ABSTRACT
Laozi gave rise to a large variety of interpretations. One dominant strand since the Han Dynasty found in the text a philosophical exposition on the Way to preserve health and well-being, and many Taoists devoted their lives to developing health-preserving and other longevity practices. Xuan Zang's translation of this text is no longer extant. When Cheng Ying and the others brought the matter to the Prime Minister, Xuan Zang reiterated his opinion. Xuan Zang told him, there are ninety-six schools of non-Buddhist thought, all seeking spiritual transcendence; but they are cluttered with falsities, and their followers are still trudging in the dross of earthly existence. As for writings about the four elements constituting the physical existence of the world, or writings about the six categories of the primal properties of the self and the world, they deal with subjects that have not even been mentioned here in the East.
