Yuánshǐ shàngzhēn zhòngxiān jì 元始上真眾仙記
Register of [the Heavenly Prince of] Primordial Beginning, the Superior Zhēnrén, and the Hosts of Immortals
pseudepigraphically attributed to 葛洪 (attributed)
About the work
A nine-folio Six-Dynasties hagio-cosmography preserved in the Zhèngtǒng Dàozàng 正統道藏 (DZ 0166 / CT 166 = TC 165), 洞真部 譜錄類, under the present title, with the alternate title Gě Hóng zhěnzhōng shū 葛洪枕中書 (“Book from Inside Gě Hóng’s Pillow”) given as a subheading. The text is framed as a revelation received by Gě Hóng 葛洪 (283–343) on Mount Luófú 羅浮 from Xuándū tàizhēn wáng 玄都太真王, and it sets out a Daoist creation myth — cosmic chaos, Pángǔ 盤古 as the Heavenly Prince of Primordial Beginning (元始天王) traversing four kalpas, the subsequent genealogy of primordial deities — followed by registers of the “hosts of immortals” and their titles and residences.
Prefaces
Opening narrative frame: “I, Hóng, having perused the treasuries of Heaven and Earth and the palaces of the highest sages, still did not know the root of the supreme mystery. On the evening of last month, at midnight, while in retreat at Mount Luófú, a sudden gale rose, fragrance flew, dragons sang and tigers roared, leaping in the emptiness; presently a purple cloud overshadowed the grove and I saw a true man, pupils square, a halo about his neck, his face beyond the world, riding a chariot drawn by a white qílín, bearing a nine-pennon standard, his waist girdled with the phoenix-embroidered qióngwén brocade, on his head the liùtōng crown, of about twenty years’ appearance, his retinue wielding lamps of night-light radiance, a thousand feathered guardsmen beside him. He announced himself as Xuándū tàizhēn wáng, and asked: ‘Are you Gě Hóng? Why do you seek eternal life?’ Hóng kowtowed, spread out his account, and received the revelation. The true spirit then directed his attendant to take brush and paper and dictated the marvellous words, which he left with Hóng, saying ‘I go now to Fāngzhàng to consult the immortal officers; we shall meet again.’ He rose and was no longer to be seen.”
Abstract
Franciscus Verellen, in Schipper & Verellen eds., The Taoist Canon (2004) 1:108–109 (§1.A.6, Sacred History and Geography), identifies the work as a Six-Dynasties composition combining materials from two shorter versions listed in Sòng catalogues (Van der Loon 82). Despite its attribution, Yú Jiāxī 余嘉錫 (Sìkù tíyào biànzhèng 19.1220–23) has shown the work postdates Gě Hóng’s lifetime, since it alludes (7a) to the apotheosis of Xǔ Mù 許穆 (i.e. Xǔ Mì 許謐, d. 373) and Xǔ Yùfǔ 許玉斧 (i.e. Xǔ Huì 許翽, d. ca. 370), both of whom outlived Gě. The text parallels [[KR5a1016|DZ 1016 Zhēngào]] 16 and Lǘqiū Fāngyuǎn’s 閭丘方遠 recension of [[KR5a0168|DZ 167 Dòngxuán língbǎo zhēnlíng wèiyè tú]]. Another version is preserved in [[KR5a0446|DZ 446 Shàngqīng zhòngjīng zhū zhēnshèng bì]] 5. Despite its pseudepigraphic character, the text is an important source on the Daoist creation myth. The frontmatter brackets composition notBefore 420 / notAfter 589.
Translations and research
No full translation. Standard scholarly entry: Franciscus Verellen, “Yuanshi shangzhen zhongxian ji,” in Schipper & Verellen eds., The Taoist Canon (2004), Vol. 1 §1.A.6, 108–109. Further: Liú Zhōngyǔ 劉仲宇, “Gě Hóng Zhěnzhōng shū kǎo”; Ráo Zōngyí 饒宗頤, “Lùn Dàojiào chuàngshì jì”; Yú Jiāxī, Sìkù tíyào biànzhèng 19.1220–23.
Links
- Kanseki Repository KR5a0167
- Schipper & Verellen, The Taoist Canon (2004), Vol. 1 §1.A.6, 108–109.