Jianbo Laozi Studies

Author: Han Lubei
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-01-01
Features: Why is the bamboo slip version of the Laozi so important for discussing the dating of the Laozi? First, the burial date of the tomb containing the bamboo slip Laozi is around the 3rd century CE (for detailed information on this point, see later). Thus, the bamboo slip Laozi is older than the Laozi from the Mawangdui silk manuscripts. The Guodian Laozi is incomplete. This phenomenon makes us wonder that the complete text we see today may not have existed at that time. Additionally, among the 31 chapters unearthed, only 16 are complete; the others are either missing sentences (as can be compared with the traditional versions) or consist only of the beginning or middle parts of chapters. It is highly likely that other sentences were gradually added by later scribes.