Huángdì yīnfú jīng jíjiě 黃帝陰符經集解
Collected Explanations of the Yellow Emperor’s “Yīnfú jīng”
Northern-Sòng commentary on the Yīnfú jīng by Yuán Shūzhēn 袁淑真, a registrar of Chángshā 長沙 (Húnán); three juan; preserved in the Zhèngtǒng Dàozàng 正統道藏 (DZ 0128 / CT 128 = TC 127), 洞真部 本文類
About the work
A three-juan commentary by Yuán Shūzhēn 袁淑真, a registrar of the Chángshā district (Húnán), presumably active in the eleventh century. The title Jíjiě (“Collected Explanations”) does not correspond to the contents, since all explanations here are marked as being by Shūzhēn herself. In the Sòng catalogues she is not listed with reference to the present title but in connection with a separate zhù 註 (commentary) in one juan and a shū 疏 (subcommentary) in three or one juan to the Yīnfú jīng (cf. VDL 141).
The present work is — apart from specific listed differences — substantially identical with [[KR5a0111|DZ 111 Huángdì yīnfú jīng shū]], the commentary falsely ascribed to Lǐ Quán. In her preface, Yuán announces that she will point out the basic ideas of the text before giving a detailed subcommentary; such a formal division is not maintained in the present text but is maintained in DZ 111. Yuán criticises Lǐ Quán for failing to divide the text into three sections as indicated by the explanations of the Mother from Mount Lí. These considerations show that only [[KR5a0109|DZ 109 Jízhù]], and not DZ 111, can be ascribed to Lǐ Quán — Yuán Shūzhēn is the actual author of DZ 111’s substance.
Yuán does not follow strictly the short or long textual tradition; she includes the disputed last part abridged and without commentary. She claims 105, 92, and 103 characters (= 300) for the three sections; in fact 121, 89, and 104 are counted. A summary is given in Rand, “Li Ch’üan and Chinese Military Thought,” 120–133.
Prefaces
Preface by Yuán Shūzhēn.
Abstract
Hans-Hermann Schmidt, in Schipper & Verellen eds., The Taoist Canon (2004) 2:697–698 (§3.A.1), dates the commentary to the eleventh century. The frontmatter brackets composition notBefore 1000 / notAfter 1100, with dynasty 北宋. Yuán Shūzhēn is the sole catalog-meta person wikilinked.
Translations and research
A summary is given in Christopher Rand, “Li Ch’üan and Chinese Military Thought,” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 39 (1979), 107–137, at 120–133. Standard scholarly entry: Hans-Hermann Schmidt, “Huangdi yinfu jing jijie” (Yuán Shūzhēn), in Schipper & Verellen eds., The Taoist Canon (2004), Vol. 2 §3.A.1, 697–698.
Links
- Kanseki Repository KR5a0128
- Schipper & Verellen, The Taoist Canon (2004), Vol. 2 §3.A.1, 697–698 — DZ 127 (TC) / KR5a0128 (Kanripo) entry.