According to Shiji, or Records of the Grand Historian, Lao Zi’s surname was Li and his personal name was Er. He lived in the times during the Spring and Autumn Period (specifically, active in the 6th century BC), and he had been an official in the imperial archives in the Zhou Dynasty. Confucius had sought his advice on rites, which demonstrated that Lao Zi was famous for his broad knowledge at that time.

 Lao Zi wrote down all his thoughts in Dao De Jing (Tao Te Ching), a book of around 5, 000 characters. In the Han Dynasty, the book had two parts, Dao Jing and De Jing, with 81 chapters in total. Despite its concise nature, it has had great influence on the Chinese culture. Two Daoist schools evolved throughout the history, namely the philosophical and the religious schools of Daoism. Lao Zi’s thought has influenced the Chinese way of thinking and the aesthetic tastes. Dao Dejing was later introduced to Japan in the Tang Dynasty in the 7th century and to Europe in the 15th century, and had a great influence abroad.

The core of Lao Zi’s philosophy is Dao, the Way. What is Dao? In Lao Zi’s view, Dao represents the original state of the universe, the primitive state of the universe before the formation of Heaven and Earth and all other. As Lao Zi had put it, “There formed a mixture of things, prior to the birth of Heaven and Earth. Dao is also the origin of the world from which everything evolved.

“Dao produces One, One produces Two, Two produces Three, and Three produces all things.” What are the characteristics of Dao? “Man follows the law of Earth. Earth follows the law of Heaven. Heaven follows the law of Dao. Dao follows the law of itself.” Therefore, according to Lao Zi, Dao follows the law of itself, and “is not the result of any ordination, but always a spontaneous tribute.” It does not obey anyone’s orders, nor does it pursue anything deliberately. All things happen in accordance with their nature. Dao is like this. Everything in the universe derived from Dao is the same.

The sun rises and sets; flowers blossom and wither; birds fly in the sky, and fish swim in the water; tigers eat meat, and rabbits eat grass. All happens naturally, in accordance with the law of their own nature. Man is pan of the world, and man must also follow the law of man himself, and also respect the law of other things. We must not forcefully change the law of nature. Therefore, Lao Zi was pro nature and against human intervention, which is a harm to the nature, and a disrespect for the objective law of things.

Dao does not advocate progressive action, but, as Lao Zi had put it, “The usual state of Dao is non-action, yet it does everything.” When one does nothing, one is in accordance with Dao, and is following the law of nature. Non-action does not mean doing nothing at all in a passive way. It means one should let nature take its course in doing all things, and that all actions should be taken on the basis of conforming to nature, without violating the law of nature or disrupting the natural patterns. Lao Zi was against blind action against the nature.

With the guiding principles and characteristics of Dao, Lao Zi observed the world and the human society. He put forward some enlightening and inspirational philosophy of life. Following the concept of “Dao follows the law of itself”, and “Dao advocates non-action”, he asserted that man must not struggle and compete. Lao Zi believed that struggles and competitions are the result of the expansion of human desires, which are against the law of nature. The human desires increase more and more during the struggles and competitions, and will eventually lead to demise. Only purity in mind and non-action are in accordance with the natural law of development of the world and human society, and they will be sustainable.

Lao Zi further put forward another philosophy of life, which is to use softness to overcome the strong. He said, “Water is good for all things but competes not.” Water is the best example of softness. Human beings, driven by desires, always try to climb up. On the contrary, water always flows to a lower possible location, for the benefit of all things, and achieves the greatest work of all. Therefore, Lao Zi said, nothing in the world is softer or weaker than water, yet water conquers all, even the strongest things. Because water is not being competitive, and is not driven by interests and desires, it will be invincible.

Lao Zi also asserted, “To reserve is the application of Dao.” He believed that things in opposite positions could be transformed into each other. “Good fortune follows upon disaster; disaster lurks within good fortune.” This famous saying has influenced the way of thinking and dealings with all matters in life for the Chinese. A fable spread by the Daoism scholars, “The Old Man and His Lost Horse”, helps to further illustrate this truth. An old man who was living in the country’s border lost a horse. His neighbours tried to comfort him, but he replied, “No need to comfort me. Maybe this is something good.” Soon, the horse came back with a herd of good horses. His neighbours came to congratulate him. His reply was, “Don’t congratulate me. Maybe this is a bad thing.” With many good horses at home, his son broke his leg when riding a horse. His neighbours, again, tried to comfort him, but he replied, “No need to comfort me. Maybe this is something good.” Before long, a war broke out, and his son was spared of the enlisting due to his broken leg, despite his right age. Fortune and misfortune are intertwined and interchangeable. We need to view them in the light of the evolving nature of things.