Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s9.t1.6

v1.c7.s9.t1.6

Historian Sima Qian also described him as a man of moral excellence and extensive learning but in low profile with fervent intent of not seeking to be known to the outside. After having stayed there for long and having witnessed declining of the Zhou House, Laozi finally decided to leave the capital. When he arrived at Hangu Pass, he was stopped and requested by the pass officer Yinxi to write a book. That is the origin of the book of our having today; it is in two parts, elaborating the concepts of Dao and De totalling over 5,000 characters. After he completed and handed over his book, he was allowed to pass through Hangu Pass and hitherto gone into reclusion, and his whereabouts have never been heard of since. In view of the above, Laozi should have been Lao Dan who lived in the end period of the Spring and Autumn, and was senior in age to Confucius. Although Sima Qian was inclined to this version, yet there has been no consensus of this point. History after the Han Dynasty abounds with disputes on Laozi. The recent contemporaries still believe Laozi actually is none other than Lao Dan of the end period of Spring and Autumn, such experts as Ma Xulun, Tang Lan and Guo Moruo. Whereas Fan Wenlan, Hou Wailu and others alleged that Laozi should have lived in the Warring State Period. In short, there has been so far no firm and ascertained dates of Laozi’s birth and death while his life story is no more than brief record and narration highly scattered and fragmentary just like a swan’s footprints found on snow and mud; nevertheless, description of his theoretical features by the scholars of later generations is, for the most part, highly similar.