道德寶章

Dào dé bǎo zhāng 道德寶章

Precious Chapters on the Way and Virtue

by 葛長庚 (Gě Chángēng; zì Bái sǒu 白叟, bié hào Bái Yùchán 白玉蟾, canonical title Zǐ qīng zhēn rén 紫清真人; Southern Sòng Daoist master, c. 1194–1229)

A Southern-Sòng Daoist commentary on the Dàodé jīng ([[KR5c0045|Dàodé zhēn jīng]]) by the famous Daoist adept Gě Chángēng 葛長庚 — better known under his bié hào Bái Yùchán 白玉蟾 — the fifth patriarch of the Southern Lineage (Nán zōng 南宗) of nèi dān 內丹 inner alchemy, descending from Zhāng Bóduān 張伯端 through Shí Tài 石泰, Xuē Dàoguāng 薛道光, and Chén Nán 陳楠. Preserved uniquely in the Wén yuān gé Sìkù quánshū 文淵閣四庫全書 (V1055.8, p. 239) as a one-juàn work in the zǐ bù 子部 Dào jiā lèi 道家類 — not included in the Zhèngtǒng Dàozàng. The text is a distinctive intralinear-gloss commentary: short explanatory notes are inserted directly into the Dàodé jīng text in double-column small characters, giving terse Chán-gāthā-style commentary that reflects the fusion of Chán Buddhism and Daoism in Southern-Sòng nèi dān practice.

About the work

The text retains the Héshàng gōng 河上公 three-character chapter titles — Tǐ dào 體道 (ch. 1), Yǎng shēng 養生 (ch. 2), Ān mín 安民 (ch. 3), Wú yuán 無源 (ch. 4), Xū yòng 虛用 (ch. 5), Chéng xiàng 成象 (ch. 6), Tāo guāng 韜光 (ch. 7), etc. — and comments on the text chapter-by-chapter in the form of brief intralinear glosses. A typical sample, from chapter 1:

道○(如此而已) 可道 (可說即不如此) 非常道 名(強名曰道) 可名 (謂之道已非也) 非常名 無○(此即是道) 名天地之始 (道生一即是天地之初) 有(一生二，二生三，三生萬物，故有) 名萬物之母 (一無生萬有，萬有歸一無) 故常無(虛心無念) 欲以觀其妙 (見物知道，知道見心) 常有(守中抱一) 欲以觀其徼 (身有生死，心無生死) …

The Sìkù editorial tiyao (see below) characterises the commentary style: suí wén biāo shì, bù xùn gǔ zì jù, yì bù páng wéi tuī chǎn 隨文標識，不訓詁字句，亦不旁為推闡 (“it notes alongside the text without providing etymology for characters or phrases, and does not elaborate independently outside the text”). The glosses are “often near in meaning to Chán gāthā” (jìn chán jì 近禪偈) — a characterisation that places the commentary firmly within the Chán-Daoist synthesis that was central to Bái Yùchán’s teaching.

Tiyao

The Wén yuān gé Sìkù quánshū editorial tiyao, compiled under the general editorship of Jì Yún 紀昀, Lù Xīxióng 陸錫熊, and Sūn Shìyì 孫士毅 (Zǒng zuǎn guān 總纂官) with Lù Fèichí 陸費墀 (Zǒng xiào guān 總校官), submitted to the throne on Qiánlóng 乾隆 46.10 (November 1781):

“Your servants having examined [the work]: the Dào dé bǎo zhāng in one juàn was composed by Gě Chángēng 葛長庚 of the Sòng. Chángēng, zì Bái sǒu 白叟, was a man of Mǐn qīng 閩清 [Fújiàn] who served as a Daoist residing at Mt Wǔyí 武夷山. The old [Daozang] edition bears the title Zǐ qīng zhēn rén 紫清真人 Bái Yùchán 白玉蟾. ‘Bái Yùchán’ is his bié hào [alternative hào]; ‘Zǐ qīng zhēn rén’ is the title granted upon his summons to court during the Jiā dìng era [1208–1224]. The work’s character: it notes alongside the text without providing etymology or phrases, and does not elaborate independently. The notes are thus less voluminous than the base text, and their intent often approximates Chán gāthā — for Buddhism and Daoism share the same source.

