About
Laozi (, Chinese: 老子), also known by numerous other names, was a semi-legendary ancient Chinese Taoist philosopher. Laozi is a Chinese honorific, generally translated as "the Old Master". Traditional accounts say he was born as Li Er in the state of Chu in the 6th century BC during China's Spring and Autumn Period, served as the royal archivist for the Zhou court at Wangcheng (modern Luoyang), met and impressed Confucius on one occasion, and composed the Tao Te Ching before retiring into the western wilderness. Chinese folk religion holds that he then became an immortal hermit or a god of the celestial bureaucracy under the name Laojun, one of the Three Pure Ones.
Laozi is sometimes cited as:
- Lao Tzu
- Laotzu