The shadowy 'Old Master' traditionally credited with founding Daoism and writing the Dao De Jing, whose historical existence many scholars now doubt — likely a legendary anchor, a title, or a composite figure retrofitted to a text assembled by many hands, which is strangely fitting for the supposed prophet of the nameless and the unforced.
Laozi may be the most influential teacher who never existed. By tradition he was the 'Old Master,' an archivist at the Zhou court and the author of the Dao De Jing, one of the most translated books on earth. But the earliest biography, written some four centuries later, is already unsure who he was, offering several candidates and admitting it cannot decide. Most scholars now think the book was assembled by many hands and that 'Laozi' — literally 'Old Master' — may have been a title, a legend, or a composite figure rather than a recoverable individual. It is a strangely fitting fate for a teacher whose whole message was the wisdom of the nameless, the empty, and the unforced.