1, Lao Zi, surnamed Li Minger, whose name is Bo Yang, or "Qiaocheng Bo Yang". At the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, the year of birth and death is unknown. He was born in Ku County, Chen State in 57 BC1at the end of the Spring and Autumn Period. China was an ancient thinker, philosopher, writer and historian. In Taoism, Laozi is regarded as the ancestor of Taoism. ?
2. Taoism is one of the most important schools in hundred schools of thought during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period in China. Taoism originated very early. According to legend, Xuanyuan Huangdi had the idea of harmony between man and nature. The first person to establish Taoism was Lao Zi in the Spring and Autumn Period, and Lao Zi elaborated it in detail in his book Lao Zi (Tao Te Ching).
3. Laozi's thought has a far-reaching influence on the development of China's philosophy, and its ideological core is simple dialectics. Politically, Laozi advocates the rule of inaction and the teaching of words. Politically, Lao Tzu pays attention to the truth that extremes meet. In terms of self-cultivation, Laozi is the ancestor of Taoist double cultivation, paying attention to modest and upright practice and not competing with others.
4. Other representatives of Taoism include Zhuang Zhou, Lieyukou, Hui Shi and others in the Warring States Period. Taoism advocates the natural world outlook and methodology, and respects Huangdi and Laozi as founders, which is called Huang Lao.
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1. Laozi's works and thoughts have become the precious wealth of the world's historical and cultural heritage. The influence of Laozi's thought is unparalleled not only in Taoism, but also far-reaching outside Taoism. Its influence includes philosophy, religion, politics, economics, sociology, aesthetics, ethics, literature and art, psychology, education, logic and rhetoric.
2. Laozi's works also cover many fields such as medicine, health preservation, qigong, military affairs, management, architecture, gardening and so on. According to the incomplete statistics of the Yuan Dynasty, since the pre-Qin period, there have been more than 3,000 kinds of research and annotation works in the Yuan Dynasty.
3. As early as18th century, some western countries had many versions of Laozi. According to the statistics of UNESCO, Laozi is the most published book except the Bible in the world, with more than 300 editions in Japan alone.
4. By the 1940s and 1950s, there were more than 60 translations of Tao Te Ching in Europe. German philosopher Hegel, Nietzsche, Russian great writer Tolstoy and other world-renowned scholars have conducted in-depth research on the Tao Te Ching and published monographs or monographs.
Laozi is one of the three great saints in the East in the eyes of westerners. The New York Times once listed Laozi as one of the top ten writers in the world. There are ten statues of the world's top thinkers in the square of the British Library in London, and Laozi is one of them. Laozi's thought has already broken through national boundaries and become the spiritual wealth of all mankind. ?
Baidu Encyclopedia-Laozi (founder of Taoism)