Laozi, whose surname is Li and whose given name is Dan, is also called Boyang. He was born in the late Spring and Autumn Period. His birth and death dates are unknown. He was born around 571 BC in Ku County (the name of the ancient county) of Chen (later moved to Chu) State in the late Spring and Autumn Period. An ancient Chinese thinker, philosopher, writer and historian, the founder and main representative of the Taoist school. ?
Laozi is a world cultural celebrity and one of the world's 100 historical celebrities. Together with Zhuangzi, he is also known as Laozi and Zhuangzi. In Taoism, Lao Tzu is revered as the ancestor of Taoism and is called "Tai Shang Lao Jun". In the Tang Dynasty, Lao Tzu was posthumously regarded as the ancestor of the surname Li. ?
Laozi’s thought has a profound influence on the development of Chinese philosophy, and the core of his thought is simple dialectics. In politics, Laozi advocates governing by doing nothing and teaching without speaking. In terms of power, Lao Tzu emphasizes the principle that things must be reversed when they reach their extreme.
In terms of self-cultivation, Lao Tzu is the ancestor of Taoism's dual cultivation of life and life, which emphasizes the practice of being open-minded and solid, and not competing with others. Laozi's handed down work "Tao Te Ching" (also known as "Laozi") is one of the most widely published works in the world.
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Laozi’s works and thoughts have become valuable assets of the world’s historical and cultural heritage. The influence of Laozi's thoughts is not only unparalleled within Taoism, but also has far-reaching influence outside Taoism.
Its influence not only includes philosophy, religion, politics, economics, sociology, aesthetics, ethics, literature and art, psychology, education, logic, rhetoric and other disciplines, but also involves medicine, Health care, qigong, military, management, construction, gardening and many other fields. According to incomplete statistics from the Yuan Dynasty, since the pre-Qin Dynasty, there were more than 3,000 kinds of research and annotation of old works by the Yuan Dynasty.
As early as the 18th century, some Western countries had multiple language versions of "Laozi". According to UNESCO statistics, "Laozi" is the most published book in the world besides the Bible. There are more than 300 versions in Japan alone.
By the 1940s and 1950s, there were more than 60 translations of the Tao Te Ching in Europe, including world-renowned scholars such as German philosophers Hegel and Nietzsche, and the Russian writer Tolstoy. They all conducted in-depth research on the Tao Te Ching and published monographs or monographs.
Lao Tzu is one of the three great sages of the East in the eyes of Westerners. The New York Times of the United States once ranked Laozi among the top ten writers in the world, ancient and modern. There are statues of the world's top ten thinkers in the British Library Square in London, and Lao Tzu is one of them. Laozi's thoughts have already broken through national boundaries and become the common spiritual wealth of all mankind.
Baidu Encyclopedia-Laozi