Pei Guangting was a statesman of the Tang Dynasty, with the courtesy name Liancheng.
During the Kaiyuan era, he successively held positions such as Prime Minister, Shi Zhong (Palace Attendant), Minister of the Board of Civil Appointments, and Academician of Hongwen Academy, and was granted the title of Zhenping Nan (a noble rank).
Throughout his life, he advocated Taoist doctrines and revered Laozi, the representative figure of Taoism. He once submitted a memorial to Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, "requesting that the lectures on Tao Te Ching in the Three Halls be compiled into historical records". In essence, this was to regard Laozi's Tao Te Ching as the supreme classic. He suggested that respected officials should lecture on Tao Te Ching in the imperial court to expand its influence. He believed that Laozi was an unparalleled figure in history, far superior to Yao, Shun, Tang, and Wu. He said: "Yao and Shun governed through abdication; Tang and Wu rose through military campaigns. Some exhausted their spirits and tormented their bodies, while others strained their wills and fell into anxiety. Although all living beings heard of a moderately prosperous society, the style of inaction never reached the great Dao." (Memorial Requesting to Compile the Lectures on Tao Te Ching in the Three Halls into Historical Records).
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He believed that Laozi was different from sages like Yao, Shun, Wen, and Wu. Laozi neither made people exhaust their spirits and torment their bodies nor made them strain their wills and fall into anxiety. Instead, he truly pointed out a great path for people to reach the ideal state. He said: "To discard flashiness and return to the fundamentals, to eliminate falseness and preserve truth, the land of morality certainly lies in the techniques of Laozi and Zhuangzi." (Ibid.)
His biography can be found in Volume 84 of The Old Book of Tang and Volume 8 of The New Book of Tang. Some of his works are compiled in Volume 299 of The Complete Prose of the Tang Dynasty (by Gu Fang).
