佛祖歷代通載 3.67

3.67

(Year 25, dingsi) Lao Dan was born on the fourteenth day of the ninth month of this year in Quren Hamlet, Lai Village, Ku County, Chen Commandery, in the state of Chu. The Book of Wei states: Lao Dan's father had the surname Han, personal name Qian, and courtesy name Yuanbi; his mother was named Jingfu. The two united and she became pregnant; after carrying him for eighty years, he was born under a plum (li) tree, which was taken as his surname. His personal name was Er and his courtesy name was Boyang. He was four feet six inches tall, with a protruding forehead, thick eyebrows, turned-up lips, an upturned nose, pointed shoulders, a broad back, drooping ears, and disheveled hair; therefore his posthumous name was Dan. He kept secret in his heart the Way of independent solitary wonder, and relied in practice on the virtue of the Three Treasures: first, compassion; second, frugality; third, not daring to be foremost in the world. In the jimao year of King Jing, purple vapor floated over the pass, and he wished to go to the shifting sands. At that time Yin Xi, the magistrate of Hangu Pass, was a man who understood the Way; he asked for verbal teachings, so Laozi composed two chapters on the Dao and De, totaling five thousand words, all commenting upon the Great Way. Afterward, unable to reach the shifting sands, he died at Huaili at the age of eighty-four. At that time, Qin Yi came to mourn him, gave three wails, and departed. From this it is known that his heavenly mandate ended in the Zhou.