Laozi
1 book analyzed
Biography
Laozi (also Lao Tzu, Lao-Tze) is a semi-legendary figure traditionally dated to the 6th century BCE, though modern scholars place the text's composition between the 4th and 3rd centuries BCE. According to the Han dynasty historian Sima Qian, Laozi was a keeper of archives at the Zhou court who became disillusioned with civilization's decline. Departing westward through a mountain pass, he was stopped by a gatekeeper who asked him to write down his wisdom before leaving. Laozi produced the 5,000 characters of the Tao Te Ching and vanished into the wilderness, never to be seen again. Whether Laozi was a single historical person, a composite of several thinkers, or a purely legendary figure remains one of the great unresolved questions of Chinese intellectual history. The text itself may have been assembled over generations from oral tradition.