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A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols 192
Lao-zi (Lao-tse)

Later tradition places the birth of the legendary founder of Taoism in 604 BC. This is
generally discounted today; indeed, many scholars doubt whether the book known as the
Dao de jing (‘The Book of the Dao and its Effectiveness’) was written by Lao-zi at all.
We do not know his real name; it was a later tradition that gave him the name Li Dan.
‘Lao-zi’ means nothing more than ‘Old Master’. In the Middle Ages, the legend grew in
China that towards the end of his life he had left China and ridden westwards. From this,
it was but a step to deducing that he had reached India where he was reborn as
Buddha: a typical piece of anti-Buddhist propaganda which was angrily denounced by
the Buddhists.
Recent research has shown that the book he is supposed to have written, the Dao de
jing, was certainly in existence as early as the 2nd century BC; and the text as
reconstructed for that date is virtually identical with the text now extant. Nevertheless, we
are still in no position to say exactly what these 81 short passages mean; they are written
in a lapidary and elliptical manner, and the many ‘translations’ into Western languages
must be regarded as no more than attempts to read into this arcane text whatever a given
translator would like to find there. It has been suggested that the book is a kind of
lecturer’s notebook, containing key-words which the teacher would then amplify in class.
Anthropomorphic deities are notably absent from the Dao de jing. The Dao begets
the One, whence arise the Two: the Two generate the Three, from which all
things develop. (See Section 42.) Synchronically, the Dao orders and governs the world:
diachronically, it makes the world develop the way it does. The Dao is like water; secret
and deep it flows downward, offering no resistance and meeting no resistance.
For some two thousand years the ethos of the ‘sage’ has exercised a profound
influence, on China, and later also on the West. ‘Truthful words are not beautiful;
beautiful words are not truthful… The sage does not hoard. Having bestowed all he has

on others, he has yet more; having given all he has to others, he is richer still’ (Section
81; tr. D. C. Lau).
In Chinese legend, Lao-zi is mistakenly associated with Huang-lao, ‘The Old Yellow
One’, who is supposed to have been one of the five creators of the world. One of Lao-zi’s
avatars is particularly well-known: according to this tradition, his mother carried him
for 72 years in her womb, and then gave birth to him from her left armpit. He was
born with white hair, and already an adept in many magic arts, by means of which he was
able to prolong his life. He is supposed to have ridden to the West on a water buffalo
(or an ox); when he came to the Han-gu Pass he instructed the border guard in the art
of longevity and left with him a compendium of his teachings in five thousand words.
The guard copied this out and then he himself became an Immortal.