600 CE). In The Lives of the Immortals by Liu Xiang (Lie xuan zhuan,
77-6 BCE) there are separate entries for Laozi and Yin Xi (Kuan-yin).
According to the story, Yin became a disciple and begged Laozi to
allow him to go to the West as well. Laozi told him that he could come
along, but only after he cultivated the dao. Laozi instructed Yin to
study hard and await a summons which would be delivered to him in the
marketplace in Chengdu. There is now a shrine at the putative location
of this site dedicated to "ideal discipleship." More importantly, in
this text it is clear that practitioners of immortality regarded Laozi
as a superior daoshi (fangshi) who had achieved immortality through
wisdom and the practice of techniques for longevity.
Emperor Huan (r. 147-167 CE) built a palace on the traditional site of
Laozi's birthplace and authorized veneration and sacrifice to Laozi.
The Laozi ming (Inscription on Laozi) written by Pien Shao in c. 166
CE as a commemorative marker for the site goes well beyond Sima Qian's
biography. It makes the first apotheosis of Laozi into a deity. The
text makes reference to the many cosmic metamorphoses of Laozi,
allowing him portraying him as having been counselor to the great sage
kings of China. The elite at the imperial court divinized Laozi and
regarded him as an embodiment of the dao, a kind of cosmic emperor who
knew how to rule things in perfect harmony and bring peace.
During the reign of Emperor Huidi of the Western Jin dynasty (290-306
CE), Wang Fu, a libationer of the Celestial Masters Tradition often
debated with the Buddhist monk Bo Yuan about philosophical beliefs.
The result was that Fu wrote a one volume work entitled Book of
Laozi's Conversion of the Barbarians (laozi huahu jing) designed to
put forward the view that Laozi went to India, changed into Buddha,
and converted the barbarians. The basic thrust of the book was that
Buddhism was a form of Daoism. Later, the work was gradually enlarged
and adapted into ten volumes and it became a repository for Daoist
polemic against Buddhism. Both Emperor Gaozong and Emperor Zhongzong
of the Tang dynasty gave orders to prohibit its distribution. In the
Yuan dynasty (1285 CE), Emperor Shizu ordered the burning of the
Daoist canon of texts, and the first one destroyed was the Book of the
Conversion of Barbarians.
The Daoist cosmological belief in the transformation of beings was
greatly strengthened by the text Scripture on the Transformations of
Laozi (The Laozi Bianhua Wuji Jing, late 100s CE). This work reflects
some of the ideas in Pien Shao's inscription, but takes them much
further. It tells how Laozi transformed into his own mother and gave
birth to himself, taking quite literally comments in the DDJ where the
dao is portrayed as the mother of all things. The work associates
Laozi with the manifestations or incarnations of the dao itself. The
final passage is an address given by Laozi predicting his reappearance
and promising liberation from trouble and the overthrow of the Han
dynasty! The millennial cults of the second century believed Laozi was
a messianic figure who appeared to their leaders and gave them
instructions and revelations.
The period of the Celestial Masters (c. 142-260 CE) produced documents
enhancing the myth of Laozi. Laozi was now called Lao jun (Lord Lao)
or Tai Shang Lao Jun (Lord Lao Most High). Lao jun could manifest
himself in any time of unrest and bring great peace (tai ping). Yet,
the Celestial Masters never claimed that Lao jun had done so in their
day. Instead of such a direct manifestation, the Celestial Masters
practitioners taught that Lao jun transmitted to them talismans,
registers, and new scriptures in the form of texts.
Most later writings about Laozi continued to base their appeals to
Laozi's authority on his ongoing transmigrations, but they give
evidence of the growing tension between Daoism and Buddhism. The first
mythological account of Laozi's birth is in the Scripture of the Inner
Explanation of the Three Heavens, a Celestial Master work dated about
420 CE. In this text, Laozi has three births: as the manifestation of
the dao from pure energy to become a deity in heaven; in human form as
the ancient philosopher of the Daodejing; and as the Buddha after his
journey to the West. In the first birth, his mother is known as The
Jade Maiden of Mystery and Wonder. In his second, he is born to a
human woman known as Mother Li. This was an eighty-one year pregnancy,
after which he was born from her left armpit (there is a tradition
that Buddha had been born from his mother's right arm pit). At birth
he had white hair and so he was called laozi (Old Child). This birth
is set in the time of the Shang dynasty, several centuries before the
date Sima Qian reports. But the purpose of such a move is to allow him
time to travel to the West and then become the Buddha. The third birth
takes place in India as the Buddha. For details of this birth we turn
to Esoteric Record of Mystery and Wonder, another fifth century
document of the Celestial Masters. According to this text, Laozi
entered into the body of the wife of the king of India through her
mouth. Later he was born through her left arm pit. He walked
immediately after his birth, and "from then on Buddhist teaching came
to flourish." (quoted in Kohn)
Ge Hong's (283-343 CE) The Inner Chapters of the Master Who Embraces
Simplicity (Baopuzi neipian) is the most important Daoist
philosophical work of that period. Ge Hong said that in a state of
visualization he saw Laozi, seven feet tall, with cloudlike garments
of five colors, wearing a multi-tiered cap and carrying a sharp sword.
According to Ge, Laozi had a prominent nose, long eyebrows, and an
elongated head. This physiological type was template for portraying
immortals in Daoist art.
Authority for Celestial Masters practices and beliefs was usually
backed up by some new account of Laozi. In the 500s CE the Scripture
on Opening the Cosmos had Laozi teach the sage-king who developed
agriculture about the grains, so that the people would not have to
kill birds and beasts for food. And he taught another sage-king how to
make fire.
The hagiography of Laozi has continued to develop, down to the present
day. There are even traditions that various natural geographic
landmarks and features are the enduring imprint of Lord Lao on China
and his face can be seen in them. It is more likely, of course, that
Laozi's immortality is in the mark made by the philosophical movement
he has come to represent and the culture it created..
6. Select Bibliography
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Graham, Angus. [1998 (1986)], "The Origins of the Legend of Lao Tan."
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Kohn, Livia and LaFargue, Michael. (1998). Lao-tzu and the
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Kohn, Livia and Roth, Harold (2002) Daoist Identity: History, Lineage,
and Ritual. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
Watson, Burton. (1968). The Complete Works of Chuang Tzu. New York:
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Welch, Holmes. (1966). Taoism: The Parting of the Way. Boston: Beacon Press.
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