1. Laozi, romanized as Lao Tzu among other ways, was a semi-legendary Chinese philosopher and author of the Tao Te Ching, one of the foundational texts of Taoism alongside the Zhuangzi.
27 Facts About Laozi
1. 2.
Laozi was claimed and revered as the ancestor of the Tang dynasty and is similarly honored in modern China as the progenitor of the popular surname Li.
3.
Laozi has long been identified with the persona Lao Dan.
4.
Laozi is recorded bearing the courtesy name Boyang, whose Old Chinese pronunciation has been reconstructed as.
5.
Multiple accounts of Laozi's biography are presented, with Sima Qian expressing various levels of doubt in his sources.
6.
Laozi was born in the village of Quren in the southern state of Chu, within present-day Luyi in Henan.
7.
Laozi was said to be the son of the Censor-in-Chief of the Zhou dynasty and Lady Yishou, and was a scholar who worked as the Keeper of the Archives for the royal Zhou court.
8.
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.
9.
Laozi ventured west to live as a hermit in the unsettled frontier at the age of 80.
10.
The text Laozi wrote was said to be the Tao Te Ching, although the present version of the text includes additions from later periods.
11.
The stories assert that Laozi never opened a formal school but nonetheless attracted a large number of students and loyal disciples.
12.
Laozi's birthday is popularly held to be the 15th day of the second month of the Chinese calendar.
13.
Alan Chan provides an example of how Laozi encouraged a change in approach, or return to "nature", rather than action.
14.
The answer provided by Laozi is not the rejection of technology, but instead seeking the calm state of wu wei, free from desires.
15.
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.
16.
The story of Laozi has taken on strong religious overtones since the Han dynasty.
17.
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.
18.
In later Taoist tradition, Laozi came to be seen as a personification of the Tao.
19.
Laozi is said to have undergone numerous "transformations" and taken on guises in various incarnations throughout history to initiate the faithful in the Way.
20.
Taoist myths state that Laozi was a virgin birth, conceived when his mother gazed upon a falling star.
21.
Laozi supposedly remained in her womb for 62 years before being born while his mother was leaning against a plum tree.
22.
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.
23.
Under the Tang, Laozi received a series of temple names of increasing grandeur.
24.
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".
25.
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.
26.
Laozi sees rightful power as earned and wrongful power as usurped.
27.
Laozi sees sacrifice of self or others as a corruption of power, and power as available to anyone who follows the Way.