Huángtíng nèijǐng yùjīng zhù 黃庭內景玉經註
Commentary on the Jade Scripture of the Inner Landscape of the Yellow Court (version 2, the classical Liángqiū zǐ commentary) by 白履忠
About the work
A three-juàn Táng commentary on DZ 331 Huángtíng nèijǐng yùjīng (KR5b0015) by the court Daoist Bái Lǚzhōng 白履忠 (hào Liángqiū zǐ 梁丘子, fl. 722–729), the canonical commentary of the medieval Huángtíng tradition and a major source for the transmission history of both Huángtíng texts.
Prefaces
The received text contains two introductory texts in reversed order from their original sequence:
- 1a–3a — preface to the earlier Wǔchéng zǐ 務成子 commentary.
- 3a–b — Bái Lǚzhōng’s own original preface.
These are merged in the received DZ 402 into a single document titled “Formula (for Reciting) the Huángtíng nèijǐng yùjīng” (Huángtíng nèijǐng yùjīng jué 黃庭內景玉經訣). The original order — Bái’s preface first, Wǔchéng zǐ preface second — is preserved in Yúnjí qīqiān 雲笈七籤 11.1a–b. Both prefaces are also reproduced — there misattributed wholly to Bái — in DZ 263 Xiūzhēn shíshū 55–57.
The text’s opening lists alternate titles for the Nèijǐng: Tàishàng qínxīn wén 太上琴心文 (“Harmonious-Heart Script of the Most High” — “‘harmony’ because its recitation harmonises the six viscera, stills the shén, and brings one to immortality”), Dàdì jīnshū 大帝金書 (“Golden Writ of the Great Thearch” — “the scripture that the attendants of Fúsāng dàdì 扶桑大帝 all recite, and which is inscribed in gold tablets, hence ‘golden writ’”), and Dōnghuá yùpiān 東華玉篇 (“Jade Chapters of the Eastern Efflorescence” — where “Eastern Efflorescence” = the palaces of the eastern quarter, whose jade maidens and immortal residents all recite and engrave the text).
Abstract
Dated by Schipper (Schipper & Verellen, Taoist Canon 1: 352–353; 2: 754–755, DZ 402) to 722–729 — i.e. the period of Bái Lǚzhōng’s activity as a court Daoist, confirmed by his biography in Xīn Táng shū 新唐書 192.5124 which explicitly mentions the present work. Its inclusion in the Sòng library-catalogues (VDL 88) attests to its popularity.
Bái’s commentary is complete and verse-by-verse, attending to each detail — practical and mystical alike — and drawing extensively on both primary Shàngqīng and Língbǎo sources and secondary Táng Daoist literature. It supplies the first comprehensive exegetical apparatus for the Huángtíng nèijǐng, identifying the body-deities of each verse, describing the accompanying visualisations, and integrating the practice within the classical 90-day qīngzhāi 清齋 recitation regime. The companion commentary on the Wàijǐng (DZ 332), not preserved as an independent Dàozàng text, survives in DZ 263 Xiūzhēn shíshū 58–60; Schipper judges it to read as a sequel to the present work, basing most of its interpretations on the system of the Nèijǐng commentary and producing a tightly integrated Bái-style reading of the combined Huángtíng corpus.
Translations and research
- Homann, Rolf. Die wichtigsten Körpergottheiten im Huang-t’ing-ching. Göppingen: Kümmerle, 1971.
- Schipper, Kristofer. Concordance du Houang-t’ing king. Paris: École française d’Extrême-Orient, 1975.
- Robinet, Isabelle. Taoist Meditation: The Mao-shan Tradition of Great Purity. Albany: SUNY Press, 1993, 55–96.
- Schipper, Kristofer, and Franciscus Verellen, eds. The Taoist Canon: A Historical Companion to the Daozang. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004, 1:352–353 and 2:754–755 (DZ 402).