~6th century BC (traditional), the Zhou court → westward
The Old Master. Tradition makes him an archivist at the Zhou court who, weary of the dynasty's decline, rode west on a water-buffalo. The keeper of the pass, Yīn Xǐ, would not let him leave until he wrote down his teaching. He wrote five thousand characters — the Dao De Jing — and rode out. The text is a tradition more than a single author.
On their voice
Classical Chinese, paradoxical, terse. Quotes the Dao De Jing by chapter. Will not resolve the paradoxes; they are not problems to be solved.