Dòngxuán língbǎo zìrán jiǔtiān shēngshén yùzhāng jīng jiě 洞玄靈寶自然九天生神玉章經解
Explanations of the Stanzas of the Life-Spirits of the Nine Heavens, of the Cavern-Mystery Numinous Treasure by 王希巢
About the work
A three-juàn Sòng-period commentary on DZ 318 Jiǔtiān shēngshén zhāngjīng (KR5b0002), composed in 1205 by Wáng Xīcháo 王希巢 (zì Yǐnxián 隱賢), a Daoist of the Chóngxū guàn 崇虛觀 in Miǎnzhōu 綿州 (Sichuan).
Prefaces
The received text opens with Wáng Xīcháo’s own preface (裳五), dated 1205, in which he explains that he composed the commentary at the suggestion of a certain Rèn Xiánliáng 任仙亮, who found the earlier explanations of Yùchán zǐ 玉蟾子 (surnamed Zhào 趙) incomplete.
Lost paratexts: In his supplement to the Jùnzhāi dúshū zhì, Zhào Xībiàn 趙希弁 lists a Jiǔtiān shēngshén zhāngjīng in three juàn with explanations by Wáng Xīcháo, preceded by a preface by Chéng Gōngxū 程公許 (fl. 1211) and followed by a colophon by Zhào Rìxiū 趙日休; neither preface nor colophon survives in the received edition.
Abstract
Dated to 1205 by the author’s preface (Schmidt in Schipper & Verellen, Taoist Canon 2: 727, DZ 397). The commentary is unusually detailed and precise in its textual criticism (e.g. 1.5b–6b); the two hymns by the Tàijí zhēnrén 太極真人 at the close of the parent scripture are left uncommentated. The author, a dàoshì of the Chóngxū guàn in Miǎnzhōu (Sichuan), explicitly situates himself within the broad Sòng commentarial line while distinguishing his work from the shorter or less thorough earlier treatments.
This is the middle of the three Sòng–Yuán commentaries on the Shēngshén zhāngjīng preserved in the canon; DZ 396 (Dǒng Sījìng, 1252, KR5b0080) cites Wáng’s work as the “Sichuan commentary” (Shǔ zhù 蜀註), and DZ 398 (Huáyáng fù, 1332, KR5b0082) draws heavily on it.
Translations and research
- Schipper, Kristofer, and Franciscus Verellen, eds. The Taoist Canon: A Historical Companion to the Daozang. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004, 2:727 (DZ 397).