Laozi

Laozi is a famous thinker, philosopher, founder and key representative of Taoism in the late Spring and Autumn period (770-476 B.C.). Considered as the ancestor of Taoism, Laozi is also called the Supreme Venerable Lord (Tai Shang Lao Jun). At the end of the Spring and Autumn period, Laozi resigned from office amid warring times and retreated to seclusion. He went westwards through the Hangu Pass and wrote tao te Ching. tao te Ching consists of two components, the tao Ching (the Sutra of Way) and the te Ching (the Sutra of Virtue), with a total of 81 chapters. Revolving around the philosophical concepts of tao and te, it discusses the principles of governance, military employment, self-cultivation and health preservation.

Laozi established a theory centered on tao, believing that tao is the root of all things in the world, that te (virtue) is the nature of things themselves, and that tao is the body and te is the function. He further put forward important ideas such as "tao operates naturally", "Quietness", "Inaction" and "Softness". He held that both individuals and countries should respect morality and follow the path of nature to achieve personal health and longevity, and long-term stability for a country. The core of Laozi's thought is simple dialectics. He believes that everything in the world exists by comparison, and that the two opposite aspects actually contain and permeate each other, that is, "there is me in you, and there is you in me"- a status that constantly changes. In politics, he advocated a small country with less population be governed by doing nothing. He stressed on maintaining a soft character for worldly relations and returning to nature for self-cultivation. Many of his ideas that have been passed down to the present, such as "the highest good is like water", "tao operates naturally", "governance through inaction", and "the interdependence between haps and mishaps", all have origins in tao te Ching.

Laozi's thoughts largely shaped up Chinese philosophy and ways of thinking, and had a profound impact on Chinese politics and religion. His book tao te Ching has been translated into dozens of languages and spread around the world as a piece of precious spiritual wealth of all mankind.

老子

老子是春秋末期著名思想家、哲學家，道家創始人和主要代表人物，被尊為道祖，稱“太上老君”。春秋末年戰 亂，老子辭官歸隱，西出函谷關，著有《道德經》。《道德經》分《道經》《德經》兩篇，共八十一章，圍繞“道”“德”的哲學理念，論述治國、用兵、修身、養生的道理。

老子建立了以“道”為中心的學說，認為道是天地萬物的根源，德是事物自身的本性，道為體、德為用。他還進一步提出“道法自然”“清靜”“無為”“守柔”等重要思想，認為無論是個人還是國家，都應該尊道貴德、順道而行，才能實現個人的健康長壽和國家的長治久安。老子思想的核心是樸素的辯證法，認為世界上的任何事物都是相比較而存在的，相互對立的兩個方面實際上是相互包含、相互滲透的， 即“你中有我，我中有你”，并非一成不變。他在政治上主張小國寡民、無為而治，在處世上強調柔弱不爭，在修身上講求返璞歸真。很多流傳至今的觀念，如上善若水、道法自然、無為而治、禍福相依等都是來自《道德經》。

老子思想深深影響了中國人的哲學觀念和思維方式，并對中國政治、宗教等產生了深遠影響。其著作《道德經》被譯為幾十種文字在世界范圍內傳播，已成為全人類的寶貴精神財富。