Tàishàng dòngxuán língbǎo wúliàng dùrén shàngpǐn miàojīng zhùjiě 太上洞玄靈寶無量度人上品妙經註解
Commentary and Explication on the “Wondrous Scripture of Limitless Salvation”
Yuán inner-alchemy commentary on the Dùrén jīng 度人經 by Chén Zhìxū 陳致虛 (zì Guānwú 觀吾, hào Shàngyángzǐ 上陽子), three juan, preface dated 1336; preserved in the Zhèngtǒng Dàozàng 正統道藏 (DZ 0092 / CT 92 = TC 91), 洞真部 本文類
About the work
A three-juan Yuán-dynasty inner-alchemy commentary on the Dùrén jīng, with preface dated mid-autumn 1336 by Chén Zhìxū 陳致虛 (zì Guānwú 觀吾, hào Shàngyángzǐ 上陽子), student of Zhào Yǒuqīn 趙友欽 (fl. 1329) and a major figure of the Yuán Quánzhēn inner-alchemy tradition. In the preface, Chén argues that one must have both “inner practice and outer merit” to obtain immortality, and accordingly interprets the Dùrén jīng in terms of both the “worldly method” (shìfǎ 世法) of recitation and prayer and the “Daoist usage” (dàoyòng 道用) of Inner Alchemy (nèidān 內丹). Sexual desire, Chén writes, leads men to squander their “qì of true unity” (zhēnyī zhī qì 真一之氣); proper practice using the Dùrén jīng leads to its recovery and sublimation.
Chén’s preface acknowledges primary debts to [[KR5a0087|DZ 87 Chén Jǐngyuán’s Sìzhù]], [[KR5a0090|DZ 90 Xiāo Yīngsǒu’s Nèiyì]], and the teachings of his own master Zhào Yǒuqīn (cf. [[KR5a1069|DZ 1069 Shàngyángzǐ jīndān dàyào lièxiān zhì]] 8b–9a). Examination reveals that Chén borrows heavily — far more than explicit citation indicates — from Xiāo Yīngsǒu (especially 1.2b–2.18b) and from Qīngyuán zhēnrén (DZ 88) (especially 2.20b–30b, 38b–41b, 3.23b–36b). Chén refers three times to his master (1.42a, 2.42a–b, 3.2a–b) and frequently to earlier masters of his alchemical lineage such as Zhāng Bóduān 張伯端. He would also seem to have known Xuē Jìzhāo’s commentary (DZ 93) (cf. 2.35a with DZ 93 Zhùjiě 2.23b).
Chén’s principal doctrinal concern — perhaps implicitly criticising Xiāo Yīngsǒu — is “nature and vitality” (xìngmìng 性命): he identifies the “primordial spirit” of the heart with the “true nature” (1.8b) and writes that “taming the heart is like taming a wild animal,” attributing the real difficulty to the fact that “as soon as the root of desire stirs, hell emerges” (2.45b). The solution is to “cut off all thought of desire” and to practise the Way of Inner Alchemy, which requires first finding a teacher (1.41a).
The commentary also contains a remarkable extended description (3.2b–10a, 13b–18a) of contemporary versions of the ancient hùntiān 渾天 cosmic-egg theory — prompted by Zhào Yǒuqīn’s metaphor comparing the earth to a large plank afloat on the waters (3.2b) — in which Chén relates his alchemical experiences to the most recent Yuán-era cosmological-scientific discussion.
Prefaces
Preface by Chén Zhìxū, dated mid-autumn of the Zhìyuán 3 year (1336), framing the text’s interpretive programme of uniting worldly ritual-recitation and inner-alchemical cultivation.
Abstract
The commentary is tightly dated to 1336 by the preface. John Lagerwey, in Schipper & Verellen eds., The Taoist Canon (2004) 2:718–719 (§3.A.1), gives a substantial treatment. The frontmatter locks composition at 1336 for both notBefore and notAfter; dynasty 元. Chén Zhìxū is the sole catalog-meta person wikilinked.
Translations and research
No complete translation. Standard scholarly entry: John Lagerwey, “Yuanshi wuliang duren shangpin miaojing zhu” [TC 91 = DZ 92], in Schipper & Verellen eds., The Taoist Canon (2004), Vol. 2 §3.A.1, 718–719. For Chén Zhìxū’s wider corpus see Isabelle Robinet, Introduction à l’alchimie intérieure taoïste (Cerf, 1995); Fabrizio Pregadio, The Seal of the Unity of the Three (Golden Elixir Press, 2011). Chén’s biography and extensive nèidān literature are the subject of Robinet’s Chen Zhixu et l’alchimie intérieure des Yuan (unpublished); much of his work is in the Daozang at DZ 1068–1073.
Other points of interest
The commentary is the most thoroughly-inner-alchemy-focused of the Yuán-era Dùrén jīng commentaries, and the point at which nèidān theory definitively takes over Dùrénjīng interpretation. Chén’s concrete alchemical-experience reading of the “Red Writs of Chaos” (hùndòng chìwén 混洞赤文) as “the cold sweat that covers the body” (2.42a–b) — uniquely vivid among the Dùrénjīng commentaries — illustrates the experiential-alchemical character of Chén’s exegesis.
Links
- Kanseki Repository KR5a0092
- Schipper & Verellen, The Taoist Canon (2004), Vol. 2 §3.A.1, 718–719 — DZ 91 (in TC) / DZ 92 (Kanripo) entry (John Lagerwey).