老子
老子是春秋末期著名思想家、哲学家，道家创始人和主要代表人物，被尊为道祖，称“太上老君”。春秋末年战 乱，老子辞官归隐，西出函谷关，著有《道德经》。《道德经》分《道经》《德经》两篇，共八十一章，围绕“道”“德”的哲学理念，论述治国、用兵、修身、养生的道理。
老子建立了以“道”为中心的学说，认为道是天地万物的根源，德是事物自身的本性，道为体、德为用。他还进一步提出“道法自然”“清静”“无为”“守柔”等重要思想，认为无论是个人还是国家，都应该尊道贵德、顺道而行，才能实现个人的健康长寿和国家的长治久安。老子思想的核心是朴素的辩证法，认为世界上的任何事物都是相比较而存在的，相互对立的两个方面实际上是相互包含、相互渗透的， 即“你中有我，我中有你”，并非一成不变。他在政治上主张小国寡民、无为而治，在处世上强调柔弱不争，在修身上讲求返璞归真。很多流传至今的观念，如上善若水、道法自然、无为而治、祸福相依等都是来自《道德经》。
老子思想深深影响了中国人的哲学观念和思维方式，并对中国政治、宗教等产生了深远影响。其著作《道德经》被译为几十种文字在世界范围内传播，已成为全人类的宝贵精神财富。
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.
