Page 657 - The Encyclopedia of Taoism v1_A-L

LAOZI AND LAOJUN 615

worshipped him as a representative of their ideal of cosmic and political unity
alongside the Yellow Emperor (*Huangdi) and the Buddha (see *Laozi ming);
3. popular millenarian cults, who identified Laozi as the god who manifested
himself through the ages and would save the world yet again and bring about
the age of Great Peace (*taiping). Called Lord Lao (Laojun) or Yellow Old
Lord (Huanglao jun It * tt), this deified Laozi was like the personification
of cosmic harmony worshipped by the court but equipped with tremendous
revolutionary power. As a messiah (see *Li Hong), he could overturn the pres-
ent and reorganize the world, leading the faithful to a new state of heavenly
bliss in this very life on earth (see *Laozi bianhua jing).
These various texts all add new information to the two key episodes of the
Laozi legend as known in the early Han, expanding the beginning of his life to
include his identity with the Dao, creation of the world, and periodic descent
as "teacher of dynasties," embellishing his birth by increasing his time in the
womb and giving him the physiognomy of a sage, and extending his life after
the emigration by either having him wander west and convert the barbarians
to his teaching, then known as "Buddhism," or by ascending back to heaven
and returning to reveal various Taoist teachings in China.
As a result, the complex Laozi myth, which first evolves at this time, can
be described as consisting of six distinct parts:
1. Laozi as the Dao creates the universe (creation)
2. Laozi descends as the teacher of dynasties (transformations)
3. Laozi is born on earth and serves as an archivist under the Zhou (birth)
4. Laozi emigrates and transmits the Daode jing to Yin Xi (transmission)
5. Laozi and Yin Xi go west and convert the barbarians to Buddhism (con-
version)
6. Laozi ascends to heaven and comes back again to give revelations to
Chinese seekers, founding Taoist schools (revelations)

Medieval and later traditions. This basic structure of the myth is further expanded
and deepened in the following centuries. The fifth-century * Santian neijie jing
(Scripture of the Inner Explication of the Three Heavens) of the southern
Celestial Masters (*Tianshi dao) adds more details on the cosmology of cre-
ation and applies motifs from the birth of the Buddha. In the sixth century,
the *Kaitian jing (Scripture of the Opening of Heaven), the Wenshi neizhuan
5z:Jis 1*1 {,w (Inner Biography of Master Wenshi; Kohn 1997b, 109-13), and the
*Huahujing (Scripture of the Conversion of Barbarians), all of the northern
Celestial Masters at *Louguan (Tiered Abbey), provide additional details on
the transformations and a stylized version of the transmission and conver-
sion, and add a second meeting of Laozi with Yin Xi in Sichuan at a "black