Laozi

Laozi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Laozi
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Lao zi)
Laozi (Chinese: 老子, Pinyin: Lǎozǐ; also transliterated as Lao
Tzu, Lao Tse, Laotze, and in other ways) is a major figure in
Chinese philosophy whose historical existence is still debated.
According to Chinese tradition, he lived in the 6th century BCE;
however, many historians placed his life in the 4th century BCE,
which was the period of Hundred Schools of Thought and Warring
States Period. Laozi was credited with writing the seminal of
Taoist work, the Tao Te Ching, and he was recognised as the
founder of Taoism.
Contents
1 His life
2 Controversies
3 Taoism
4 Influences
5 Names
6 External links
7 Bibliography
His life
Little is known of Laozi's life. His historical existence is still
strongly debated, as is his authorship of the Tao Te Ching. Laozi
became an important cultural hero to subsequent generations of
Chinese people. Legend says he was born in Ku Prefecture of the
state of Chǔ, which is known today as Lùyì County of Henan
province, in the later years of the Spring and Autumn Period.
However, some people insist that he was born in Guoyang County,
Laozi's names
Chinese name: 老子
Pinyin: Lǎozǐ
Wade-Giles: Lao Tzu
Lao Tse, Laotse,
Other spellings:
Lao Tze, Laotze
Actual name: Lǐ Ěr
Courtesy name: Bó Yáng
Posthumous name: Dān
Laozi leaves China on his water
buffalo.
Seite 1 von 4
Anhui Province. Some legends say that he was born with white hair, and had spent eight or eighty years in his
mother's womb, which provided an explanation of his name, which can be read as "the old master" or "the old
child".
According to the legend and the biography included in Sima Qian's work, Laozi was an older contemporary of
Confucius, and worked as an archivist in the Imperial Library of the Zhou Dynasty (1122–256 BCE).
Confucius intentionally or accidentally met him in Zhou, near the location of modern Luoyang, where
Confucius was going to browse the library scrolls. According to this story, Confucius, over the following
months, discussed ritual and propriety, cornerstones of Confucianism, with Laozi. The latter strongly opposed
what he felt to be hollow practices. Taoist legend claims that these discussions proved more educational for
Confucius than the contents of the libraries.
Laozi quit his work, perhaps because the Zhou Dynasty was in chaos. Some claimed that he travelled to the
West with his water buffalo through the state of Qin, and disappeared into the vast desert. Arriving at the
Hangu custom post, Laozi was asked by Yixi, an officer of the post, to leave his philosophy in writing before
departing into the desert. This would serve as the only time Laozi wrote down his philosophy. Laozi's
response to the officer's request was the Tao Te Ching. Scrolls and painting often depict Laozi as a bald
elderly man with a white beard riding on a water buffalo.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lao_zi
09.07.2006

Laozi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Controversies
Some controversial theories about Laozi are:
The discussion with Confucius might have been fabricated by Taoists to make their school of
philosophy sound superior to Confucianism.
The actual author(s) of the Tao Te Ching might have created a fictitious character so that the origin of
the text would look more mysterious, thus making it easier to be popularised.
Arguments that "Laozi" was a pseudonym of Dan, Prefect of the Grand Scribes, or of an old man from
Lai, a prefecture in the state of Qí, or of some other historical persons.
It is also believed that the Tao Te Ching was written as a guideline for emperors as how to rule their
empire in a more natural way; "Ruling by not ruling". This can be found in the numerous references in
the Tao Te Ching which stated: "Not exalting man of worth, prevents people from competing" and
"Not putting high value on rare goods, prevents people from being bandit" and "Human hunger is the
result of overtaxation. For this reason, there is hunger".
Taoism
Laozi's work, the Tao Te Ching, is one of the most significant
treatises in Chinese philosophy. It is his magnum opus,
covering large areas of philosophy from individual
spirituality and inter-personal dynamics to political
techniques.
Laozi developed the concept of "Tao", often translated as "the
Way", and widened its meaning to an inherent order or
property of the universe: "The way Nature is". He highlighted
the concept of Wei wuwei, or "action without action". This
does not mean that one should hang around and do nothing,
but that one should avoid explicit intentions, strong wills or
proactive actions;
Laozi believed that violence should be avoided as much as
possible, and that military victory -- which logically would be
attained through use of force -- should be an occasion for
mourning rather than triumphant celebration.
Similarly to the arguments fowarded by Plato in the Republic
on various form of governing, Laozi said that the codification
of laws and rules into the society created difficulty and
complexity in managing and governing.
Seite 2 von 4
Laozi, from Myths and Legends of China
(1922) by E.T.C. Werner
As with most other ancient Chinese philosophers, Laozi often explains his ideas by way of paradox, analogy,
appropriation of ancient sayings, repitition, symmetry, rhyme, and rhythm. The writings attributed to him are
often very dense and poetic. They serve as a starting point for cosmological or introspective meditations.
Many of the aesthetic theories of Chinese art are widely grounded in his ideas and those of his most famous
follower Zhuang Zi.
Some people suggest that the closest parallel to Taoist philosophy in the west is the Traditionalist School,
specifically the works of Ananda Coomaraswamy and Rene Guenon.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lao_zi
09.07.2006

