Tàishàng chìwén dònggǔ jīng zhù 太上赤文洞古經註
Commentary on the “Book of Arcane Antiquity, Red Writ of the Most High”
thirteenth-century commentary by Chángquánzǐ 長筌子 on the Chìwén dònggǔ jīng 赤文洞古經, companion to DZ 103 and doctrinally identical with it; seven folios; preserved in the Zhèngtǒng Dàozàng 正統道藏 (DZ 0107 / CT 107 = TC 106), 洞真部 本文類
About the work
A seven-folio commentary by Chángquánzǐ 長筌子 (“Master Fish-Trap”) on the Chìwén dònggǔ jīng 赤文洞古經 — a short scripture expounding the way to immortality and supreme mystery through the abolition of hearing and vision. Despite the different title, this is a duplicate of [[KR5a0103|DZ 103 Yuánshǐ tiānzūn shuō tàigǔ jīng zhù]] and [[KR5a0108|DZ 108 Wúshàng chìwén dònggǔ zhēnjīng zhù]] by Lǐ Dàochún. Like the last, the present version introduces each of three parts with a different subtitle:
- Cāozhēn 操真 (“Mastering Truth”)
- Rùshèng 入聖 (“Entering Sainthood”)
- Zhùshì 住世 (“Living in the World”)
Prefaces
No prefaces in the source.
Abstract
Catherine Despeux, in Schipper & Verellen eds., The Taoist Canon (2004) 2:707–708 (§3.A.1), dates the commentary to the thirteenth century, noting that the main text is identical with DZ 103 and DZ 108. The frontmatter brackets composition notBefore 1200 / notAfter 1300, with dynasty 南宋—元. Chángquánzǐ is the sole catalog-meta person wikilinked.
Translations and research
Frederic Balfour, “Three Brief Essays (Translations from the Tao Canon),” Journal of the North China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 21 (1887), 286–293, gives an early partial translation. Standard scholarly entry: Catherine Despeux, “Taishang chiwen donggu jing zhu,” in Schipper & Verellen eds., The Taoist Canon (2004), Vol. 2 §3.A.1, 707–708.
Other points of interest
The three-subtitle structure — Cāozhēn, Rùshèng, Zhùshì (“Mastering Truth,” “Entering Sainthood,” “Living in the World”) — maps the soteriological progression of Daoist cultivation in a compact triadic scheme. This triadic structuring is the signature feature of the Chángquánzǐ / Lǐ Dàochún commentarial cluster on the Chìwén dònggǔ tradition.
Links
- Kanseki Repository KR5a0107
- Schipper & Verellen, The Taoist Canon (2004), Vol. 2 §3.A.1, 707–708 — DZ 106 (TC) / KR5a0107 (Kanripo) entry (Catherine Despeux).