Lao Tse

Lao Tse is the sixth century BCE author of the Tao Te Ching. Taoism follows his teachings.

See also: Ten Primordial Masters

From Saints, Sufis and Yogis

Lao Tse ('Old Master') is traditionally considered the author of the Tao te ching, the seminal text of the Taoist tradition. He is considered to be a contemporary of Confucius.

Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi has stated that Lao Tse is one of the ten incarnations of the Primordial Master, and that the Tao is the Kundalini:

Lao Tse in China has very beautifully described Tao, meaning the Kundalini. And I have had a voyage through the Yangtze River through which Lao Tse had gone many times. I know he was trying to show that this river which is the Kundalini, is flowing towards the sea and one should not be tempted by the nature that is around. The nature around the Yangtze River is very, very beautiful, no doubt, but one has to go through the river. Also there are lots of currents which flow and can be quite dangerous and we need a good navigator who should take his ship across to the point where it is nearer the sea. At that stage it becomes very silent and extremely simple in its flow. (1995-0913)

In 1990 in Hong Kong, Shri Mataji observed that Lao Tse was working out the left side, and that Confucius was working out the right side. (reported by Alex Henshaw)

There is one thing that is invariably complete. Before Heaven and Earth were, it is already there: so still, so lonely. Alone it stands and does not change. It turns in a circle and does not endanger itself. One may call it 'the Mother of the World’. I do not know its name. I call it TAO. … (Tao te ching 25)

The world has a beginning: that is the Mother of the World. Whosoever finds the mother in order to know the sons; whosoever knows the sons and returns to the mother: he will not be in danger all his life long. (Tao te Ching 52)

Bibliography: Tao Te Ching: the book of meaning and life, translation by Richard Wilhelm and H.C.Oswald (London: Arkana (Routledge), 1985); Tao Te Ching, translated by Ellen M.Chen (Paragon House, 1989); Alan Chan, ‘Laozi’ [2013] Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/laozi/ ; E.M.Chen, ‘Tao as the Great Mother and the influence of motherly love in the shaping of Chinese philosophy’, History of Religions 14(1), 1974:51-73; ‘Confucius and Lao Tse’ http://sahaj-az.blogspot.com/2007/11/confucius-and-lao-tse.html ; Catherine Despeux and Livia Kohn, Women in Daoism (Cambridge, MA: Three Pines Press, 2003); Alex Henshaw, ‘The left and right side’ in Eternally Inspiring Recollections of our Divine Mother, edited by Linda J.Williams (London: Blossomtime Publishing, 2nd ed., 2013), vol.5:125