Dàodé zhēn jīng jí zhù 道德真經集註 (Liáng Jiǒng)

Collected Commentaries on the True Scripture of the Way and Its Virtue

compiled with commentaries by 河上公 (Héshàng gōng), 王弼 (Wáng Bì, 226–249), 李隆基 (Táng Xuánzōng, r. 712–756), and 王雱 (Wáng Pōu, 1042–1076; preface 1070); published with a colophon by 梁迥 (Liáng Jiǒng, Military Judge of Yǐng zhōu 潁州) dated 1098

A late-Northern-Sòng composite edition of four foundational Dàodé jīng commentaries: those of Héshàng gōng (河上公) (KR5c0065, DZ 682), Wáng Bì (王弼) (KR5c0073, DZ 690), Táng Xuánzōng (李隆基) (KR5c0059 + KR5c0060, DZ 677 + 678), and Wáng Pōu 王雱 (1042–1076; son of Wáng Ānshí 王安石). Printed in 1098 with a colophon by Liáng Jiǒng 梁迥, Military Judge of Yǐng zhōu. Preserved in the Zhèngtǒng Dàozàng as DZ 706 / CT 706 (Dòngshén bù, Yù jué lèi 洞神部玉訣類) in ten juàn.

The collection is of exceptional significance for the preservation of Wáng Pōu’s commentary, which survives here in a generally complete form — whereas in other sources (DZ 724 Dàodé zhēn jīng jí yì 集義, DZ 718 Qū shàn jí 取善集) it is preserved only in fragments.

About the work

Isabelle Robinet’s notice in Schipper & Verellen eds., The Taoist Canon (2004, 2:548–53, DZ 706) gives the authoritative modern framing.

Structure

The ten juàn present the four commentaries in parallel, organised by chapter of the Dàodé jīng. For each passage the reader has before them four commentarial voices: Héshàng gōng, Wáng Bì, Xuánzōng, and Wáng Pōu — representing respectively:

The Eastern Hàn religious-practical reading.
The WèiJìn Xuánxué 玄學 philosophical reading.
The Táng imperial-Chóngxuán 重玄 reading.
The late-Northern-Sòng Three-Teachings synthesis reading.

The Wáng Pōu commentary

The unique contribution of DZ 706 is the preservation of Wáng Pōu’s 王雱 commentary in a generally complete form. Wáng Pōu (1042–1076) — son of the reformer Wáng Ānshí 王安石 (1021–1086) and himself an important philosopher — wrote the commentary c. 1070 (preface dated 1070) while participating in his father’s xīn fǎ 新法 reform programme. His early death at age 34 cut short a promising philosophical career, but his Dàodé jīng commentary was influential on subsequent Sòng commentators, especially Sū Zhé (蘇轍) (KR5c0074).

Philosophical character of Wáng Pōu’s reading:

Three Teachings synthesis (sān jiào hé yī 三教合一): Wáng Pōu often compares Confucianism to spring and summer (times of fruition, harvest, gathering), Daoism to autumn and winter (times of returning to root, quiet peacefulness). Lǎozǐ brings all together and makes all things return to the One, to their “fundamental nature” (běn xìng 本性), and to quiet peacefulness — this gathering enabling the renewal of blossoming in the following spring and summer (preface 6b, and 3.19a, 4.7b, 5.24a, 6.18a).
Opposition to Wáng Bì on wú / yǒu: Wáng Pōu considers that Lǎozǐ recognised wú 無 (non-being) and yǒu 有 (being) to be interdependent, but that Lǎozǐ’s thought concentrates on wú whereas the Confucian scriptures are concerned with yǒu.
Sīmǎ Guāng punctuation: Following Sīmǎ Guāng (KR5c0072), Wáng Pōu punctuates the opening of chapter 1 after wú and yǒu (not after yù).
Core concept: xìng 性 (“intrinsic nature”): The commentary centres on xìng, understood as the “fundamental nature” of humanity, the vehicle of transcendence in human beings. Wáng Pōu identifies xìng with the pǔ 樸 (“uncarved block”) of the Lǎozǐ (5.8b, 8.21b) and with the hào rán 浩然 (“exaltation of the spirit”) of the Mèngzǐ 孟子 (10.9b).
“Return to one’s nature” (fù xìng 復性) — an expression borrowed from the Tiāntái 天台 Buddhist tradition, which Lǐ Áo 李翱 (774–836) had already made the title of his famous essays Fù xìng shū 復性書. Wáng Pōu treats this return as equivalent to “examining the core of one’s nature” (jìn xìng 盡性) — the Yì jīng’s qióng lǐ jìn xìng yǐ zhì yú mìng 窮理盡性以至於命 formula that also figures prominently in Sū Zhé and Sīmǎ Guāng.

