道德真經集註 (彭耜)

Dàodé zhēn jīng jí zhù 道德真經集註 (Péng Sì)

An Annotated Anthology of the Commentaries on the True Scripture of the Way and Its Virtue

compiled by 彭耜 (Péng Sì; hào Hè lín zhēn yì 鶴林真逸); preface dated 1229

A major Southern-Sòng anthology of commentaries on the Dàodé jīng ([[KR5c0045|Dàodé zhēn jīng]]) in eighteen juàn, compiled by Péng Sì 彭耜 (a disciple of Bái Yùchán 葛長庚), with preface dated 1229. Preserved in the Zhèngtǒng Dàozàng as DZ 707 / CT 707 (Dòngshén bù, Yù jué lèi 洞神部玉訣類). The compilation is supplemented by two shorter companion-works:

• DZ 708 Dàodé zhēn jīng jí zhù shì wén 道德真經集註釋文 (1 + 21 folios) — philological apparatus.
• DZ 709 Dàodé zhēn jīng jí zhù zá shuō 道德真經集註雜說 (2 juàn) — “Various Observations” supplementary essays.

These three works by Péng Sì are complementary and should be treated as a single scholarly unit.

About the work

Isabelle Robinet’s notice in Schipper & Verellen eds., The Taoist Canon (2004, 2:1158–1200, DZ 707 / 708 / 709) gives the authoritative modern framing.

Péng Sì and his masters

Péng Sì describes himself in a preface preserved in the Commercial Press edition and Dàozàng jíyào, “Xīn” 心 6.1 (but missing from the Yìwén edition of the Daozang) as the successor to Chén Jǐngyuán 陳景元 (1025–1094) — the important Northern-Sòng Daoist master and author of DZ 714 Dàodé zhēn jīng cáng shì zuǎn wēi piān 道德真經藏室纂微篇 (1072). Péng Sì was also a disciple of 葛長庚 Bái Yùchán (d. 1229), the fifth Patriarch of the Southern Lineage (Nán zōng) of nèi dān.

Interestingly, Péng Sì does not cite his own master Bái Yùchán in the compilation — despite Bái Yùchán’s having written a Dàodé jīng commentary (KR5c0076 Dào dé bǎo zhāng). This editorial reserve may reflect Péng Sì’s sense that Bái Yùchán’s commentary, being in a Chán-gāthā register, did not fit the scholarly frame of the Jí zhù compilation.

Contents of DZ 707 Jí zhù

The anthology does not reflect Péng Sì’s personal predilection for alchemy — an omission characteristic of the scholarly-exegetical genre. The compilation cites approximately twenty commentators, many of whom are now lost except through this work:

• Chén Jǐngyuán 陳景元 (1025–1094) — Péng Sì’s claimed teacher-lineage.
• Sīmǎ Guāng (司馬光) (1019–1086) (KR5c0072, DZ 689).
• Sū Zhé (蘇轍) (1039–1112) (see 691 Dàodé zhēn jīng zhù).
• Chén Xiàng gǔ (陳象古) (see 683 Dàodé zhēn jīng jiě, KR5c0066).
• Lǐ Wén hé 李文和 and Lín Dōng 林東 — found exclusively in DZ 707; these commentators are otherwise lost.
• Twelve additional authors with commentaries fuller in DZ 724 Dàodé zhēn jīng jí yì than in DZ 707.
• Others, listed in Péng Sì’s preface: Lǚ Huìqīng (呂惠卿), Wáng Pōu (王雱), Huīzōng (徽宗), Lù Xīshēng (陸希聲), Shào Ruòyú (邵若愚), Dǒng Sījìng (董思靖, partially), etc.

Most of these commentaries date from the Sòng (960–1279); apart from Chén Jǐngyuán, Sīmǎ Guāng, Sū Zhé, and Chén Xiànggǔ, the majority are now lost except through Péng Sì’s anthology. DZ 707 is therefore one of the most valuable medieval Chinese bibliographies of Sòng Dàodé jīng commentary.

