The legend of Laozi and Daoism

Typical renderings of Laozi depict him as an old man with long white hair and beard.

Arguably the most influential Chinese philosopher of his time, Laozi’s life reflects the ambiguity of his philosophy—mysterious and contradictory. Questions asked about the Daodejing, the Taoist script attributed to Laozi, also lead to doubts over the actual existence of Laozi himself. However, despite the uncertaintly of Laozi’s existence as a physical being, his deification as a worshiped figure in China parallels similar global religious figures which emerged during Karl Jasper’s “axial age”(Jasper 1951). As a philosopher, or deity, Laozi continues to contribute to philosophical thought, and religious worship in modern days.

Origins

The Man

The earliest known record of Laozi's birth was in Ssu-ma Chiien's Record of the historian. Which placed Laozi as a native of the village of Li, in the state of Ch'en. It was here where Laozi first met Confucius around 479 BC, and during the supposed meeting Confucius first asked Laozi to be his master. Laozi worked as a the Keeper of the Archives, in the city of Loyang under the Royal Court of Zhou. Much like a librarian, Laozi would have access to a number of classical and philosophical texts of the time. This lead to his meeting with Confucius, who solicited Laozi for information on the traditional rites of old (Simpkins & Simpkins 1999). A disciple of Laozi's, Zhuangzi gives the following, probably fictional, account of Confucius‘s impression of Laozi:

“Master, you’ve seen [Laozi]—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 [Laozi]!” Zhuangzi, Ch. 14

While there are many accounts of Laozi's life, contradictions belie any believable scenario of his actual life. For instance, the meeting with Confucius between 600-500BCE are anecdotal, and were first written in the Zhuangzi hundreds of years later between 369—298 BCE (Coutinho 2004). Additionally, the first recorded evidence of Laozi's DaodeJing is not until around 300 BCE hundreds of years after the reported life of Confucius (Ebrey, 47). Because of these and other conflicting facts, Laozi's life fits more easily into that of legend.

Laozi is also rumored to have married and conceived a son name "Tsung". Because of this, many people claim to be able to trace their lineage back to Laozi (SImpkins & Simpkins 1999).

The Legend

According to popular legend, Laozi was born after his mother "admired" a falling star and fell pregnant. The pregnancy laster sixty-two years before Laozi was born, under a plum tree, a fully developed elderly man, with long earlobes and white hair (Simpkins & Simpkins 1999). Laozi's origin legend has many symbolic motif's which intersect the origins of other deities and religious figures. Jesus Christ for example was born of immaculate conception, in conjunction with the appearance of a bright star in the sky (Matt 2:7-10). Siddhartha, the prince who would become the Buhdda, reached his enlightenment, or spiritual re-brith underneath a tree. His depiction with long ear-lobes was also a popular symbol of wisdom in asia which he shared with the Buddha and Confucius.

According to legend, Laozi rode a water buffalo into the Great Desert after becoming disillusioned with society.

During his life Laozi also had aspects of his personal legend which closely parallel other figures. Like Christ, Laozi is called "master" and is depicted riding on the back of a water buffalo, much like Christ on the back on an ass. Laozi also makes a pilgrimage to the Great Desert, like Christ, where he travels to be free from societal corruption.

Datong Yungang Cave, among the earliest remaining examples of Buddhist art in China. Photo by Peter Ward.

The Diety

References

Simpkins, Annellen M.; Simpkins, C. Alexander (1999), Simple Taoism: a guide to living in balance (3rd Printing ed.), Boston: Tuttle Publishing, pp. 192

Patricia Ebrey, The Cambridge Illustrated History of China (Cambridge: Cambridge University, 1996), 46-48.Aaronsamudio 08:19, 11 October 2012 (UTC)

File:Presentation Laozi.pptx -Nice job with the presentation yesterday. --Tcrale 00:17, 11 October 2012 (UTC)