道德真經玄德纂疏

Dàodé zhēn jīng xuán dé zuǎn shū 道德真經玄德纂疏

Compendium of Commentaries on the Mysterious Virtue of the True Scripture of the Way and Its Virtue

compiled by 強思齊 (Qiáng Sīqí; late 9th century); preface by 杜光庭 Dù Guāngtíng (850–933) dated 964 (probably a misprint for a date in Dù’s lifetime)

A major late-Táng / Five-Dynasties compendium of the classical Dàodé jīng commentary tradition, in twenty juàn, compiled by Qiáng Sīqí 強思齊 (fl. late 9th century). Preserved in the Zhèngtǒng Dàozàng as DZ 711 / CT 711 (Dòngshén bù, Yù jué lèi 洞神部玉訣類). The compendium is among the most significant Daoist anthologies for the reconstruction of pre-Sòng Lǎozǐ commentary: it preserves portions of lost commentaries by Yán Zūn (嚴遵), Lǐ Róng 李榮, Chéng Xuányīng 成玄英, and others, alongside the standard Tàng imperial and Héshàng gōng traditions.

About the work

Isabelle Robinet’s notice in Schipper & Verellen eds., The Taoist Canon (2004, 1:290, DZ 711) gives the authoritative modern framing.

Preface by Dù Guāngtíng

The compendium is preceded by a preface bearing the signature of Dù Guāngtíng 杜光庭 (850–933). The preface is dated 964 — but this date is problematic: Dù Guāngtíng died in 933, so either the date is a copyist’s error for an earlier year (e.g., 904 or 924) or the preface is attributed rather than authored. The preface states that Qiáng Sīqí lived at the end of the ninth century — providing our main chronological anchor.

Cited commentaries

The compendium provides the commentaries of:

1. Táng Xuánzōng (李隆基) — both his commentary (DZ 677, KR5c0059) and subcommentary (DZ 678, KR5c0060).
2. Héshàng gōng (河上公) (DZ 682, KR5c0065).
3. Yán Zūn (嚴遵) — the Western Hàn master’s commentary (independently preserved only in fragmentary form; see DZ 693, KR5c0078).
4. Lǐ Róng 李榮 — the mid-Táng Daoist master’s commentary (otherwise partially lost).
5. Chéng Xuányīng 成玄英 — the early-Táng Chóngxuán 重玄 master’s commentary (otherwise substantially lost).

Editorial structure

Each chapter-title is accompanied by a gloss in two parts:

1. First part — analytical — by Chéng Xuányīng. (This correspondence is confirmed by comparison with the Dūnhuáng manuscript Pelliot 2517, which preserves a fragment of Chéng’s commentary.)
2. Second part — probably written by Qiáng Sīqí himself.

Textual contamination

Foreign passages have slipped into the opening pages of the compendium. For example:

• At 1.2b–3b, the subcommentary by Xuánzōng is followed by a short passage taken from Chéng Xuányīng’s introduction to his commentary (cf. Dūnhuáng Pelliot 2553).
• The latter part of Lǐ Róng’s commentary at 1.4a–b was written by Wú Yún 吳筠 and is in fact an extract from DZ 1052 Zōng xuán xiān shēng xuán gāng lùn 宗玄先生玄綱論 1a–b and 5b–6a.

These contaminations are local editorial accretions and do not affect the main body of the compendium.

Prefaces

• The Dù Guāngtíng preface (dated problematically 964).
• No separate compiler’s preface by Qiáng Sīqí survives.

Abstract

The compendium’s significance is its preservation of lost commentaries. Without DZ 711, several key pre-Sòng commentators would be known only in name or through scattered fragments. Specifically:

1. Yán Zūn’s Lǎozǐ zhǐ guī (KR5c0078, DZ 693) is lost in its first six juàn. DZ 711 preserves the missing first part of Yán Zūn’s commentary — though not complete, substantially more than any other surviving witness.

2. Lǐ Róng’s commentary survives partially elsewhere; DZ 711 preserves its second half.

3. Chéng Xuányīng’s Dàodé jīng kāi tí xù jué yì shū 道德經開題序訣義疏 (his Lǎozǐ commentary) is partially lost; DZ 711 preserves substantial portions. By comparing Chéng’s text in DZ 711 with the subcommentary found in DZ 710 Dàodé zhēn jīng zhù shū (KR5c0098), modern scholarship has been able to attribute the latter subcommentary to Chéng Xuányīng — one of the major scholarly recoveries of the twentieth century.

4. The Xuánzōng and Héshàng gōng commentaries are both independently extant, but DZ 711 provides an independent witness for text-critical comparison.

Close examination reveals that the cited commentaries are preserved in their entirety in DZ 711 with the exception of certain textual remarks (some variants; at 1.9a the remarks found in DZ 722 Dàodé zhēn jīng zhù 1.3a are omitted; the textual observations of Chéng Xuányīng are also occasionally abridged).

Dating. Qiáng Sīqí is dated to the late 9th century (Dù Guāngtíng’s preface confirms this). The compendium itself can be dated approximately 880–904 (Qiáng Sīqí’s active years) to 964 (the problematically-dated preface). Per the project’s dating rule, the frontmatter gives 880–964 as a broad composition / compilation window. Dynasty: 唐-五代 (late Táng / Wǔdài).

Translations and research

• Schipper, Kristofer, and Franciscus Verellen, eds. The Taoist Canon: A Historical Companion to the Daozang. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004, 1:290 (DZ 711, I. Robinet). Primary reference.
• Robinet, Isabelle. Les commentaires du Tao tö king jusqu’au VIIe siècle. Paris: Collège de France, 1977. For the Chéng Xuányīng tradition.
• Barrett, T. H. Taoism Under the T’ang. London: Wellsweep, 1996. For the Táng-Five-Dynasties Daoist commentary context.
• Ōfuchi Ninji 大淵忍爾. Tonkō dōkyō: Mokurokuhen 敦煌道經・目錄編. Tokyo: Fukutake, 1978. For the Dūnhuáng manuscripts (P. 2517, P. 2553) that confirm the Chéng Xuányīng identifications.

Other points of interest

The attribution of the Dù Guāngtíng preface dated 964 is textually problematic: Dù Guāngtíng died in 933. Several explanations have been proposed: (1) the date is a copyist’s error for an earlier year (904 or 924 have both been proposed); (2) the preface is genuine but the date is a later editorial addition; (3) the preface is a later attribution using Dù Guāngtíng’s prestigious name. Modern scholarship has not conclusively resolved the question.

The compendium’s recovery of Chéng Xuányīng — one of the most important early-Táng Daoist philosophers, whose mature Chóngxuán 重玄 system shaped Tàng and subsequent Daoism — makes DZ 711 a document of considerable importance for the history of Chinese philosophy. Before the recovery (which is primarily 20th-century), Chéng Xuányīng’s Lǎozǐ commentary was listed as lost in all pre-modern bibliographies.

Links

• Kanseki Repository KR5c0099
• Schipper & Verellen, The Taoist Canon (2004), 1:290 — DZ 711 entry (I. Robinet).
• ctext.org: 道德真經玄德纂疏