Shàngqīng hánxiàng jiànjiàn tú 上清含象劍鑑圖
Shàngqīng Diagrams of the Cosmic Signs Embodied in Mirrors and Swords attributed to 司馬承禎
(The catalog name 司馬丞禎 is a typographical slip for the familiar 司馬承禎; the 丞 / 承 variance is widespread in the Míng Dàozàng tradition. Preserved in prose, not silently corrected.)
About the work
A nine-folio compilation of six brief chapters on three magic mirrors and one sword, artifacts rendered spiritually significant by virtue of the cosmic designs engraved upon them. Attributed to the great Táng Shàngqīng master Sīmǎ Chéngzhēn 司馬承禎 (647–735).
Prefaces
The text opens with the author-note “Tiāntái báiyún Sīmǎ Chéngzhēn jìn 天台白雲司馬承禎進” — “Presented by Sīmǎ Chéngzhēn of the White-Cloud [Hermitage on] Tiāntái shān.” According to a notice at 7b–8a, the entire text with its diagrams was presented by Sīmǎ Chéngzhēn to Emperor Xuánzōng 玄宗 (r. 712–756), who responded with a short poem preserved in the text. A memorial of presentation at the close is signed Wú Jǐ 吳及 and dated 1005 — but Wú Jǐ lived 1014–1062, so either the attribution or the date is in error.
Abstract
Attributed to Sīmǎ Chéngzhēn and thus dated to the Kāiyuán period (712–735) of Xuánzōng’s reign (Koffler in Schipper & Verellen, Taoist Canon 2: 685, DZ 431). The mirrors, by virtue of their engravings and of the unique power of the Technique of the Four Discs (sìguī zhī fǎ 四規之法), reveal the real form of all that they reflect (1a–4b; cf. DZ 1126 Dòngxuán língbǎo dàoxué kēyí 2.8b; DZ 1248 Dòngxuán língbǎo dàoshì míngjìng fǎ 1b; DZ 1206 Shàngqīng míngjiàn yàojīng 2a). Two additional fú — yīn and yáng — endow the two faces of the sword with the forces of submission and attack (4b–7a). The text closes with details on the fabrication and historical transmission of such artifacts (8b–9a) and a short formula for the smelting of silver from sand (9a–9b).
The work is a distinguished specimen of Táng Shàngqīng applied-Daoism, linking meditative-mirror theory (in the Zuòwàng 坐忘 and related Sīmǎ Chéngzhēn tradition) to technical mirror-fabrication instructions. If genuine — as the attribution to Sīmǎ Chéngzhēn suggests — it is among the earliest fully preserved Daoist technical-magical treatises composed for an imperial audience.
Translations and research
- Kohn, Livia. Seven Steps to the Tao: Sima Chengzhen’s Zuowang lun. Nettetal: Steyler Verlag, 1987 — biographical context for Sīmǎ Chéngzhēn.
- Schipper, Kristofer, and Franciscus Verellen, eds. The Taoist Canon: A Historical Companion to the Daozang. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004, 2:685 (DZ 431).