Good morning, everyone. In chapter twenty-five of Tao Te Ching, Lao Zi said Man follows Earth;Earth follows Heaven;Heaven follows Tao; Tao follows nature. This morning, I’ll talk about Tao Te Ching in this beautiful natural environment. I think it is the specific representation of “Tao follows nature”. I have four lectures, they are Lao Zi, the book of Lao Zi, the highest good is water and reversing is the motion of the Tao. Today I’ll talk about Lao Zi. that is, I’ll talk about Lao Zi as well as his life and events. In Chinese culture, if one can be respected ass Lao Zi, the person must be full of wisdom. Kong Zi (Confucius), Meng Zi (Mencius), Xun zi (Xuncius), Their names all have the honorific word “Zi” meaning “master”. However, both the two words in Lao Zi’s name are honorifics. That is, Lao is a honorific, and so does Zi. But It’s pretty hard to introduce Lao Zi’s life and event. In the official history, that is the Historical Records, there are not many records about Lao Zi. In the Biography of Lao Zi and Han Feizi of the Historical Records, Lao Zi is mentioned in an around 450 words. Now I’ll divide 450 words three parts in order to give an introduction of Lao Zi to you. The first part tells us Lao Zi was born in Qurenli, Li Village, Ku County of the State of Chu. Where is the place now? One version is that the place is the present Taiqinggong Town, Luyi County, Henan Province. Though it’s just a county, It was a quite important county in Tang Dynasty. The surname of Tang’s emperors is Li, and they believed that they are the descendents of Lao Zi, so the emperor directly govern Luyi County, the birth place of Lao Zi. Another version is that the place is Guoyang of Anhui Province. There was a river in ancient time, and the river was named. Guo River. As for the name of Lao Zi, there are many versions. Lao Zi is also called Lao Ran The word “Ran” in Chinese means having big ears which signifying wisdom. In the Qingyuan Mountain in Quan Zhou, there is a stone statue of Lao Zi sculptured in Song Dynasty, whose characteristic is the big ears symbolizing wisdom. The statues such as the one on the Turtle Head Isle of Tai Lake in Wu Xi and the one in our Louguantai all have big ears symbolizing wisdom. So Lao Zi has many names, such as Lao Zi, Lao Ran, Li Ran, Lao Laizi and Taishi Dan and it is confused even in the Historical Records the Records of History. This is why Lao Zi is so mysterious. This is the first part. The second part is a story which is symbolical significance in Chinese history. The story are recorded in Biography of Lao Zi and Han Feizi and Confucian Family. It’s about Confucius’s inquiry of Lao Zi. Anyone who has read The Analects of Confucius may know that Confucius had been to Chu. A very important purpose of his visiting Chu was to meet Lao Zi. Originally, Confucius was going to inquire Lao Zi about rites, but Lao Zi euphemistically criticized him after his inquiry without answering him. Lao Zi told Confucius that he thought Confucius was still too young and talkative. with a very strong desire to show himself It’s not quite good. As we all know, the modest attitude of Confucius and the criticism of Lao Zi are significantly linked with each other When Confucius came out, his students asked him: “Teacher, what did Lao Zi tell you?” Then Confucius came up with a famous comment. Confucius said: I know fish can swim I know birds can fly I know animals can run But I can catch all of them with a net. However, I can’t understand Lao Zi. Is Lao Zi like a dragon? This sentence means Lao Zi is just like a mysterious dragon. That is why there are many horizontal boards inscribed You Long Shi (the person who is like a dragon) in Taoist temples. These all attribute to this story. People who read the Chinese classics, Chinese philosophy classics, and Chinese culture classics all like to ask a question about the basic framework of our culture and philosophy. Can the framework be summarized briefly? From the story we can see the basic framework of Chinese culture and philosophy is the complement of Confucianists and Taoists. They are superficially in opposition to each other but actually complementary with each other. You know, when Confucius stood by the riverside sighing “it passes like this day and night”, which stressed a spirit of aggressiveness and unremitting attempts. While when Lao Zi stood by the of riverside and sighing that nothing in the world is more soft and weak than water and yet for attacking things that are firm and strong, nothing can take precedence of it He stressed the idea and wisdom of retreating in order to advance and overcoming hardness by gentleness. So they are superficially in opposition to each other but actually complementary with each other In success, one tries to let others be benefited. Confucian idea is In poverty, one tries to let him be protected. The idea of Taoism is With the attitude of standing aloof from world affairs to do the worldly things is complementary with Confucianism and Taoism. Thus it’s the basic structure and framework of our culture. Through the contact of Confucius and Lao Zi, the contact of two masters, we can also identify the important symbolic significance of the complementarity of Confucianism and Taoism.