Laozi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The libertarian economist Murray N. Rothbard suggests that Laozi was the first libertarian, likening Laozi's
ideas on government to F.A. Hayek's theory of spontaneous order. [1] (http://www.mises.org/story/1967) (See
also: [2] (http://www.mises.org/journals/jls/9_2/9_2_3.pdf).) Similarly, the Cato Institute's David Boaz
includes passages from the Tao Te Ching in his 1997 book The Libertarian Reader [3]
(http://www.libertarianism.org/reader.html)
Influences
Laozi's most famous follower, Zhuang Zi, wrote a book that had a great deal of influence on Chinese Literati,
through the ideas of individualism, freedom, carefreeness, and, even if the author never speaks about it, art,
which may well be the cornerstone of Chinese aesthetic.
Names
The name "Laozi" is an honorific. Lao means "venerable" or "old". Zi or tsu translates literally as "boy", but it
was also a term for a rank of nobleman equivalent to viscount, as well as a term of respect attached to the
names of revered masters; thus, "Laozi" can be translated roughly as "the old master".
Laozi's personal name may have been Li Er, his courtesy name may have been Boyang, and also Dan, which
also means "mysterious".
Laozi is also known as:
Laodan
Great Lord
Li the Great Lord
Lao the Great Lord
Laozi the Lord of Tao
In the Li Tang Dynasty, in order to create a connection to Laozi as the ancestor of the imperial family, he was
honoured as The Emperor of Xuanyuan , meaning "Profoundly Elementary;" with a temple name of Shengzu,
meaning "Saintly/Sagely Progenitor".
External links
A reconstructed portrait of Laozi
(http://www.reportret.info/gallery/laozi1.html), based
on historical sources, in a contemporary style.
Lao Tzu Page (http://www.taopage.org/laotzu) that
provides teachings on Laozi, his life and philosophical
concepts.
A collection of resources on Laozi by Patrick
Jennings: Critical Thinkers: Lao Tse & Daoism
(http://www.synaptic.bc.ca/ejournal/laotse.htm).
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry
(http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/laozi/)
"The Philosophers: Lao-
Wikiquote has a collection of
quotations related to:
Laozi
Wikisource has original works
written by or about:
Laozi
Seite 3 von 4
Wikimedia Commons has media
related to:
Laozi
Tzu" (http://www.humanistictexts.org/po_chu_i.htm#_Toc483883516) - a poem that criticized Laozi
by Po Chu-I, translated by Arthur Waley
Works by Lao Zi (http://www.gutenberg.org/author/Laozi) at Project Gutenberg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lao_zi
09.07.2006

Laozi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bibliography
Seite 4 von 4
Lau, D. C. Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching. London: Penguin Classics, 1963. ISBN 0-140-44131-X
Wing-tsit Chan, "The Natural Way of Lao Tzu". Chapter 6, A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy.
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1963. ISBN 0-691-01964-9
Henricks, Robert (translator). Lao-Tzu, Te-Tao Ching: A New Translation Based on the Recently
Discovered Ma-wang-tui Texts. New York: Ballantine Books, 1989. ISBN 0-345-37099-6
Waley, Arthur (translator). The Way and Its Power: A Study of the Tao Te Ching and Its Place in
Chinese Thought. New York: Grove Press, 1958. ISBN 0-394-17207-8
Welch, Holmes. Taoism: the Parting of the Way. Boston: Beacon Press, 1965. ISBN 0-8070-5973-0
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laozi" This page contains Chinese text.
Without proper rendering support, you
Categories: Wikipedia articles needing copy edit |
may see question marks, boxes, or other
Articles lacking sources | Articles containing Chinese
symbols instead of Chinese characters.
text | Chinese philosophers | Chinese thinkers | Year of
birth unknown | Year of death unknown | Mysterious people | Taoism | Taoists
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lao_zi
This page was last modified 03:15, 9 July 2006.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free
Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details.)
Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia
Foundation, Inc.
09.07.2006