“This copy is from the Yuán Zhào Mèngfǔ 趙孟頫 hand-copied edition, engraved from the manuscript — the calligraphy is exceptionally fine and clear. Chén Jìrú 陳繼儒 of the Míng also carved a copy in his Huì mì jí 彙祕笈 collectanea, under the altered title Chán xiān jiě lǎo 蟾仙解老 — not the original title.

“There are two prefaces by Shì yuán jū shì 適園居士 dated to the guǐ wèi year of Wàn lì [1583]. The former preface, citing Dǒng Yóu cáng shū zhì 董逌藏書志*, states that Zhāng Dào xiāng 張道相 collected ancient and recent commentaries on the Lǎozǐ — more than forty schools — without including this work. But according to Cháo shì’s 晁氏 Dú shū zhì 讀書志*, Zhāng Dào xiāng was a man of the post-Tiān bǎo 天寶 [742–756] Táng era — how could he have included a Southern Sòng Níng zōng 寧宗-era [1194–1224] book in his record? Moreover, Zhāng Dào xiāng’s collection comprised 29 commentaries plus his own 30th; there is no ‘more than forty’. The preface’s claims, then, are probably hearsay.

“Chángēng was transmitted in tradition as an immortal (shén xiān 神仙); yet Liú Kèzhuāng’s 劉克莊 Collected Works preserves a Preface to Wáng Yǐn jū’s Six Studies and Nine Books 王隱居六學九書序, in which he says that he knew four dān [alchemy] masters — Zōu Zǐ yì 鄒子益 (who did not reach 70), Céng Jǐng jiàn 曾景建, Huáng Tiān gǔ 黃天谷 (who reached only 60), and Bái Yùchán, who died young (yǎo sǐ 夭死). And Chén Zhènsūn’s 陳振孫 Zhí zhāi shū lù jiě tí 直齋書錄解題, under the entry Qún xiān zhū yù jí 群仙珠玉集, states: ‘Bái Yùchán, surnamed Gě, man of Mǐn qīng in Fújiàn, once committed an offence and fled — he was a lawless drifter. When I was magistrate of Nán chéng, there was a houseguest who said he had met this man and asked me if I knew him. I replied: how could such a fellow be admitted to my door?’ — These two men [Liú Kèzhuāng and Chén Zhènsūn] were contemporaries of Chángēng, and their accounts are presumably the truer versions; what the vulgar transmit is likely fabrication. Yet Daoists often self-aggrandise in this way. Since the book itself has some merits, we need not probe the person too deeply.

“Respectfully submitted after recopy-verification, on [the day of] the tenth month of Qiánlóng 46 [November 1781]. Zǒng zuǎn guān, your servants Jì Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì. Zǒng xiào guān, your servant Lù Fèichí.”

The Sìkù editors’ characteristic balance of appreciation and skepticism — acknowledging the book’s value while dismissing the hagiographical claims about the author — is a distinctive feature of this tiyao, and reflects the mature Qīng editorial stance on Sòng–Yuán Daoist literature.

Prefaces

The WYG edition preserves (through the Zhào Mèngfǔ manuscript) two prefaces by Shì yuán jū shì 適園居士 dated to the Wàn lì guǐ wèi year (1583) — though the Sìkù editors note substantial historical inaccuracies in these prefaces (confusion of Bái Yùchán with Zhāng Dào xiāng’s Táng-era commentator-collection). No authorial preface by Bái Yùchán himself is transmitted.

Abstract

The Dào dé bǎo zhāng is a characteristic document of late Southern-Sòng Chán-Daoist synthesis as practised in the Southern Lineage (Nán zōng) nèi dān 內丹 tradition. Bái Yùchán 白玉蟾 — conventionally dated c. 1194–1229, though his lifedates are debated (Liú Kèzhuāng’s note that he “died young” suggests a birth date late in the 12th century) — was one of the most prolific and influential figures of Sòng-era inner alchemy, leaving a substantial corpus of hymns, liturgical texts, alchemical poems, and thunder-rite manuals preserved in the Zhèngtǒng Dàozàng. The Dào dé bǎo zhāng is distinctive among his works as his one surviving sustained commentary on the Dàodé jīng.

Dating. The text is undated. The title 紫清真人 “Zǐ qīng zhēn rén” — bestowed by the Jiā dìng court (1208–1224) — is used on the old [Daozang] edition, indicating composition after that court grant. Per the project’s dating rule, the frontmatter gives 1208–1224 (the Jiā dìng era) as the composition window. Dynasty 宋.

