Who Is Laozi (Taishang Laojun) (Lord Lao)?
The Taoist god who makes elixir pills
Taishang Laojun
Laozi (Taishang Laojun) is the deified form of Laozi, regarded as the founder of Taoism. In Journey to the West he lives in the Tushita Palace in Heaven and makes golden elixir pills that grant eternal life.
On the day of the Peach Banquet, while Laozi is away, a drunken Wukong wanders into the Tushita Palace and eats every elixir pill stored in five gourds. Laozi reports this to the Jade Emperor. During Erlang Shen's battle with Wukong, he throws down his bracelet-shaped treasure, the Diamond Snare, from the Southern Gate of Heaven and hits Wukong on the head, which leads to the monkey's capture.
In the original novel, Laozi then tries to burn the captured Wukong in his Eight Trigrams Furnace. The Diamond Snare appears again later in the novel, when the ox Laozi rides steals it and uses it to torment Wukong and his companions.
Episodes featuring this character2
NEWEpisode 5
Not Invited? He Ate the Whole FeastThe Peach Banquet and the Elixir Pills
Made guardian of Heaven's peach orchard, Sun Wukong secretly eats the immortal peaches. When he finds out he's the only one not invited to Heaven's grand banquet, he goes on a rampage. He devours the feast, gobbles up Laozi's golden elixir pills, and flees home to Flower-Fruit Mountain. Down on Earth, 110 years have already passed, and Heaven sends a hundred thousand soldiers after him.
19 pages
NEWEpisode 6
72 Disguises. One Hunter. No Escape?Sun Wukong vs. Erlang Shen
A hundred thousand Heavenly Soldiers can't catch Sun Wukong, so Heaven calls in its greatest hunter: Erlang Shen. Sparrow? He becomes a hawk. Fish? He becomes the bird that eats fish. Whatever Wukong turns into, Erlang sees through it. Then, at the end of the shape-shifting duel, a blow nobody saw coming drops from Heaven's Gate.
19 pages