"Unknown, the beginning of the heavens and the earth, the mother of all things."
—— Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching
In the end of the spring and autumn, the world was in chaos. One day, Lingbaohan Valley came out with the old white beard old man riding a green cattle.Yin Xizhi invited a book "Tao Te Ching".
Lao Tzu’s thoughts have a profound impact on the development of Chinese philosophy, and the core of its thoughts is simple dialectics.Politically, advocate the teachings of inaction and ruling.In terms of power, pay attention to the reason for things.In terms of self -cultivation, it is the ancestor of Taoist life.Because of this, Lao Tzu’s handed down work "The Tao Te Ching" (also known as "Lao Tzu") is one of the most published works in the world.
The world is called "Lao Tzu", such as: Confucius called Kong Qiu, Mencius called Meng Zi, and Chinese surnames.Lao Tzu is named, but the clues in historical books show that "Lao Tzu" is only his number.
It is said that when Lao Tzu was born, he was an old man’s image, so he was called "Lao Tzu".
This is the legend about Lao Tzu’s birth:
Lao Tzu is famous, Li Er, and his name is related to a fruit.The origin of Lao Tzu in history is quite arguing. Luyi, Henan is one of Lao Tzu’s hometown. There are villages in the east of the city, with river grooves, and plum trees on both sides of the ditch. There are households nearby.I just want to be filial at home and don’t want to marry.
On this day, she was washing clothes in the ditch as usual, and she saw a plum floating on the water. This plum was very special, twin, and had a long stomach.The girl was curious and picked up the plum. The shape of this plum was like two ears buckled in one piece. Seeing yellow in Qingzhong, yellow in yellow.
So, the girl couldn’t help but bite, and her taste was sweet and sour. She didn’t care about it, and she ate a few sips.I thought that as soon as the plumon swallowed, the girl’s stomach began to toss and kept nausea.The girl was so uncomfortable. At this moment, a voice actually came out of her belly: "Mother, don’t worry, the child is okay to sit in a posture."
This "child" is Lao Tzu. He "sat" in his mother’s belly.From the beginning, Lao Tzu told his mother -in -law that it was the plum that had him. Moreover, his birth time was very special, and he had to wait for "the sky is long, and the camel people come."As a result, the girl waited from the age to Xue Xunshuang, and her child was not born.
She was in a hurry, her son always said that he couldn’t come out, but not to say the reason, so she didn’t want to wait any more.At this time, there was a missing piece in the northeast corner, so she cheated her son: "The sky is strict, and the camel people are here." As soon as she finished speaking, the baby in the belly was from her right ribs.Arched out.
The baby’s hair and eyebrows are white, and there is a white beard, which is obviously like a "little old man".But at the sight of this baby, he had no camel, and he panicked.It turned out that he had to use the camel’s skin to make up for his mother’s right ribs, and watched his mother’s right ribs bleeding. He had no choice but to shed tears and gimp his mother: "Mother, how can this be good?"
The mother could see it, and comforted him softly: "How can I blame you? At that time, the mother had eaten the plum with you, and the plum was like the ears. In the future, your name will be Li Er.Before I died, I had nothing else. As I said that the Taoist had left names, after entering Jiuquan, you are a good person in the world, and you will not bother to conceive you for more than 80 years. "
Having said that, Li Er’s mother died.Because Li Er was born when he was born, people called him Lao Tzu.
Of course, in addition to the above legend, there is also a legend about Lao Tzu’s birth:
In other words, Lao Tzu was difficult to give birth at birth, but that day his yard was shrouded in auspiciousness. Lao Tzu’s mother finally used a knife to have a caesarean section, and Lao Tzu survived.
It is said that the mother deliberately left the last words before dying: I hope that her child can benefit the life in the future.Lao Tzu’s appearance is very special. The head is round, the bridge of the nose is tall, the hair is pale, and the ears are particularly large.It is said that the year of the year was the year of the tiger. Everyone called him "raccoon" (folk name), and over time became "Li Er".
There is another saying about Lao Tzu’s name:
When he was born, he was an old man with gray -haired old man, so his mother was directly named "Lao Tzu".When Lao Tzu was born, he would speak, and he pointed at a plum tree: "Li is my surname."
Lao Tzu left the "Tao Te Ching", but he did not leave his own details, which made the future people fight well.The Li family of the Emperor Li of the Tang Dynasty sent a straightforward: Lao Tzu was the ancestor of the old Li family, and he also pursued him one after another.In the mythology system, there are more Taishang Laojun, and Lao Tzu is the incarnation of Laojun.
In fact, whether Lao Tzu was the image of an old man when he was born, it was not very true. The 5,000 words he left have made people see another scene between this world and the earth. Who would really care about his appearance.Woolen cloth?Perhaps, such a statement can be in line with some imagination, just as he rode a green cattle at that time, he should have something different.
However, many people do not like what Lao Tzu said, "inaction".His "shape", which is in line with the "unity of heaven and man" in traditional Chinese culture: everything must be conforming to the law, so that it can truly vibrant.
In Chinese traditional culture, the old man is not only a symbol of longevity, but also represents wisdom. Therefore, in so many stories, the image of Lao Tzu looks like an old man from beginning to end.
Reference materials:
["Tao Te Ching", "History of China"]