Transmission. The text has a distinctive transmission history:

1. Original Southern-Sòng edition (now lost).
2. Yuán manuscript hand-copied by Zhào Mèngfǔ 趙孟頫 (1254–1322) — one of the great Yuán calligrapher-scholar-officials; this manuscript was engraved and printed.
3. Míng reprint in Chén Jìrú’s 陳繼儒 (1558–1639) Huì mì jí 彙祕笈 collectanea, under the altered title Chán xiān jiě lǎo 蟾仙解老 (“Toad-Immortal’s Explanation of Lǎozǐ” — using Bái Yùchán’s hào as a pen-name).
4. Wàn lì 1583 guǐ wèi edition with prefaces by Shì yuán jū shì 適園居士.
5. Qīng Wén yuān gé Sìkù quánshū compilation (1781) — the present witness.

The text is absent from the Zhèngtǒng Dàozàng of 1445 — a somewhat unusual circumstance, given Bái Yùchán’s numerous other works in the Daozang; possibly the text circulated only in literati / scholarly circles rather than in Daoist monastic transmission.

Translations and research

• Schipper, Kristofer, and Franciscus Verellen, eds. The Taoist Canon: A Historical Companion to the Daozang. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004. Various entries on Bái Yùchán’s other works (DZ 263 Xiū zhēn shí shū 修真十書, DZ 1306 Hǎi qióng wèn dào jí 海瓊問道集, etc.).
• Boltz, Judith Magee. A Survey of Taoist Literature, Tenth to Seventeenth Centuries. Berkeley: Institute of East Asian Studies, 1987, pp. 173–79 (on Bái Yùchán).
• Skar, Lowell. “Ritual Movements, Deity Cults, and the Transformation of Daoism in Song and Yuan Times.” In Daoism Handbook, ed. Livia Kohn. Leiden: Brill, 2000.
• Pregadio, Fabrizio, ed. The Encyclopedia of Taoism. London: Routledge, 2008, 1:203–07 (article on Bái Yùchán).
• Chén Bīng 陳兵. Bái Yùchán shēng píng kǎo 白玉蟾生平考. Zhōng guó dào jiào 中國道教, various issues.
• Chén Jìrú 陳繼儒. Chán xiān jiě lǎo 蟾仙解老, in Huì mì jí 彙祕笈. (The Míng reprint with the altered title.)

Other points of interest

The Chángāthā character of the commentary is its most distinctive feature. Glosses such as “虛心無念” (“empty the heart and be without thoughts”), “守中抱一” (“hold the centre and embrace the One”), “此即是道” (“this itself is the Way”), “道非欲虛，虛自歸之” (“the Way is not about desiring to be empty; emptiness of itself returns to it”) — these are in form and register indistinguishable from the verse-like instructional maxims of Chán master-disciple exchange, and embody the late-Sòng fusion of Daoist inner-alchemical practice with Chán meditational vocabulary that Bái Yùchán’s Nán zōng tradition characteristically promoted.

The Sìkù editors’ extended critique of Bái Yùchán’s reputation — citing Liú Kèzhuāng and Chén Zhènsūn to deflate the hagiographical tradition of Bái Yùchán as an immortal (shén xiān 神仙) who lived to great age — is a characteristic instance of Qīng philological-rationalist critique of SòngYuán Daoist hagiography. Modern scholarship has largely followed the Sìkù editors in treating Bái Yùchán as a historical figure with a modest-to-short natural lifespan (probably c. 1194–1229, dying in his mid-30s) rather than the multi-century immortal of the religious tradition.

The Zhào Mèngfǔ manuscript preserved through the WYG is of independent historical-cultural interest: Zhào Mèngfǔ (1254–1322) was one of the Yuán dynasty’s greatest calligraphers, a descendant of the Sòng imperial house, and a scholar-official whose engagement with Daoist texts is attested in multiple surviving manuscripts. His copy of Bái Yùchán’s Dào dé bǎo zhāng — and the Sìkù editors’ explicit praise of its “exceptionally fine and clear” calligraphy — places this WYG text among the culturally significant Zhào Mèngfǔ artefacts in the Qīng imperial library.

Links

• Kanseki Repository KR5c0076
• ctext.org: 道德寶章
• Wikipedia: Bai Yuchan (zh)
• Pregadio, Encyclopedia of Taoism (2008), 1:203–07.