Huángdì yīnfú jīng jízhù 黃帝陰符經集註
Collection of Commentaries on the Yellow Emperor’s Scripture of the Hidden Contracts
Táng collected-commentaries edition of the Huángdì yīnfú jīng 黃帝陰符經 compiled by Lǐ Quán 李筌 (fl. 713–741); fourteen folios; preserved in the Zhèngtǒng Dàozàng 正統道藏 (DZ 0109 / CT 109 = TC 108), 洞真部 本文類
About the work
A fourteen-folio Táng collected-commentaries edition (jízhù 集註) of the [[KR5a0031|Huángdì yīnfú jīng]] 黃帝陰符經. The collection contains explanations attributed to a pseudepigraphic series of ancient authorities — Yī Yǐn 伊尹, Tàigōng 太公, Fàn Lǐ 范蠡, Guǐgǔzǐ 鬼谷子, Zhūgě Liàng 諸葛亮, Zhāng Liáng 張良 — and concluding with those of the Táng compiler Lǐ Quán 李筌 himself. The preface, attributed to Zhūgě Liàng, connects the text with the Yellow Emperor but does not give the traditional information about the Old Woman of Líshān 驪山 that figures prominently in [[KR5a0110|DZ 110 Huángdì yīnfú jīng shū]] (which is falsely ascribed to Lǐ Quán).
The “long version” (approximately 400 words; see DZ 31) of the Yīnfú jīng is not here divided into the customary three paragraphs (cf. DZ 110). The distribution of commentaries through the text is uneven: the commentaries attributed to Lǐ Quán are comparatively substantial but do not match the commentaries attributed to him in DZ 110. Lǐ Quán’s commentaries prompted Zhāng Guǒ 張果 to write his own ([[KR5a0112|DZ 112 Huángdì yīnfú jīng zhù]]) in order to refute Lǐ Quán’s opinions — which confirms Lǐ Quán’s authorship of the commentaries attributed to him in the present collection. The compilation itself can be attributed to Lǐ Quán, whose name occupies the last and chronologically most recent position at the end of the long series of authors. Lǐ Quán offers naturalistic interpretations that seem to be based on historical events or on data referring to military and political actions.
Prefaces
Preface attributed to Zhūgě Liàng 諸葛亮, connecting the text to the Yellow Emperor.
Abstract
Florian C. Reiter, in Schipper & Verellen eds., The Taoist Canon (2004) 1:322 (§2.A.1), identifies Lǐ Quán 李筌 (fl. 713–741) as the compiler of the collection and as the author of the substantive commentaries attributed to his own name. The frontmatter brackets composition notBefore 713 / notAfter 741 (Lǐ Quán’s floruit), with dynasty 唐. Lǐ Quán is the sole catalog-meta person wikilinked.
Translations and research
No complete translation. Standard scholarly entry: Florian C. Reiter, “Huangdi yinfu jing jizhu,” in Schipper & Verellen eds., The Taoist Canon (2004), Vol. 1 §2.A.1, 322. For Lǐ Quán see Christopher Rand, “Li Ch’üan and Chinese Military Thought,” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 39 (1979), 107–137; and see the person note 李筌.
Other points of interest
The attribution of commentary-strata to a long list of ancient military-and-strategic authorities (Yī Yǐn, Tàigōng, Fàn Lǐ, Guǐgǔzǐ, Zhūgě Liàng, Zhāng Liáng) reflects the Yīnfú jīng’s dual classification in the Chinese bibliographic tradition as both a Daoist and a military work — a bibliographic oscillation that persists through the Sòng and Yuán. Lǐ Quán’s own naturalistic-military-political reading is continuous with this tradition.
Links
- Kanseki Repository KR5a0109
- Schipper & Verellen, The Taoist Canon (2004), Vol. 1 §2.A.1, 322 — DZ 108 (TC) / KR5a0109 (Kanripo) entry (Florian C. Reiter).