Ancient China · Daoist sage

Laozi 老子

Attested BC 500

Passages: 5
Chapters: 4
Histories: 2

Overview

Laozi was a Daoist sage.

Life and dates

Attested activity

legendary antiquity
Directly stated · Book of Han 98, passage 56
BC 500 黃帝、老子之言
Dated from the passage context · Records of the Grand Historian 80, passage 118

Key source chapters

Events and relationships

Relation Teacher of · Person Zhi Buyi (直不疑)
Strongly inferred · Records of the Grand Historian 103, passage 119

References in the histories

Book of Han, Chapter 98Volume 87a: Yang Xiong 1 · 1 passage

混漁父之餔歠兮，潔沐浴之振衣，棄由、聃之所珍兮，□庶彭鹹之所遺！ Share the fisherman's coarse fare, then bathe and shake out your robe; leave what Xu You and Laozi held dear—take up the path Peng Xian left behind!

Book of Han, Chapter 117Volume 100a: Afterword and Family History 1 · 1 passage

嗣雖修儒學，然貴老嚴之術。 Ban Si pursued Confucian texts yet revered the Daoist teachings of Laozi and Yan Junping.

Records of the Grand Historian, Chapter 80Biography of Yue Yi · 2 passages

樂臣公善修黃帝、老子之言，顯聞於齊，稱賢師。 Yue Chengong was expert in the teachings of Huangdi and Laozi. He became well known in Qi and was regarded as a worthy teacher.

樂臣公學黃帝、老子，其本師號曰河上丈人，不知其所出。 Yue Chengong studied Huangdi and Laozi. His original teacher was known as the Elder on the River, though his origins are unknown.

Records of the Grand Historian, Chapter 103Biographies of Wan Shi and Zhang Shu · 1 passage

不疑學老子言。 Buyi studied the teachings of Laozi.