Content
Although the Wenzi has traditionally been considered a Daoist text illustrating Laozi's thinking, it contains elements from Confucianism, Mohism, Legalism, and School of Names. The Wenzi represents the "Huang-Lao" philosophy named after the legendary Huangdi 黃帝 "The Yellow Emperor" and Laozi 老子 "Master Lao" (see Peerenboom 1995).
The textual format records Laozi answering Wenzi's questions about Daode jing concepts like Wu wei. Besides citing passages from Daoist classics like Zhuangzi and Huainanzi, the Wenzi also cites others like the Yijing, Mengzi, Lüshi Chunqiu, and Xiao Jing. Regarding the received Wenzi text, Yoshinobu Sakade concludes:
While these references make the Wenzi appear as a source of ancient thought, in the form we know it today it is a forgery, with about eighty percent of the text quoted from the Huainan zi, and the rest consisting of an amplification of the Daode jing or quotations from other texts. The present version contains expression similar to those found in the Taoist scriptures … These elements suffice to show that the extant Wenzi was written between the third and eight centuries, before the time of Xu Lingfu. (2007:1042)
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