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道德真經注疏

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Text ID
KR5c0098
Date
1101–1200
Dynasty
宋

Dàodé zhēn jīng zhù shū 道德真經注疏

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

traditionally attributed to 顧歡 (Gù Huān; 420–483); in fact a Northern-Sòng or Southern-Sòng anthology (after 1101, at earliest 12th century), compiled anonymously

An anthology of twenty-three commentaries on the Dàodé jīng ([[KR5c0045|Dàodé zhēn jīng]]) in eight juàn. The Míng Daozang editors attributed the work to Gù Huān 顧歡 (420–483) — the Southern Dynasties scholar-official and Daoist sympathiser — with the epithet Wú jùn zhèng shì 吳郡徵士 (“Recruit for Office from Wú Commandery”). This attribution is plainly mistaken: the anthology must date to the twelfth century at the earliest, because the commentaries “placed under the name of Chén” are those of Chén Xiàng gǔ (陳象古) (KR5c0066), which were published in 1101. The true compiler is anonymous and unidentified. Preserved in the Zhèngtǒng Dàozàng as DZ 710 / CT 710 (Dòngshén bù, Yù jué lèi 洞神部玉訣類).

About the work

Isabelle Robinet’s notice in Schipper & Verellen eds., The Taoist Canon (2004, 2:865–907, DZ 710) gives the authoritative modern framing.

Structure

The anthology is organised into two-tiered commentary:

  • The main commentary (zhù 註) is that of Héshàng gōng 河上公 (河上公) (KR5c0065, DZ 682) — the Eastern-Hàn classic religious reading.
  • The subcommentary (shū 疏) is by Chéng Xuányīng 成玄英 — the early-Táng Chóngxuán 重玄 master, whose Dàodé jīng commentary does not otherwise survive in complete form and which is here partially preserved.

Principal cited glosses

Among the other glosses included in the anthology, the most frequently quoted are:

  1. The Jié jiě 節解 commentary — by an unknown author, sometimes identified as Gé Xuán 葛玄 (164–244). A short nèi dān-oriented commentary of uncertain Six-Dynasties or early-Táng date.

  2. A subcommentary to Héshàng gōng by a certain Wáng — possibly identified as Wáng Xuán biàn 王玄辨, reported to have written such a subcommentary at the end of the eighth century (see DZ 725 Dàodé zhēn jīng guǎng shèng yì 1.3b).

  3. A commentary by Gù Huān himself — the 5th-century figure to whom the anthology is traditionally attributed. This is the element that gave rise to the Míng editorial misattribution.

  4. A commentary by Táng Xuánzōng (r. 712–756) — extracts from his imperial commentary (KR5c0059, DZ 677).

Plus the commentaries of Chén Xiàng gǔ (陳象古), identified by the editors only as “Chén”.

Dating

The anthology must date to after 1101 (the publication of Chén Xiàng gǔ’s commentary). Modern scholarship places it in the 12th century — probably Southern Sòng (1127–1279), though Northern-Sòng composition is possible. The authorial-anthology ambiguity — and the inclusion of diverse-period material from the 5th through 12th centuries — reflects the anthology’s character as a compilation of accumulated commentaries rather than a single author’s work.

The Míng editors’ misattribution to Gù Huān probably arose because Gù Huān was the earliest substantial commentator represented in the anthology — and the editors took him for the compiler rather than merely one of the voices.

Per the project’s dating rule for such anonymous compilations, the frontmatter gives 1101–1200 as a conservative composition window. Dynasty: 宋.

Prefaces

No authorial preface survives in the received Daozang text; the misattributed Gù Huān authorship has no preface-testimony.

Abstract

The anthology is of considerable value for the partial preservation of Chéng Xuányīng’s Dàodé jīng subcommentary — the single most important early-Táng Chóngxuán commentary on the Lǎozǐ, which otherwise survives only in fragmentary form in later anthologies. The DZ 710 witness is therefore one of the primary sources for reconstructing Chéng Xuányīng’s Lǎozǐ interpretation.

The anthology is also significant for its preservation of fragments from:

  • The Jié jiě — possibly a Gé Xuán work.
  • The Wáng subcommentary on Héshàng gōng — possibly Wáng Xuán biàn’s lost late-Táng work.
  • Gù Huān’s own commentary — otherwise substantially lost.

Together these preserved voices make DZ 710 one of the principal witnesses to the pre-Sòng Daoist commentary tradition in its diversity.

Translations and research

  • Schipper, Kristofer, and Franciscus Verellen, eds. The Taoist Canon: A Historical Companion to the Daozang. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004, 2:865–907 (DZ 710 entry, I. Robinet). Primary reference.
  • Fujiwara Takao 藤原高男. “Koan Rōshi chū kō” 顧歡老子註考. Nihon Chūgoku gakkai hō (1970s).
  • Kusuyama Haruki 楠山春樹. Rōshi densetsu no kenkyū 老子伝説の研究. Tokyo: Sōbunsha, 1979, pp. 199–238. On Gù Huān’s Lǎozǐ tradition.
  • Liú Cúnrén 劉存仁 (Liu Ts’un-yan). “Lùn Dàozàng běn Gù Huān zhù Lǎozǐ xíng zhì” 論道藏本顧歡注老子性質.
  • Robinet, Isabelle. Les commentaires du Tao tö king jusqu’au VIIe siècle. Paris: Collège de France, 1977, pp. 215–19.

Other points of interest

Gù Huān 顧歡 (420–483) is an important Southern Dynasties figure — a Southern-Qí 南齊 period scholar-official and Daoist sympathiser, author of the famous anti-Buddhist polemic Yí Xià lùn 夷夏論. He is attested as having written a Lǎozǐ commentary; the DZ 710 witness preserves fragments of this otherwise lost commentary. But Gù Huān is not the compiler of the present anthology.

The anthology disentangles over seven centuries of Lǎozǐ commentary into a coordinated scholarly presentation. Where Péng Sì’s DZ 707 (KR5c0095) focuses on the Sòng tradition, DZ 710 ranges from the early-medieval Gé Xuán / Gù Huān period through the Táng Chóngxuán (Chéng Xuányīng, Wáng Xuán biàn) and Xuánzōng imperial tradition to the early Sòng (Chén Xiàng gǔ). It therefore preserves a broader chronological range than any other single Daoist commentary-anthology.

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