Philosophers

老子　Lǎo Zǐ (circa 580-470 BC)

A Legendary Philosopher

Lao Zi’s surname was Li and his given name was Er. Lao Zi is an honorific title. It is widely acknowledged that Lao Zi is one of the most revered philosophers in Chinese history. There are numerous legends about his birth, career, teaching and philosophical ideas.

According to one popular legend, Lao Zi was conceived when his mother saw a star falling into her lap and he stayed in the womb for 80 years. When he was born, he was already a grown man with a gray beard and long earlobes, a symbol of good fortune and longevity.

He once kept the royal court archives for Zhou Dynasty (circa 11th century-256 BC). But he later resigned and went westward to propagate his ideas and philosophy.

One day while riding an ox he approached the Hangu Pass and was stopped by Yinxi, a sentinel who manned the pass. As a faithful follower of Lao Zi’s philosophy, the officer immediately recognized the great master.

But, in order to ask Lao Zi to teach him something of his philosophy, the officer demanded the old man produce an official permit to leave the country.

Lao Zi had no document, so he agreed to write a 5,000-word essay about his philosophy in exchange for passage to the West. That essay turned out to be the famous Daodejing (also “Tao Te Ching”), or the “Book of Virtue.”

Today scholars worldwide are still debating whether the book was actually written by Lao Zi or compiled by his students and disciples.

However, they all agree that the book reflects Lao Zi’s thinking.

In the book, Lao Zi used the concept of Dao (Tao) to explain all changes in the universe. Dao, which has also been translated as “Way” or “Great Integrity,” is deemed the mysterious source or ideal of all existences.

He also put forward many dialectical ideas such as “Dao gives rise to one, one gives rise to two, two gives rise to three and three gives rise to all other things.” He said in Daodejing: “Great talents mature slowly, great sounds are silent. Great forms look shapeless, transcendent squareness has no corners.”

Other popular quotations of Lao Zi include:

— All things under Heaven came from something which in turn came from nothing.

— By the side of misery lies happiness and beneath the happiness lurks the misery.

— A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

One day, a man came to see Lao Zi and asked for his secret of longevity. Lao Zi, then a nonagenarian, opened his mouth and asked: “Can you see any teeth there?” The man answered: “No, not a single tooth there.” Lao Zi then asked: “Can you see my tongue there?” “Yes,” the man answered.

“All the hard teeth are long gone, but the soft tongue remains. Don’t you understand now?” Lao Zi smiled.

Today, Lao Zi’s thinking still has a great influence in Chinese culture. Almost all young students can recite his famous words: “Dao that can be told is not the universal Dao; The name that can be named is not the universal name.”