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Yes. you are right. Lao Tze is much higher respected. He propagate the tao of taoism, he is the incarnation of the Supreme Lord. Zhang, on the other hand, he is the 'founding fathers', which means, he is not the only one. There are 2 before him. Yellow Emperor and Lao Zi.Originally posted by Kinryu69:Just read a book by a Taiwan Scholar on Daoism. The author mentioned that it is actually more appropriate to say that Laozi is the founder of Daoism then Zhang Daoling. MAny pre-HAN dynasty texts have cited Laozi as the founder. In fact, the theory that Zhang Daoling established the Daoist religion was a result of the Daoism/Buddhism rivalry during the Sui/Tang dynasty. The earliest record of this belief was found in a Buddhist text, claiming that Zhang Daoling is the founder. The purpose being to portray Daoism as a religion that is centuries younger then Buddhism and thus a weaker rival religion. However, the fact is that Daoist beliefs is as old as Buddhism or even older.
Also, before and during the Eastern Han dynasty (which religious Daoism supposedly began), use of the the term "Dao Jia" (Daoist School of Thoughts) and "Dao Jiao" (Daoist religion) were actually being used interchangeably. Examples can be found in texts like the "Lun Heng" by Wang Chong. There was no categorization of Daoism into two parts, the philosophical and the religious version, which is often seen in books written by western academics.
Pretty interesting i think as it is very different from what is written in English abt Daoism history. A great discussion topic.
Anyway, just my five cents worth. Take care for now.