Prefaces

The collection includes three prefaces:

Emperor Xuánzōng’s preface — the Dà zì 大字 preface to his own commentary (see KR5c0059).
Gé Xuán’s preface — attributed to the Three-Kingdoms Daoist Gé Xuán 葛玄 (164–244), a venerable preface in the religious-Daoist tradition.
Wáng Pōu’s preface — dated 1070 CE, articulating the Three Teachings synthesis framework.

Colophon

The colophon by Liáng Jiǒng 梁迥, Military Judge (jūn pàn 軍判) of Yǐng zhōu 潁州 (modern Fù yáng 阜陽, Ān huī), dated 1098, explains that an official of the Zhāng 章 family (personal name not given) had the commentaries printed after having them edited by a “worthy scholar” (xián xué zhě 賢學者). This colophon thus provides the precise publication date of DZ 706.

Text-critical notes

A careful comparison of the Wáng Pōu commentary in DZ 706 with the fragments preserved in DZ 724 Dàodé zhēn jīng jí yì shows that the DZ 706 version, while generally complete, has been abridged in some places (compare DZ 706 1.1a and 1.6a with DZ 724 1.25a and 1.27a–29b respectively; the passage from Wáng Pōu’s commentary given in DZ 724 5.21b–22a is missing altogether in the DZ 706 version). Thus DZ 706 and DZ 724 together preserve a more complete Wáng Pōu than either alone.

Abstract

The collection is a major late-Northern-Sòng scholarly monument, preserving a comprehensive survey of the foundational Dàodé jīng commentarial tradition from the Eastern Hàn (Héshàng gōng) through the WèiJìn Xuánxué (Wáng Bì) and Táng imperial (Xuánzōng) periods, culminating in the late-Northern-Sòng Three-Teachings synthesis of Wáng Pōu. The 1098 publication date places it in the final decade of Zhé zōng’s 哲宗 reign, on the eve of Huīzōng’s imperial-Daoist patronage.

Dating. The individual commentaries date respectively to the Eastern Hàn (Héshàng gōng), c. 240s (Wáng Bì), 732–756 (Xuánzōng), and 1070 (Wáng Pōu). The composite collection itself is dated by its colophon to 1098. Per the project’s dating rule, the frontmatter gives 1070–1098 as the window — from the composition of Wáng Pōu’s commentary (the newest element) through the publication of the collection.

Attribution. The catalog attributes the work to Liáng Jiǒng, but his role was editorial (providing the colophon); the substance of the work is the four component commentaries. The person note for Liáng Jiǒng and the individual commentators are listed separately in the frontmatter.

Translations and research

Schipper, Kristofer, and Franciscus Verellen, eds. The Taoist Canon: A Historical Companion to the Daozang. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004, 2:548–53 (DZ 706, I. Robinet). Primary reference.
Van der Loon, Piet. Taoist Books in the Libraries of the Sung Dynasty. London: Ithaca Press, 1984, p. 138 (VDL 138) — on Wén Rú hǎi 文如海 (a Táng figure to whom Wáng Zhòngmín 王重民 incorrectly attributed the present edition).
Wáng Zhòngmín 王重民. Lǎozǐ kǎo 老子考. Běijīng: Zhōnghuá, 1927 (rpt. 1991). Classic bibliographical survey; contains the Wén Rú hǎi attribution rebutted by Robinet.
On the underlying commentaries, see separately: KR5c0065 (Héshàng gōng), KR5c0073 (Wáng Bì), KR5c0059 + KR5c0060 (Xuánzōng), and the various fragmentary Wáng Pōu witnesses in DZ 724 / DZ 718.

Other points of interest

Wáng Pōu 王雱 (1042–1076) is a significant early-Sòng philosophical figure whose scholarly output was cut short by early death. As son of Wáng Ānshí 王安石, he participated in his father’s xīn fǎ 新法 reforms and contributed substantially to the reformist-Confucian scholarly project. He is also the author of an important Zhuāngzǐ commentary, DZ 743 Nán huá zhēn jīng xīn zhuàn 南華真經新傳. Together with the Lǎozǐ commentary preserved in DZ 706, these works establish Wáng Pōu as one of the foremost late-Northern-Sòng Daoist philosophers — a position often obscured in modern scholarship by the focus on his more famous father.

The preservation of Wáng Pōu in DZ 706 is therefore of considerable significance for the history of Northern-Sòng thought: without this composite edition, Wáng Pōu’s Lǎozǐ commentary would be recoverable only in fragmentary form from the quotation-compilations.

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道德真經集註 (梁迥本)