Dòngxuán língbǎo dìngguān jīng zhù 洞玄靈寶定觀經註
The Book of Settled Contemplation, of the Cavern-Mystery Numinous Treasure Canon, with a Commentary
About the work
A one-juàn Táng doctrinal treatise on samādhi (dìngguān 定觀, “settled contemplation”) transmitted only in conjunction with its commentary. The root-text itself — the Dìngguān jīng — belongs to the Táng Chóngxuán 重玄 school of Daoist meditation; the commentary, by an unknown Língxū zǐ 靈虛子, was composed in a rénshēn 壬申 year.
Prefaces
No prefaces in the source proper; the received text closes with a brief colophon signed by Língxū zǐ and dated to a rénshēn year.
Abstract
Dated to the Táng by Schipper (Schipper & Verellen, Taoist Canon 2: 596–597, DZ 400), with a firm terminus ante quem of 1049 — the text is first mentioned in the Hándān shūmù 邯鄲書目 of that year (cited in Jùnzhāi dúshū zhì; VDL 112). The work survives only in conjunction with its commentary; the root text is reproduced entire in Yúnjí qīqiān 雲笈七籤 17.6b–13a (without the commentator’s colophon).
The Dìngguān jīng itself is a central Táng text on settled contemplation (dìngguān): it articulates the gradual stilling of the mind required for the realisation of the True Dào through successive stages of dìng (“settling”) and guān (“contemplation”), and is closely aligned with the Zuòwàng lùn 坐忘論 tradition of Sīmǎ Chéngzhēn 司馬承禎 (647–735). DZ 326 Dòngxuán língbǎo guānmiào jīng (KR5b0010) is a later abridged extract that draws from 4a onward of the Dìngguān jīng (see Robinet, in Schipper & Verellen 2:598, DZ 326). The present commentary glosses the root-text verse-by-verse, situating it within the broader sāndòng framework: “Líng 靈 means shén 神 — in Heaven it is called Líng bǎo 靈寶” (the opening gloss).
Translations and research
- Kohn, Livia. Seven Steps to the Tao: Sima Chengzhen’s Zuowang lun. Nettetal: Steyler Verlag, 1987.
- Schipper, Kristofer, and Franciscus Verellen, eds. The Taoist Canon: A Historical Companion to the Daozang. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004, 2:596–597 (DZ 400).