37 Facts About Laozi

1.

Laozi, romanized as Lao Tzu and various other ways, was a semi-legendary ancient Chinese Taoist philosopher, credited with writing the Tao Te Ching.

2.

Laozi is a Chinese honorific, generally translated as "the Old Master".

3.

Laozi's work had a profound influence on subsequent Chinese religious movements and on subsequent Chinese philosophers, who annotated, commended, and criticized his work extensively.

4.

Multiple accounts of Laozi's biography are presented, with Sima Qian expressing various levels of doubt in his sources.

5.

Laozi was an official in the imperial archives and wrote a book in two parts before departing to the west.

6.

The stories assert that Laozi never opened a formal school but nonetheless attracted a large number of students and loyal disciples.

7.

Sima Qian reports that Laozi was born in the village of Quren in the southern state of Chu, within present-day Luyi in Henan.

8.

Laozi's birthday is popularly held to be the 15th day of the second month of the Chinese calendar.

9.

Laozi was said to be the son of the Censor-in-Chief of the Zhou dynasty and Lady Yishou.

10.

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.

11.

The third story in Sima Qian states that Laozi grew weary of the moral decay of life in Chengzhou and noted the kingdom's decline.

12.

Laozi ventured west to live as a hermit in the unsettled frontier at the age of 80.

13.

The text Laozi wrote was said to be the Tao Te Ching, although the present version of the text includes additions from later periods.

14.

Laozi pretended to be a farmer when reaching the western gate, but was recognized by Yinxi, who asked to be taught by the great master.

15.

Laozi was not satisfied by simply being noticed by the guard and demanded an explanation.

16.

Yinxi received his ordination when Laozi transmitted the Tao Te Ching, along with other texts and precepts, just as Taoist adherents receive a number of methods, teachings and scriptures at ordination.

17.

Laozi eventually meets again with Laozi, who announces that Yinxi's immortal name is listed in the heavens and calls down a heavenly procession to clothe Yinxi in the garb of immortals.

18.

The story continues that Laozi bestowed a number of titles upon Yinxi and took him on a journey throughout the universe, even into the nine heavens.

19.

Laozi is presented as the Tao personified, giving his teaching to humanity for their salvation.

20.

The story of Laozi has taken on strong religious overtones since the Han dynasty.

21.

Belief in the revelation of the Tao from the divine Laozi resulted in the formation of the Way of the Celestial Masters, the first organized religious Taoist sect.

22.

In later mature Taoist tradition, Laozi came to be seen as a personification of the Tao.

23.

Laozi is said to have undergone numerous "transformations" and taken on various guises in various incarnations throughout history to initiate the faithful in the Way.

24.

Taoist myths state that Laozi was a virgin birth, conceived when his mother gazed upon a falling star.

25.

Laozi supposedly remained in her womb for 62 years before being born while his mother was leaning against a plum tree.

26.

Laozi used the term broadly with simplicity and humility as key virtues, often in contrast to selfish action.

27.

Livia Kohn provides an example of how Laozi encouraged a change in approach, or return to "nature", rather than action.

28.

The answer provided by Laozi is not the rejection of technology, but instead seeking the calm state of wu wei, free from desires.

29.

Laozi influenced millions of Chinese people by his psychological understanding.

30.

Political theorists influenced by Laozi have advocated humility in leadership and a restrained approach to statecraft, either for ethical and pacifist reasons, or for tactical ends.

31.

Laozi sees rightful power as earned and wrongful power as usurped.

32.

Laozi sees sacrifice of self or others as a corruption of power, and power as available to anyone who follows the Way.

33.

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.

34.

Laozi is the modern pinyin romanization of the Standard Mandarin pronunciation of the characters.

35.

Many clans of the Li family trace their descent to Laozi, including the emperors of the Tang dynasty.

36.

Under the Tang, Laozi received a series of temple names of increasing grandeur.

37.

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".