DZ 708 Jí zhù shì wén — philological apparatus

The companion DZ 708 Dàodé zhēn jīng jí zhù shì wén (1 + 21 folios) is a philological study of the Lǎozǐ, comparing textual variations and glosses across the received versions. Péng Sì relies to a large extent upon Lù Démíng 陸德明 (c. 550–630) and Chén Jǐngyuán as sources, and incorporates data taken from DZ 707 Jí zhù. Together with Liáng Jiǒng’s earlier shì yīn (KR5c0094, 1098), DZ 708 constitutes the most substantial pre-Míng philological apparatus for the Dàodé jīng.

DZ 709 Jí zhù zá shuō — “Various Observations”

The companion DZ 709 Dàodé zhēn jīng jí zhù zá shuō (2 juàn) offers a miscellaneous supplement to the main anthology: reports of instances where the Lǎozǐ was quoted, often by emperors, going back as far as the Hàn; information about certain commentaries or anthologies of commentaries; and occasional direct quotations from lost commentaries. A notable item is a mention at 1.2a–3a of a lost catalogue of the Daozang that describes the contents of the anthology by Zhāng Dàoxiāng 張道相 (also known as Zhāng Jūn xiāng 張君相, 1254–1322) — a work now no longer extant, but whose listed contents Péng Sì was able to partially reconstruct.

Péng Sì nearly always indicates his sources: official dynastic histories, local gazetteers, literary works, and commentaries. The zá shuō is therefore also a valuable source-critical apparatus for the Lǎozǐ reception history.

Prefaces

• Péng Sì’s own preface dated 1229 — signed “Hè lín zhēn yì Péng Sì 鶴林真逸彭耜”.
• An additional preface preserved in the Commercial Press edition and in Dàozàng jíyào, “Xīn” 6.1 (absent from the Yìwén Daozang edition) in which Péng Sì positions himself as the successor to Chén Jǐngyuán.

Abstract

The tripartite compilation DZ 707 + 708 + 709 is the single most comprehensive Southern-Sòng scholarly treatment of the Dàodé jīng — comprising collected commentaries, philological apparatus, and miscellaneous observations. It preserves a substantial portion of the lost Sòng commentary tradition, making it an indispensable resource for the reconstruction of medieval Chinese Lǎozǐ scholarship.

Dating. Preface dated 1229. Per the project’s dating rule, the frontmatter gives 1229 as the composition / compilation date. Dynasty: 宋.

Persons. Péng Sì is the principal compiler; the many cited commentators are not listed in frontmatter (per the project convention). Péng Sì’s preface explicitly names the commentators drawn upon, preserving their memory.

Translations and research

• Schipper, Kristofer, and Franciscus Verellen, eds. The Taoist Canon: A Historical Companion to the Daozang. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004, 2:1158–1200 (DZ 707 / 708 / 709 entries, I. Robinet). Primary reference.
• Boltz, Judith Magee. A Survey of Taoist Literature, Tenth to Seventeenth Centuries. Berkeley: Institute of East Asian Studies, 1987. For the Southern-Sòng Daoist context.
• Van der Loon, Piet. Taoist Books in the Libraries of the Sung Dynasty. London: Ithaca Press, 1984.

Other points of interest

Péng Sì 彭耜 (fl. early 13th century) — a disciple of both Chén Jǐngyuán (through textual transmission) and Bái Yùchán (through direct discipleship) — bridges two major Southern-Sòng Daoist lineages in his person: the Northern-Sòng Tài shàng lǎo jūn scholarly tradition (via Chén Jǐngyuán) and the Southern-Sòng Nán zōng alchemical tradition (via Bái Yùchán). His tripartite anthology reflects this synthetic scholarly identity.

The authorial convention of treating a compilation as having the compiler as the principal author — even when the substance is drawn from multiple cited commentators — is standard in the Daozang tradition and should not mislead modern readers into taking DZ 707 as Péng Sì’s own commentary. It is an anthology.

Links

• Kanseki Repository KR5c0095
• Schipper & Verellen, The Taoist Canon (2004), 2:1158–1200 — DZ 707 / 708 / 709 entries (I. Robinet).
• ctext.org: 道德真經集註 (彭耜)