LAO-TZU AND THE TAO TE CHING song lyrics/Words by Joel Sattler
Lao-Tzu put the papers back on the shelf
Then suddenly he saw himself
So he resigned his royal station
To seek the Way of contemplation
He walked across the Capital
Up to the gate set in the wall
There he was stopped. A border guard
Said, "Passage to the North is barred-
"From you, I charge a toll, old man.
You are the Chief Librarian
I'll lock you in, you cannot go
Till you distill all that you know!"
Lao-Tzu paid a book to leave the town
The sentry read these words aloud
Then threw his sword into the fountain
To follow Lao-Tzu into the mountains:
"The farther you travel, the less you know.
The more you look, the less you see.
It has no name, but call it Tao-
The mother of all harmony....."
© 2009
All rights reserved, but feel free to share: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/
The following information is taken from the Wikipedia
[and, thus, is in the public domain]:
Laozi (Chinese: 老子; pinyin: Lǎozǐ; Wade-Giles: Laosi;
also Lao Tse, Lao Tu, Lao-Tzu, Lao-Tsu, Laotze, Lao Zi, Laocius, and other variations)
was a philosopher of ancient China and is a central figure in Taoism (also spelled "Daoism").
Laozi literally means "Old Master" and is generally considered an honorific.
Laozi is revered simply as a wise man in philosophical forms of Taoism,
but revered as a god in religious forms of Taoism,
much like The Buddha is regarded differently by the religious and philosophical schools of Buddhism.
Taishang Laojun is a title for Laozi in the Taoist religion,
which refers to him as "One of the Three Pure Ones".
According to Chinese tradition, Laozi lived in the 6th century BC....
...Laozi is traditionally regarded as the author of the Daodejing (Tao Te Ching),
though its authorship has been debated throughout history.....
....According to popular traditional biographies,
he worked as the Keeper of the Archives for the royal court of Zhou.
This reportedly allowed him broad access to the works of the Yellow Emperor and other classics of the time.
The stories assert that Laozi never opened a formal school,
but he nonetheless attracted a large number of students and loyal disciples.
There are numerous variations of a story depicting Confucius consulting Laozi about rituals.....
....Traditional accounts state that Laozi grew weary
of the moral decay of city life and noted the kingdom's decline.
According to these legends,
he ventured west to live as a hermit in the unsettled frontier at the age of 160.
At the western gate of the city, or kingdom, he was recognized by a guard.
The sentry asked the old master to produce a record of his wisdom.
This is the legendary origin of the Daodejing.
In some versions of the tale,
the sentry is so touched by the work
that he leaves with Laozi to never be seen again.....
.
