Lao-tsze

Lao-tsze (b. about 604 BC), Chinese scholar.

Lao-tsze is said to have been the founder of a religion called Daoism (or Taoism).

With Confucianism and Buddhism, it is one of the three great religions of China and has about 40 million followers.

All that is known of Lao-tsze consists of legends. According to these he was a poor boy but rose to be keeper of a royal library.

The main book of Taoism is Tao Te Ching and some scholars believe Lao-tsze wrote this. But others believe that Taoism was developed by a group of thinkers about three centuries after Lao-tsze's time.

The name Lao-tsze means Old Philosopher. The date of his death is unknown.

See George Gardiner Alexander Lao-Tsze, the Great Thinker: With a Translation of His Thoughts on the Nature and Manifestations of God