Nányuè zǒngshèng jí 南嶽總勝集
Comprehensive Anthology of the Marvels of the Southern Marchmount by 陳田夫 (撰)
About the work
A Southern-Sòng gazetteer of Mt. Héng 衡山 — Nányuè 南嶽, the Southern Marchmount of imperial sacrificial ritual — in Héngzhōu 衡州 (modern Húnán). The author is the Sòng layman-scholar 陳田夫 (Chén Tiánfū, zì Gēngsǒu 耕叟), who lived in extended retreat on Mt. Héng during the mid-twelfth century and composed the gazetteer between roughly Qiándào 1 and Chúnxī 7 (ca. 1163–1180). The full work is in three juǎn (preserved as Taishō 2097 — see KR6r0132); the Daozang transmits only a single-juǎn extract focused on the Daoist establishments of the mountain, organised by abbey-by-abbey notices.
Abstract
The Daozang text proceeds through a sequence of Daoist temples (guàn 觀, gōng 宫, yuàn 院) and shrines (cí 祠) of Mt. Héng, each given a topographic location, a foundation narrative, an inventory of resident Daoists known by name through earlier records, and a register of imperial patronage. The opening entry on the Zhēnjūnguàn 真君觀 — “Zhēnjūnguàn zài Quándéguàn dōng wǔshí bù, jí Jiǔtiānnánshàng zǐguāng qìnghuá Chìdì tàixū zhī guǎn” 真君觀在銓德觀東五十歩，即九天南上紫光慶華赤帝太虛之館 (“The Perfected-Lord Belvedere lies fifty paces east of the Quándé Belvedere; it is the residence of the Red Emperor of the Nine-Heavens-South-Above Purple-Light-Auspicious-Resplendence Great-Void”) — is a model of the entries: it cites the Tang memorial of 司馬承禎 (Sīmǎ Chéngzhēn) in the Kāiyuán era arguing that the grotto-heavens of the five marchmounts should not share sacrifices with the “blood-receiving” (血食) deities of common cult; the imperial response establishing pure-offering rites under Daoist supervision; the Kāiyuán 5 (717) Wǔlíngjīng 五靈經 composed by Xuánzōng; the lists of subsidiary divinities (Wèi Chōng of Qiánshān, Hán Zhòng of Huòshān, the female Zǐxū yuánjūn Wèi Huácún 魏華存 of Zǐxū, and so on); and the inventories of imperial regalia donated under successive reigns (a precious sword from the heavens in 718; Sòng-period bestowals of jade tablets, fire-bell crowns, jade guī tablets; the Tàizōng / Zhēnzōng / Rénzōng imperial autographs; the Dàguān 2 / 1108 Yuánchéndiàn foundation).
Subsequent sections cover the Héngyuèguàn 衡岳觀 (founded in Jìn Tàikāng 8 / 287 by WúXú Língqī 徐靈期 and Xīnyě xiānshēng Dèng Yùzhī 鄧郁之 on a former 王母殿 site); the Jiǔxiānguān 九仙觀; the Bǎolíngguàn 寳靈觀; the Yùqīngguàn 玉清觀; the Língxiāoguàn 凌霄觀; and many others. Particular attention is given to Huīzōng’s Chónghé era (Chónghé 1 = 1118) bestowal of zhēnrén titles on a dozen Daoist saints associated with the mountain: Chōngzhēn zhònghé yuánrén 沖真重和元人 on Xú Língqī, Míngzhēn dòngwēi zhēnrén 明真洞微真人 on others, etc. — a coordinated round of imperial enfeoffments that marked the apogee of late-Northern-Sòng state-Daoist patronage of the Southern Marchmount cult.
The Daozang single-juǎn extract corresponds approximately to part of juǎn 2 of the three-juǎn original. It omits Chén Tiánfū’s preface, the bibliographic survey of earlier Nányuè texts, the topographic and fēngshuǐ prolegomena, and most of the Buddhist content of the full work — all of which are preserved in the Taishō version. Schipper & Verellen (Taoist Canon 2: 893, Vincent Goossaert) note this divergence and treat the present text essentially as a derivative compendium drawn from the larger gazetteer; it is also reproduced in the Dàozàng jíyào (JY 305).
Translations and research
- Robson, James. Power of Place: The Religious Landscape of the Southern Sacred Peak (Nanyue) in Medieval China. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Asia Center, 2009 — the major Western-language monograph on Nán-yuè, with extensive use of this gazetteer.
- Schipper, Kristofer, and Franciscus Verellen, eds. The Taoist Canon: A Historical Companion to the Daozang. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004. Vol. 2: 893 (DZ 606, Vincent Goossaert).
- Chén Tián-fū 陳田夫 (modern punctuated edn.). Nán-yuè zǒng-shèng jí 南嶽總勝集, in Quán Sòng wén 全宋文.
Other points of interest
The double transmission of the work — as a Daoist single-juǎn extract (DZ 606) and as a Buddhist three-juǎn full text (T 2097 / KR6r0132) — is unusual: the same Sòng-period gazetteer travelled into both canons, in each case selected to emphasise its denominationally relevant material. Modern readers should consult KR6r0132 for the complete work, and the present DZ extract for the textual variants and accentuated Daoist coverage.