道德真經藏室纂微篇開題

Dàodé zhēn jīng cáng shì zuǎn wēi piān — kāi tí 道德真經藏室纂微篇開題

Opening Discourse to the “Subtleties Culled From the Storehouse of the Way and Its Power”

by 陳景元 (Chén Jǐngyuán; zì Tài chū 太初 / Tài xū 太虛, hào Bì xū zǐ 碧虛子 / Zhēn jìng 真靖; 1024–1094) — as introduction to his major Lǎozǐ commentary DZ 714 Dàodé zhēn jīng cáng shì zuǎn wēi piān (1072)

The introductory opening discourse (kāi tí 開題) to 陳景元 Chén Jǐngyuán’s major Lǎozǐ commentary DZ 714 Dàodé zhēn jīng cáng shì zuǎn wēi piān 道德真經藏室纂微篇 (“Subtleties Culled From the Storehouse of the Way and Its Power”), composed 1072 CE. The kāi tí provides a detailed hagiographic-biographical introduction to Lǎozǐ before the commentary proper begins. Preserved in the Zhèngtǒng Dàozàng as a supplement to DZ 714; catalogued separately as DZ 714a in some editions. The main commentary itself (DZ 714) is preserved in ten juàn.

About the work

Function

The kāi tí is an introductory-hagiographic essay that precedes Chén Jǐngyuán’s main commentary. It is devoted principally to the mythology and traditional biography of Lǎozǐ — providing the devotional-hagiographic framework within which the scriptural commentary is to be read.

Contents: the Lǎozǐ biography

The kāi tí gives one of the most elaborate Song-era narrative biographies of Lǎozǐ. Key elements:

• Names: Surname Lǐ 李, given name Ěr 耳, zì Dān 聃 or Bóyáng 伯陽.
• Cosmogonic origin: Lǎozǐ “arose before the empty-formless”, transforming “spontaneously” (zì rán 自然) in the marvelous way, constantly dwelling in the heavens as Dì shī 帝師 (“Imperial Teacher”). (The kāi tí then notes that such “beyond-the-six-directions” statements are “not to be elaborated here”.)
• Birth-portents: Lǎozǐ’s mother was impregnated by a “great flowing star” (dà liú xīng 大流星), gestation 81 years (jí tài yáng jiǔ jiǔ zhī shù 極太陽九九之數 — at the extreme of the yáng 9×9 number). Born under a lǐ 李 (plum) tree — hence the surname Lǐ.
• Conception date: Shāng king Yáng jiǎ’s 17th year, the gēng shēn 庚申 year.
• Birth date: Shāng king Wǔ dīng’s 9th year, the gēng chén 庚辰 year, the 15th day of the 2nd month, the mǎo hour.
• Birthplace: Chǔ guó Kǔ xiàn Lài xiāng Qǔ rén lǐ 楚國苦縣瀨鄉曲仁里, on the north bank of the Wō 渦 River — the same legendary birthplace preserved in DZ 679’s Wài zhuàn (KR5c0062).
• Physiognomy: Eight chǐ eight cùn tall, yellow-coloured skin, beautiful brows, wide forehead, long earlobes (dān 聃), large eyes, sparse teeth, square mouth, thick lips, a sān wǔ dá lǐ 三五達理 marking on his forehead; sun-horn and moon-pool 日角月淵; double-boned nose; triple-chambered ears; feet standing on the double-noon 二午; hands holding the ten-pattern 十文.
• Career: Zhōu king Zhāo’s 25th year (癸丑), fifth month, 29th day (壬午), Lǎozǐ left Zhōu through the Hángǔ Pass 函谷關 riding a blue ox. Yǐn Xǐ 尹喜, the pass-warden (identified here as a Zhōu grand master, surname Yǐn, given name Xǐ, zì Yáng gōng 陽公), awaited him; Lǎozǐ transmitted the Dàodé two-piān to Yǐn Xǐ before proceeding westward.
• Further: Yǐn Xǐ asked to accompany Lǎozǐ to the Western Flowing Sands (Liú shā 流沙); Lǎozǐ sent him to Shǔ 蜀 to cultivate the Way and eventually meet him again at the Qīng yáng 青陽 altar.

Prefaces

The kāi tí serves as the preface and hagiographic introduction to DZ 714. There is no separate preface.

Abstract

The kāi tí is one of the most elaborate Sòng-era hagiographic introductions to Lǎozǐ, representing the mature Northern-Sòng Daoist devotional-scholarly framework for reading the Dàodé jīng. Its detailed narrative of Lǎozǐ’s cosmogonic origin, human descent, career, and transmission of the scripture provides the devotional framework within which the scholarly commentary (DZ 714) is to be understood.

Dating. Contemporary with DZ 714 (preface to which is 1072). Per the project’s dating rule, the frontmatter gives 1072 as the composition date. Dynasty: 宋.

Author. Chén Jǐngyuán 陳景元 (1024–1094) was one of the most important Northern-Sòng Daoist masters. Native of Jiàn chāng 建昌 (Jiāng xī), he entered the Daoist order at Tiān tái 天台 and later resided at Lú shān 廬山. As a disciple of Zhāng Wúmèng 張無夢 (952?–1051), he belongs to the lineage descending from Chén Tuán 陳摶 (d. 989). He is the teacher of 彭耜 Péng Sì by textual transmission (via DZ 707’s preface declaration).

Translations and research

• Schipper, Kristofer, and Franciscus Verellen, eds. The Taoist Canon: A Historical Companion to the Daozang. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004, 2:401–65 (DZ 714 entry, I. Robinet, and 714a where relevant). Primary reference.
• See also KR5c0076 (Bái Yùchán), KR5c0086 (Lǐ Dàochún), and KR5c0089 (Dù Dàojiān) — all of which engage with Chén Jǐngyuán’s tradition.

Other points of interest

The cosmogonic-biographical narrative of the kāi tí draws on multiple earlier Daoist hagiographic traditions — the Xuán miào yù nǚ 玄妙玉女 (“Mysterious Jade Maiden”) conception narrative, the Xī shēng jīng 西昇經 westward-journey tradition, the Yǐn Xǐ 尹喜 pass-warden tradition, and the mature Tiān shī 天師 deification of Lǎozǐ. Chén Jǐngyuán synthesises these into a unified narrative that becomes the standard Sòng Daoist biography of Lǎozǐ.

The kāi tí’s placement at the opening of the commentary reflects a standard late-medieval Chinese commentary-framing convention: major commentaries are prefaced by hagiographic-biographical material that establishes the text’s sanctity and the interpretive framework. Similar kāi tí material appears at the openings of several other major Daoist scriptural commentaries.

Links

• Kanseki Repository KR5c0102
• Schipper & Verellen, The Taoist Canon (2004), 2:401–65 — DZ 714 entry (I. Robinet).
• Main commentary: DZ 714 (not separately catalogued in KR5c as of this writing; forthcoming or catalogued elsewhere).
• ctext.org: 道德真經藏室纂微開題