Shēngtiān jīng sòngjiě 生天經頌解
Hymns in Exegesis of the Book of Birth in Heaven
by 王吉昌 (頌, hào Chāorán zǐ 超然子)
About the work
A one-juan rhymed commentary by the Quánzhēn 全真 nèidān 內丹 master Wáng Jíchāng 王吉昌 (hào Chāorán zǐ 超然子, fl. 1220–1240) on the short Táng scripture [[KR5a0024|Yuánshǐ tiānzūn shuō shēngtiān dédào jīng 元始天尊說生天得道經]] (DZ 24, the parent scripture, also known as the Shēngtiān jīng 生天經 by abbreviation). Preserved in the Zhèngtǒng Dàozàng 正統道藏 (DZ 0313 / CT 313 = TC 313), 洞真部 讚頌類. The work comprises thirty-seven seven-character poems explaining and expanding upon the meaning of the parent scripture. The general tenor of the commentary is that of nèidān spiritual alchemy, in keeping with Wáng’s other major Quánzhēn writing, the [[KR5a0248|Huìzhēn jí 會真集 (DZ 247)]].
Prefaces
No preface in the source. The text opens directly with “Chāorán zǐ sòng 超然子頌” (hymn-block by Chāorán zǐ) followed by the headings of the parent scripture. Yuánshǐ tiānzūn 元始天尊: “The most-high, most-great, the void-and-nothing ancestor; / receiving and guiding the multitudinous beings, root of the ten-thousand dharmas. / Lord of the Thirty-two Heavens, Master of all teachings; / rúrú 如如 unmoving, named the Honoured One.” “Speaking this ‘birth in Heaven’”: He gives birth to Heaven, gives birth to Earth, gives birth also to man; / The Four Phenomena and Three Generative Powers nurture the Five Phases. / Without form, without name — the beginning of Heaven and Earth; / With feeling, with phenomena — the ancestor of the substance of things. “Attaining the Way, the True Scripture”: Deep root and firmly fastened stem in the centre of the heart; / Returning to the mìng 命, returning to the root, establishing the běnzhēn 本真. / Refined of the Nine yáng, the gold cauldron emerges; / Wisdom-light brightly shines, pervading Heaven and Earth.”
Abstract
Kristofer Schipper, in Schipper & Verellen eds., The Taoist Canon (2004) 2:1166 (§3.B.9, The Quánzhēn Order), describes the work as comprising thirty-seven poems explaining and expanding upon the meaning of the short Táng scripture Yuánshǐ tiānzūn shuō shēngtiān dédào jīng. The general tenor of the commentary is that of spiritual alchemy, in keeping with the teachings of Wáng — the author of the related Quánzhēn anthology [[KR5a0248|Huìzhēn jí 會真集 (DZ 247)]]. Wáng Jíchāng’s period of activity is fixed by the stele inscriptions of two of his disciples, preserved in [[KR5a0973|DZ 973 Gānshuǐ xiānyuán lù]] 6.22a and 8.26a, and by the date of the Qǐzhēn jí 啟真集 (KR5a0249 / DZ 248) anthology of his disciple Liú Zhìyuán 劉志淵 (1186–1244). The frontmatter accordingly brackets composition to Wáng’s mature period of teaching activity in the early thirteenth century, ca. 1220–1244.
Translations and research
No full translation. Standard scholarly entry: Kristofer Schipper, “Shengtian jing songjie,” in Schipper & Verellen eds., The Taoist Canon (2004), Vol. 2 §3.B.9, 1166. On Wáng Jíchāng and Quánzhēn nèidān exegesis: Vincent Goossaert, “Huizhen ji,” in TC 2:1166–1167; Pierre Marsone, Wang Chongyang et la fondation du Quanzhen (Paris 2010); Vincent Goossaert, La création du taoïsme moderne (Paris: EPHE dissertation, 1997).
Links
- Kanseki Repository KR5a0325
- Schipper & Verellen, The Taoist Canon (2004), Vol. 2 §3.B.9, 1166.