The life of Lao Tzu is a mysterious one. His last name is "Li" and his first name is "Er". "Bo-yang" is his courtesy name and "Dan" as his posthumous title. He was born in 571 BC during the time of King Ding of Zhou Dynasty in Chen County, State of Chu. He served as the Custodian of the Imperial Archives for King Ding. His father had a family name of Han and the first name Qian, with Yuan-bi as his courtesy name. His mother's name was Jing-fu. His mysterious birth stated that his mother was pregnant for eighty years and he was born under a plum tree. Thus Lao Tzu adopted the Chinese character for plum (pronounced as Li) as his surname.

He is the first scholar to inherit the heritage of Tao and then he passed it to Confucius. After transmitting the essence of Tao to Confucius, he rode a green ox and went to the west through Fort Han-gu. He enlightened the King Yin-xi in the west. His teaching emphasizes on distancing emotions and desires and maintain one's True Nature. By excluding all images in the material world, his way of reaching the Void (Heaven of Truth) is from the Heaven of Spirit. When the True Fire and True Water inside the body become complementary, the process of refinement will give birth to the immortal embryo. He wrote "Tao Te Ching" and "Qing-jing Ching, also known as Ch'ing-ching Ching" to teach people. He is greatly respected as the founder of Taoism.

For ages, the Chinese general belief has been that man must show that he is strong and not pliant; smart and not dull. But Lao Tzu came and said that man must show pliant and not tough. Man must have no motives and desires; be selfless, pure-minded and natural. He is strongly against materialism and advocates a life of natural goodness.

Realizing that the Zhou's reign was disintegrating, he left Luoyang and went west through the Han Gu Pass. The keeper of the pass, Lin Yinxi, when met Lao Tzu at the pass, requested Lao Tzu to please write something to give him guidance. So Lao Tzu wrote a book made up of two parts, consisting of about 5,000 characters. Upon completing the book, Lao Tzu left and nobody knew where he went after that. The book is called Tao Te Ching.

My Heavenly Master JiGong said, "The books that you are reading (including Tao Te Ching) now are created by ancient people. Then the books that were created and handed down to you by the ancient people are actually telling you a road and a path for learning. Every matter must have its Truth and principle, and they must have its longitudes and latitudes (rules and norms)."

Author: T.A Chew