[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Buddhist Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha) › [Taishō Tripiṭaka (Chinese Buddhist canon)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho) › [法苑珠林](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2122) › 31.27 # 法苑珠林 31.27 法苑珠林 31.27 - **Language:** Classical Chinese ### [31.27](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2122.31.27) 周時老子者。姓李名聃。字伯陽。楚國苦縣瀨鄉曲仁里人。其母感大流星而有娠。雖受氣於天。然見生於李家。猶以李為姓。或云。老子先天地生。或云。是天之魂精靈之屬。或云。其母懷之七十歲乃生。生時剖其母左腋出。出而白首。故謂之老子。或言。其母夫老子氏母家。或老子母適到李樹下而生老子。老子生言。指李樹曰。以此為我姓。或云。老子欲西出關。關令尹喜知其非常。從之問道術。老子驚怪故吐舌聃然。遂有老聃之號。皆不然也。今案九變及先生十二化經。老子未出關時。固以名聃矣。老子數易名字。非但聃而已。所以爾者。案九宮三五經及元辰經。人生各有厄會。到時易其名字以隨生氣之音。則可以延年度厄。今世有道者亦如此。老子在周乃二百餘年。二百餘年之中必有厄會非一。是以名字稍多耳。 > Laozi of the Zhou had the family name Li, the personal name Dan, and the courtesy name Boyang. He was a native of Quren Hamlet, Lai Township, Ku County, in the State of Chu. His mother was moved by a large shooting star and became pregnant. Although he received his pneuma from Heaven, he was visibly born into the Li family, and so he took Li as his surname. Some say that Laozi was born before Heaven and Earth; some say that he was of the class of the soul, essence, and spirits of Heaven; some say that his mother carried him for seventy years before giving birth to him, and at the time of birth, her left armpit was sliced open and he came out, emerging with white hair, which is why he was called Laozi (Old Master). Some say that his mother’s husband was of the Laozi clan, or his mother’s maternal family was; or that Laozi’s mother happened to go under a plum (li) tree and gave birth to Laozi, and when Laozi was born, he spoke, pointed to the plum tree and said, “Take this as my surname.” Some say that when Laozi wished to go west out through the pass, the Barrier Keeper Yin Xi knew he was extraordinary and followed him to inquire about Daoist arts, and Laozi was astonished and stuck out his tongue \[long and drooping\] like “dan”, and thus had the name Lao Dan. None of these is correct. Now, according to the Nine Transformations and the Master's Twelve Transformations Scripture, before Laozi had gone out through the pass, he was already named Dan. Laozi changed his names and styles several times, not being just Dan alone. As for the reason why this was so: according to the Scripture of the Nine Palaces and Three Fives and the Scripture of the Original Chronograms, people's lives each have periods of adversity; when the time arrives, if one changes one’s name and style to accord with the sound of the life-giving pneuma, one can extend one's years and cross over adversity. The possessors of the Dao in the present age also do this. Laozi was in the Zhou for more than two hundred years, and in the course of more than two hundred years, there must have been more than one period of adversity. It is for this reason that his names were somewhat numerous. > — English (machine translation) (machine translation) - [Previous: 31.26](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2122.31.26) - [Next: 31.28](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2122.31.28) - [Up: 31](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2122.31) ## Translations (1) - [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2122~en-mt.31.27) — English, machine translation --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2122.31.27](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2122.31.27) · Pramāṇa