Lao Tzu

(Sixth Century B.C.E.)

Personal/Family Background
Lao Tzu is counted among China’s greatest sages, yet little is known with certainty about
his life. The Records of the Historian, written in the first century B.C.E., identify him as a native
of Ch’u (in today’s Honan province) whose original name is Erh Li and posthumous honorary
name was Tan. The Records state that he was a curator of the imperial archives in the capital of
Ch’u and was once visited by Confucius seeking information on rituals. Though this statement
places him in the sixth century B.C.E., the Records also mention the names of Lao Lai Tzu, from
the sixth century, and of Tan, from the fourth century. In addition, it expresses uncertainty over
whether these persons were the same Lao Tzu and notes that Lao Tzu’s son was a general from
the third century. Lao Tzu’s name itself is ambiguous, for it can be translated as “Master Lao” or
literally as “Old Master”.

His Philosophy
The authorship of one of China’s most influential classics, the Tao Teh Ching (Classic of
the Way and Its Virtue or Power) has been attributed to Lao Tzu. It is one of the most translated
books in the world, next to the Bible and the Bhagavad Gita, and has received more written
commentaries than any Chinese classic. Consisting of 5,250 words that were later divided into
eighty-one sections or chapters, the book contains poetic, philosophical, and mystical thoughts
with profound and subtle meanings. It gives expression to Taoism, one of the three major strands
of thought in Chinese history, along with Confucianism and Buddhism. Though Confucianism is
historically the dominant philosophy, Taoism stands on a par with it in its influence on the
Chinese way of life and thought. Though all ancient Chinese philosophies, including
Confucianism, taught the Way (Tao or Dao) of life, only Taoism is named “The Way”. The other
philosophies spoke of the Way mainly as a moral system or principle and focused on teaching
the proper way humans ought to live in relation to others. However, Taoism speaks of the Way
more broadly as the way of Nature or the way of the universe and it focuses on teaching the
proper way to live in accordance with Nature.
For Lao Tzu, the Way is the One, the eternal source. It is the course of all things, yet it is
not itself a thing. Thus, he refers to it as “the Nameless”, as what is indefinable. It is utter
simplicity, for it contains no distinction in itself, though all distinctions originate from it. The
universe stemming from it is a harmonious whole of the opposites that complement and
eventually transforms into each other. In other words, the universe is a balance of yin (the
passive and receptive, the feminine) and yang (the active and the aggressive, the masculine). Lao
Tzu says that the Way is “like an empty bowl, which in being used can never be filled up.” Such
emptiness is, then, not sheer nothingness, but the inexhaustible whole of all life energy. It is
spontaneous, free, and unselfish in its giving. When the Way is manifest in individual things, it
becomes their virtue or power (teh), so that things that follow their natural course achieve their
proper excellence.
For Lao Tzu, the ideal life is the life that follows the Way. This means to live the natural
way, by letting Nature takes its course. Lao Tzu’s emphasis on nonaction (wu-wei) indicates the
path through which we can achieve virtue or power. Rather than being a doctrine of total
inaction, the Way tells us not to take any action that is contrary to Nature; that is, in moral terms,
to lead a life based on spontaneity, simplicity, tranquility, unselfishness, and humility. To be
virtuous is to be “weak” in the sense of being like water: pliant and ductile. It is only when we
“go with the natural flow,” so to speak, that we attain true power and strength. In political terms,
Lao Tzu proposes that an ideal ruler is not even noticed by the people, for he is the sage-ruler
who does not interfere with the natural course of the state. The ideal is thus laissez-faire
government. Reacting against anything unnatural, Lao Tzu developed a nonconformist position
that shunned the artificialities and formalities of social living while emphasizing the importance
of inner peace in being true to one’s nature.

“A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step”