According to legend, Lao Tzu (Laozi, "Old Master") served as keeper of the royal archives at the court. Disillusioned with the decay of the dynasty, he set off west on the back of a water buffalo. At the border, the gatekeeper Yinxi recognised him and refused to let him pass without recording his wisdom. The result was the — five thousand characters that founded Daoism. Lao Tzu then rode on into the mountains and was never heard from again. The text is now the second most translated book in human history, after the Bible.
All Figures
Philosopher · The Old Master
Lao Tzu
c. 601 BCE – 531 BCE
Keeper of the Zhou archives who left China for the western mountains — and gave the world the Tao Te Ching before vanishing into legend.
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