Huángdì yīnfú jīng jiǎngyì 黃帝陰符經講義
Discussions about the Huángdì yīnfú jīng
Southern-Sòng inner-alchemy discussion-commentary on the Huángdì yīnfú jīng 黃帝陰符經 by Xià Yuándǐng 夏元鼎 (zì Zōngyù 宗禹, hào Yúnfēng sǎnrén 雲峰散人); four juan; preface by Lóu Fāng 樓防 dated 1226; postface by Wáng Jiǔwàn 王九萬 dated 1227; preserved in the Zhèngtǒng Dàozàng 正統道藏 (DZ 0110 / CT 110 = TC 109), 洞真部 本文類; the scripture is also in the Sìkù quánshū (WYG edition)
About the work
A four-juan Southern-Sòng commentary on the [[KR5a0031|Huángdì yīnfú jīng]] by Xià Yuándǐng 夏元鼎 of Zhèjiāng. According to the preface by Lóu Fāng 樓防 (who at one time held a position in the military administration of Xīnghuà 興化 in Fujian) dated 1226, Xià brought his explanations of the Yīnfú jīng to Lóu; the explanations had been based on the instructions of an (unnamed) adept whom Xià had met on Mount Héng 衡山.
The scripture is given in the long version (approximately 400 words; see DZ 31), not divided into the customary three paragraphs. The commentary represents nèidān 內丹 traditions of the Sòng period, as demonstrated by its quotations. Xià cites the present work in his own [[KR5a0146|DZ 146 Zǐyáng zhēnrén Wùzhēn piān jiǎngyì]] 5.9b, using the Yīnfú jīng to comment upon the Wùzhēn piān.
Juan 4 is entitled Huángdì yīnfú jīng jiǎngyì tú shuō 黃帝陰符經講義圖說 and contains twelve texts, some illustrated with charts. These texts deal with nèidān theory but do not seem connected to the Yīnfú jīng in a direct way. Juan 4 also contains three prefaces/postfaces partly referring to Xià’s commentary on the Cuīgōng rùyào jīng 崔公入藥鏡 (no longer extant; see 4.10–12a, “Yúnfēng rùyào jīng jiān xù” 雲峰入藥鏡箋序 by Liú Yuánliàng 劉元亮, dated 1226). There is a postface by Wáng Jiǔwàn 王九萬 (4.14b–16b) dated 1227. Most texts in juan 4 either were written by Xià Yuándǐng or refer to him and his Yúnfēng jīndān sānshū 雲峰金丹三書 (“Three Books on the Gold-Elixir”). There is no obvious connection between that title and the Yīnfú jīng.
Prefaces
- Preface by Lóu Fāng 樓防, dated 1226.
- Postface by Wáng Jiǔwàn 王九萬, dated 1227.
- Additional prefaces/postfaces by Liú Yuánliàng 劉元亮 (1226) and others, mostly concerning Xià Yuándǐng’s other works.
Abstract
Florian C. Reiter, in Schipper & Verellen eds., The Taoist Canon (2004) 2:695 (§3.A.1), identifies the commentary as a Southern-Sòng nèidān reading of the Yīnfú jīng. Xià Yuándǐng studied with an adept on Mount Héng 衡山 and was known as a Sòng Zhèjiāng inner-alchemy writer. The frontmatter brackets composition notBefore 1226 (the Lóu Fāng preface) / notAfter 1227 (the Wáng Jiǔwàn postface), with dynasty 南宋. Xià Yuándǐng is the sole catalog-meta person wikilinked.
Translations and research
No complete translation. Standard scholarly entry: Florian C. Reiter, “Huangdi yinfu jing jiangyi,” in Schipper & Verellen eds., The Taoist Canon (2004), Vol. 2 §3.A.1, 695. Xià Yuándǐng’s other work [[KR5a0146|DZ 146 Zǐyáng zhēnrén Wùzhēn piān jiǎngyì]] is a Sòng-era Wùzhēn piān commentary of substantial interest for the Southern Sòng inner-alchemy tradition.
Other points of interest
The text is one of the clearer Southern-Sòng nèidān-school readings of the Yīnfú jīng, and one of the earliest extant witnesses to the Sòng Daoist appropriation of the Mount Héng adept-transmission tradition. Xià Yǔandǐng’s Yúnfēng jīndān sānshū — a projected trilogy — is not fully preserved, but juan 4 of the present work preserves substantial traces of that lost inner-alchemy corpus.
Links
- Kanseki Repository KR5a0110
- Schipper & Verellen, The Taoist Canon (2004), Vol. 2 §3.A.1, 695 — DZ 109 (TC) / KR5a0110 (Kanripo) entry (Florian C. Reiter).