Dòngxuán língbǎo zìrán jiǔtiān shēngshén zhāngjīng zhù 洞玄靈寶自然九天生神章經註
Commentary on the Stanzas of the Life-Spirits of the Nine Heavens, of the Cavern-Mystery Numinous Treasure by 華陽復 with preface by 張守清 (序)
About the work
A three-juàn Yuán commentary on DZ 318 Jiǔtiān shēngshén zhāngjīng (KR5b0002), by Huáyáng fù 華陽復 (otherwise unknown; Yuán dynasty, 1279–1368), with a preface dated 1332 by the prominent Wǔdāng-shan 武當山 master Zhāng Shǒuqīng 張守清.
Prefaces
Preface by Zhāng Shǒuqīng 張守清 (序), dated 1332. Zhāng, styled Tǐxuán miàoyìng tàihé zhēnrén 體玄妙應太和真人 — a title conferred on him by the Yuán emperor in 1314 (cf. DZ 962 Wǔdāng fúdì zǒng zhēnjí 2.1b; DZ 961 Xuántiān shàngdì qǐshèng língyì lù 6a) — had been active in establishing temples on Wǔdāng shān from 1284. In the preface he regrets that he knew the old Táng commentaries by Xuē Yōuqī 薛幽棲, Lǐ Shàowēi 李少微, and Chéng Xuányīng 成玄英 only by hearsay, and reports that Huáyáng fù’s commentary was brought to his attention by a visitor from Wú 吳.
Abstract
Dated by Zhāng’s 1332 preface (Schmidt in Schipper & Verellen, Taoist Canon 2: 727–728, DZ 398). Huáyáng fù is otherwise unknown; internal evidence in his commentary (1.4a–5b) places him in the Yuán dynasty (1279–1368). His commentary is not original: it draws heavily on the explanations of Wáng Xīcháo 王希巢 (DZ 397, KR5b0081) — e.g. 1.12b–14b of the present text parallels DZ 397 1.22b–26a — and frequently cites the otherwise-lost commentaries of Xiāo Zhēnyòu 蕭真祐 and Zhēn Shuài 真率. (The preface further names Wáng Yǐnxián 王隱賢, Xiāo Zhēnyòu, and Fúshān Zhēnshuài 浮山真率 as the three principal predecessors Huáyáng fù synthesises — Wáng Yǐnxián being the zì of Wáng Xīcháo of DZ 397.)
An appended folio of phonetic explanations (yīn 音) closes the work. It is the third and latest of the three Sòng–Yuán commentaries on the Shēngshén zhāngjīng preserved in the canon (DZ 396, 397, 398; KR5b0080–KR5b0082).
Translations and research
- Schipper, Kristofer, and Franciscus Verellen, eds. The Taoist Canon: A Historical Companion to the Daozang. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004, 2:727–728 (DZ 398); cognate DZ 962 Wǔdāng fúdì zǒng zhēnjí and DZ 961 Xuántiān shàngdì qǐshèng língyì lù for Zhāng Shǒuqīng.