CHAPTER II. THE LIFE OF LAO-TZU.

The life of Lao-tzu, like the book which he wrote, is enveloped in mystery; and one might almost be excused for doubting whether such a person ever actually existed. One author, indeed, has even gone the length of saying that Lao-tzu was made out of space or vacuity ( hung ? ).

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The most reliable account of him which has come down to us is that by Szu Ma-chien, or Sze-ma-thsien ( ??? ), in the Shi-chi ( ?? ), and this is very brief and unsatisfactory. We have also occasional notices of him in other old books, but the stories told about him in the Records of Spirits and Fairies and works of a like nature are, as Julien observes, only a tissue of falsehoods which all sensible men reject.

Szu Ma-chien says

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Lao-tzu was a native of the hamlet Ch?ü-jen ( ?? ) of the parish Lai or Li ( ? ) in the district K?u ( ? ), a town of the state Chu ( ? ): his surname was Li ( ? ), his name Erh ( ? ), his style Po-yang ( ?? ) and

his posthumous designation Tan ( ? ).

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He was in office at the court of Chou ? as Shou-tsang-shi-chi-shi ( ????? ), which Julien translates "gardien des archives."

I have been unable to obtain from Chinese sources any reliable statement as to the date of Lao-tzu's birth; though Pauthier

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asserts positively that he was born on the 14th day of the 9th moon, in the year B.C. 604. In this he is followed by Julien, who, however, says candidly-"cette date (the 3rd year of king Ting ? of the Chou dynasty, corresponding to B.C. 604) que nous inserons ici, est conforme a la tradition historique la mieux établie mais elle ne se trouve point dans la notice du Sze-ma-thsien dont nous donnons la traduction."

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There is nothing improbable in this date, as we know from other sources that Lao-tzu was a contemporary of Confucius, though very much his senior; and as Confucius was born about B.C. 550, Lao-tzu must apparently have been born about the beginning of the sixth century B.C. The latter sage indeed, is usually represented as having attained to a very great age, and as having been alive much more than fifty years before the birth of Confucius. Ch?ao, a well known author, quoted by Ma Tuan-lin, says that it was in the forty-second year of the reign of king P?ing ( ?? ) that Lao-tzu gave his book to the keeper of the Pass.

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This-would carry him up to the eighth century B.C.,

king P?ing having commenced to reign about the year B.C. 770. Others

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mention two teachers of Tao ( ? ) as having lived during the Chou dynasty, one Lao-tan ( ?? ) and another named Lao-lai-tzu ( ??? ). It is by the name Lao-tan that Confucius usually refers to Lao-tzu, while later authors often use his surname Li or his name Êrh. It must be remembered also that the Lao-tan mentioned by Confucius is regarded by a few commentators as a different person from the author of the Tao-tê Ching .

Nearly all authorities seem to agree with Szu Ma-chien as to the place of Lao-tzu's birth in the feudal dependency Ch?u ( ? ). Under this word Biot has the following remarks-"Nom d'un ancien royaume de la Chine centrale, a l'époque du Tchun-thsieou. Le centre etait dans l'arrondissement de Tchi-kiang; la limite nord etait entre le Kiang et le Hoang-ho; la limite sud etait au midi du Kiang, mais non bien determinée."

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The district city K?u is also said to have belonged to the principality of Ch?ên , It stood near the present Kwei-tê-foo, the most easterly of the cities of Honan; and the present K?u-yang ( ?? ) preserves the house of Lao-tzu and a temple dedicated to his memory.

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Another account, however, represents him as having been born in the district city Po ( ? ) in the province of Honan.

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The chief of Ch?u, like the chiefs of many other states, was at the time of Lao-tzu and Confucius only nominally a feudal dependent of the king. He was originally a Tzu ( ? ) or Viscount, but the title Wang ( ? ) or king was now usurped in the degenerate

days of the Chou rulers who were unable to maintain a strong government.

Of the parents of Lao-tzu and of his early years I have not found any record in Chinese books; but Pauthier says that according to historic data his father was a poor peasant who had remained a bachelor up to his seventieth year, when he married a peasant woman of the unromantic age of forty years.

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Whatever were his circumstances, however, I think we may conclude that Lao-tzu was in early life a diligent student of the past history and the institutions of the country, and his obtaining office at the court of Chou was probably a consequence of his learning and abilities.

As to the nature of this office I cannot agree with Pauthier and Julien in calling it that of historiographer, or keeper of the State Archives. The word tsang ( ? ) means a granary or storehouse, and in a note to a passage in the Li-chi, or Record of Ceremonies, it is explained as the Imperial or National Museum.

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The Shou-tsang-shi ( ??? ) would accordingly be the officer in charge of the Museum, and we must remember that when Confucius went to the Capital of Chou to Lao-tzu, he saw in the palace the portraits of the early kings, along with many other relics of antiquity, which possessed him strongly with an idea of the magnificence of the first princes of the dynasty.

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Dr. Legge also, I find, translates the expression by "Treasury-keeper."

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The legend in the Records of Spirits and Fairies states that Lao-tzu was in the time of king Wên a

Shou-tsang-shi and under king Wu a Chu-hsia-shi ( ??? ),

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this latter term meaning assistant historiographer; and it is not improbable that he may have actually held both these offices in succession under king Ting ( ? ) or king Chien ( ? ), who reigned in the 6th century B.C.

During the time of Lao-tzu's residence at the court of Chou, he was visited by two young gentlemen who had come in a carriage and pair from the distant state of Lu ( ? ). Their names were Ching-shu ( ?? ) and K?ung chiu ( ?? ) or Confucius, and they had come to learn from the venerable sage the rites and manners of the olden times. The latter of the two, namely, Confucius, had already been a pupil of Lao-tzu, and still remembered his former master with affection and respect. According to Chwang-tzu,

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however, it was not until he was fifty-one years old that Confucius went to see Lao-tzu. He himself when little more than a youth had set out on a converting tour, thinking to induce rulers and people throughout the kingdom to cease from their evil ways and turn to the good old paths of primitive virtue. He did not succeed, however, and he now told his master the sorrowful tale of his disappointment. Lao-tzu said to him, "If it be known that he who talks errs by excess in arguing, and that he who hears is confused by too much talk, the way (Tao ? )

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can never be forgot." According to Szu Ma-chien , the Master on another occasion lectured his ambitious disciple as follows: "The men of whom you speak, Sir, have with their bones already all mouldered into dust, and only their sayings abide.

Moreover if the superior man ?? gets his time, he mounts [his car and takes office]: if he does not get his time, he goes through life like a wisp of straw rolling over sand. I have heard that a good merchant with his treasure house deeply stored seems devoid of resources, and that the superior man of perfect excellence has an outward semblance of stupidity. Do you, Sir, put away your haughty airs and many desires, your flashy manner and extravagant will; these are all unprofitable to you, Sir; and this is all I have to say to you."

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In the Family Sayings we read that when Confucius was about to leave...