Lao Tse

Lao Tse (b. 604 BCE) is the name commonly used to refer to the supposed author of the Tao Te Ching, or The Classic of The Way and Its Virtue. The aphorisms found in the Tao Te Ching are considered to be at the core of the Taoist canon, and, by reflection, Lao Tse is generally considered to be, if not the father of Taoism, then at least the first identifiable codifier of Taoist thought.

The name Lao Tse itself is an honorific. Lao is translated as "venerable" or "old", and Tse is translate literally as "child" or "offspring", but it was also a term for a rank of nobleman equivalent to viscount, as well as a term of respect attached to the names of revered scholars. Thus, "Lao Tse" can be translated as "the old master”, or perhaps more elegantly, “the old boy.” Lao Tse is believed by some to have been a contemporary of Confucius (551-479 BC), and by others to be a teacher of Confucius.

The exact circumstances surrounding Lao Tse's creation of the Tao Te Ching have been lost to the centuries, but one popular account goes something like this:

Lao Zi was the keeper of the archives (what we might today think of as 'the wise man') in one of the many kingdoms that are now part of China. When he saw that the kingdom was in decline, he decided to leave. Apon reaching the border, the official in charge of the border pass stopped him asking something to the effect of "if you go, how will we know the right way to follow?" And so, before leaving, Lao Zi wrote out the 5000 words of the Tao Te Ching for posterity.