Lao Tzu c. 571 BC – c. 471 BC

Lao Tzu, traditionally regarded as the founder of philosophical Taoism, is the legendary author of the Tao Te Ching, one of the most translated works of world literature. Modern scholarship treats Lao Tzu as a partly or wholly legendary figure and the Tao Te Ching as a compilation that took shape in roughly the fourth century BC. The text articulates the central Taoist ideas of the Tao, or the Way, of wu wei or effortless action, and of the cultivation of simplicity and humility as foundations of wisdom and political order. Taoism became one of the three major schools of classical Chinese thought alongside Confucianism and Buddhism. Lao Tzu's influence extends throughout Chinese philosophy, art, and political thought, and into 20th-century Western philosophy and counterculture.