The Dao De Jing, a valuable compilation of 5,000 characters, is attributed to Lao Tzu as author. It is an ancient piece dated at approximately 500 BCE.
Several legends shroud the facts surrounding this famous author contributing to the ambiguity of his life and the actual origin of the Dao De Jing. In summary, Lao Tzu was a mortal man who, following the teachings of the Dao, gave up his worldly connections to live a simple life communing with nature.
Before he left and eventually ascended to the nine levels of Heaven, Lao Tzu recorded the Dao De Jing, leaving a valuable resource which thrives to this day.
Lao Tzu’s Symbolic Mortal Life
One version of his life tells how Lao Tzu is born of his mother after 62 years of gestation. He is birthed as a grown man of 80 years with white hair and long ears, both symbols of wisdom.
According to Chinese symbolism and mythology, both the numbers used to mark his gestation and birth age, along with the physical traits of his being, would all be a poetic emphasis on the wisdom he embodies. eight is a magical number considered good luck by Daoists.
Lao Tzu’s Probable Chronology
Another version is that at the age of 80 Lao Tzu retired from years of service in the libraries of Zhou city to a remote pristine region in Western China, far away from the pressures and obligations of village life.
Meeting the Guard Yin Xi upon exiting the city, he was asked to impart some final wisdom. Lao Tzu gifted the guard with a 5,000 character scroll containing the Dao De Jing.
Lao Tzu Half Man, Half Immortal
Daoist priests share one final version where nestled in the remote mountains of Western China, Lao Tzu’s faithful meditations and spiritual practice were rewarded with the transmission of the Dao De Jing by the immortal version of himself. Having recorded this precious work, Lao Tzu ascended the highest level of Heaven on a black ox.
This version emphasizes the Daoist belief that a person can have an immortal soul, a version of yourself that persists through many lifetimes while at the same time possessing a spirit, translatable to that part of yourself attributed to the combination of both the time/place you were born and the energies of mother and father.
In all versions, Lao Tzu now resides in the second highest level of the Daoist Pantheon. He is one of the “San Qing”- Three Pure Ones and continues to exert his influence on all beings to this day. The many altars and places of worship of “Tai Shang Lao Jun” (his respected immortal name) around China visually demonstrate how important the Dao De Jing is even after 2500 years.
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