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道德真經集義 (危大有)

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Text ID
KR5c0100
Date
1387–1393
Dynasty
明

Dàodé zhēn jīng jí yì 道德真經集義 (Wēi Dàyǒu)

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

compiled by 危大有 (Wēi Dàyǒu); preface 1387; second preface 1393 by 張宇初 Zhāng Yǔchū (43rd Celestial Master)

An early-Míng compilation of commentaries on the Dàodé jīng ([[KR5c0045|Dàodé zhēn jīng]]) in ten juàn, by Wēi Dàyǒu 危大有. Preserved in the Zhèngtǒng Dàozàng as DZ 712 / CT 712 (Dòngshén bù, Yù jué lèi 洞神部玉訣類). The work has two prefaces: one by the author (1387), and one by the 43rd Celestial Master Zhāng Yǔchū 張宇初 (dated 1393). The compilation is one of the most significant early-Míng collected-commentary editions of the Lǎozǐ, characteristic of the Hóngwǔ-era (1368–1398) Daoist intellectual revival under Míng Tàizǔ’s (朱元璋) patronage.

About the work

Isabelle Robinet’s notice in Schipper & Verellen eds., The Taoist Canon (2004, 2:2011–12, DZ 712) gives the authoritative modern framing.

Editorial orientation

Wēi Dàyǒu’s own 1387 preface articulates the compilation’s central interpretive claim: in agreement with the zhì shēn zhì guó 治身治國 (“governing the body, governing the state”) school of commentaries, Wēi asserts that the Dàodé jīng is equally relevant to self-cultivation and to governance. This dual orientation governs the selection of commentators — from Héshàng gōng (Eastern Hàn, practical-cultivation) to contemporary Míng figures.

Cited commentators

The preface closes with a list of authors included in the collection. To this list, per Robinet, must be added Ōuyáng Xiū 歐陽修 (1007–1072; 1.7b), a Sīmǎ 司馬 (4.10a; not to be confused with Sīmǎ Guāng 司馬光), Wáng Bì (5.1b and 9.20b), and Sòng Huīzōng (r. 1100–1125) — for a total of sixteen authors. Many are quoted only in passing.

Most frequently cited:

  1. Lín Xīyì (林希逸) — c. 1193–1271; see KR5c0088.
  2. Wú Chéng (吳澄) — 1249–1333; see KR5c0091.
  3. Hé Xīn shān 何心山 (zì Chǔyǐn 楚隱; fl. 1387) — a near-contemporary of Wēi Dàyǒu, apparently a figure of some stature at the early-Míng court.
  4. Lǐ Dàochún 李道純 — d. 1306; see KR5c0086.
  5. Lǚ Zhīzhāng 呂知章 — author of a Lǎozǐ jiǎng yì 老子講義 in twelve juàn (VDL 107), of which a sixteenth-century copy is preserved in the National Library of Beijing. Lǚ’s commentary was presented to the throne in 1188.

Hé Xīn shān’s commentary

Hé Xīn shān’s glosses in DZ 712 are distinctive: they frequently cite the Zhuāngzǐ, the Lièzǐ, and the Yì jīng, and the explications provided are inspired by Inner Alchemy (nèi dān 內丹). For example, at 1.11b: “the husbanding of essence and qì, the method of the eruption of the trigram lí 離 and the filling of kǎn 坎” (see also 2.8a, 8.3a). Hé Xīn shān thus brings the nèi dān tradition of Zhāng Bóduān 張伯端 and the SòngYuán Southern Lineage into his Míng reading.

Prefaces

  1. Wēi Dàyǒu’s own preface dated 1387 — articulating the dual-use (self-cultivation + governance) framework.
  2. Zhāng Yǔchū’s preface dated 1393 — signed by the 43rd Celestial Master Zhāng Yǔchū 張宇初 (hào Qí xū zǐ 耆虛子, d. 1410), the most important early-Míng Zhèng yī patriarch. Zhāng Yǔchū’s preface provides the imperial / patriarchal endorsement that secured the compilation’s inclusion in the early-Míng Daozang project.

Abstract

The compilation is a major early-Míng scholarly synthesis of the Dàodé jīng commentary tradition. Its special value lies in:

  1. Preserving fragments of lost commentaries — notably Lǚ Zhīzhāng’s 1188 commentary, Hé Xīn shān’s nèi dān glosses, and other otherwise-lost early-Míng material.
  2. Documenting early-Míng imperial Daoist orthodoxy — Zhāng Yǔchū’s 1393 preface is a valuable document of the early-Míng Celestial-Master endorsement project.
  3. Integrating the SòngYuán commentarial tradition (Lín Xīyì, Wú Chéng, Lǐ Dàochún) with Míng interpretations.

Dating. Wēi Dàyǒu’s preface 1387; Zhāng Yǔchū’s preface 1393. Per the project’s dating rule, the frontmatter gives 1387–1393 as the composition / completion window. Dynasty: 明.

Translations and research

  • Schipper, Kristofer, and Franciscus Verellen, eds. The Taoist Canon: A Historical Companion to the Daozang. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004, 2:2011–12 (DZ 712, I. Robinet). Primary reference.
  • Boltz, Judith Magee. A Survey of Taoist Literature, Tenth to Seventeenth Centuries. Berkeley: Institute of East Asian Studies, 1987.
  • Van der Loon, Piet. Taoist Books in the Libraries of the Sung Dynasty. London: Ithaca Press, 1984, p. 107 (VDL 107) — on Lǚ Zhīzhāng.

Other points of interest

The compilation belongs to the early-Míng imperial Daoist project under Zhū Yuánzhāng (朱元璋) and his successors. Zhāng Yǔchū’s 1393 preface establishes the work’s orthodox Zhèng yī endorsement; the 1387 composition-date of Wēi Dàyǒu’s preface places the main compilation at the height of Hóngwǔ imperial Daoist patronage, shortly after Zhū Yuánzhāng’s own 1374–1375 imperial commentary (KR5c0058).

The prominence of Hé Xīn shān 何心山 as one of the most-cited commentators — despite being a near-contemporary of Wēi Dàyǒu — suggests the vitality of late-Yuán / early-Míng nèi dān scholarship. Hé Xīn shān’s commentary is not independently preserved; its partial preservation in DZ 712 is its only surviving witness.

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