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道德真經集義

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Text ID
KR5c0113
Date
1299–1300
Dynasty
元

Dàodé zhēn jīng jí yì 道德真經集義

Anthology of Meanings of the True Scripture of the Way and Its Virtue

compiled by 劉惟永 (Liú Wéiyǒng), 丁易東 (Dīng Yìdōng, hào Shí tán 石潭), and others; dated 1299

The main Yuán-dynasty anthology of Dàodé jīng commentaries in seventeen juàn, compiled by Liú Wéiyǒng 劉惟永 and Dīng Yìdōng 丁易東 with their collaborators, preserved in the Zhèngtǒng Dàozàng as DZ 724 / CT 724 (Dòngshén bù, Yù jué lèi 洞神部玉訣類). Introduced by [[KR5c0112|DZ 723 Dà zhǐ]]. One of the most comprehensive single anthologies of pre-Yuán Dàodé jīng commentary, preserving fragments of 78–81 commentators (sources differ on the count).

About the work

Isabelle Robinet’s notice in Schipper & Verellen eds., The Taoist Canon: A Historical Companion to the Daozang (2004, 2:1536–80, DZ 724, with DZ 723 immediately preceding) gives the authoritative modern framing.

Scope and inclusion

The anthology collects commentaries from 78–81 authors (the two counts are given in DZ 723 Dà zhǐ 1.9b–12b and 3.26a–26b respectively). The cited commentators span the full range of pre-Yuán Dàodé jīng scholarship:

The passages from these commentaries were largely selected from earlier anthologies (DZ 706, DZ 707, DZ 711, DZ 714, DZ 718) rather than from the original sources — reflecting the characteristic Yuán editorial practice of compilation-from-compilations.

Editorial method

The anthology presents each chapter of the Dàodé jīng followed by selected commentary extracts from the cited authors, with Liú Wéiyǒng and Dīng Yìdōng’s own editorial glosses interspersed. For each passage, the reader has a comparative view of the history of interpretation — from the Eastern Hàn Héshàng gōng through the Yuán contemporary commentators.

Significance for lost commentaries

The anthology preserves substantial fragments of several commentaries that are otherwise lost or only partially preserved:

  • Wáng Pōu 王雱 — his full commentary survives only in DZ 706 (KR5c0093); DZ 724 preserves extensive additional fragments with variants.
  • Lǚ Huìqīng 呂惠卿 — DZ 724 fragments supplement the DZ 686 (KR5c0069) text.
  • Chén Jǐngyuán 陳景元 — DZ 724 preserves the shortest but most widely-cited abbreviation of his commentary.
  • Shì yún 時雍 — the Jīn Bó-community editorial figure (時雍); DZ 724 preserves fragments that complement DZ 696 (KR5c0081).
  • Many otherwise-unattested commentators.

Prefaces and colophons

All prefatorial and colophonic material is in DZ 723 (KR5c0112) rather than in the main DZ 724 anthology. This separation of apparatus from anthology is characteristic of the editorial practice of the Liú Wéiyǒng–Dīng Yìdōng circle.

Abstract

The anthology is one of the three or four most important Yuán-era scholarly compilations on the Dàodé jīng. Together with Péng Sì’s DZ 707 (KR5c0095) of 1229, it preserves a substantial portion of the SòngYuán commentary tradition in a single accessible document. Where Péng Sì emphasises the Southern-Sòng tradition, LiúDīng’s DZ 724 adds seven decades of Southern-Sòng-to-Yuán commentary and establishes a broader chronological sweep.

Dating. Compilation 1299 (Liú Wéiyǒng’s postface); final revisions 1300 (Zhāng Yǔcái’s colophon). Per the project’s dating rule, the frontmatter gives 1299–1300 as the composition / compilation window. Dynasty: 元.

Translations and research

  • Schipper, Kristofer, and Franciscus Verellen, eds. The Taoist Canon: A Historical Companion to the Daozang. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004, 2:1536–80 (DZ 724, I. Robinet). Primary reference.
  • See KR5c0112 for the introductory DZ 723.
  • For the individual commentators, see the linked entries throughout this note.

Other points of interest

The anthology’s endorsement by Zhāng Yǔcái 張與材 (41st Celestial Master, d. 1316) in a 1300 colophon confirms its status as an orthodox Zhèng yī-approved scholarly compilation — not merely an individual-scholar’s anthology, but a work carrying the imprimatur of the mid-Yuán Daoist religious establishment. This imperial-religious endorsement placed the anthology on the shelves of the major Daoist monasteries from its printing onwards.

The anthology’s parallel with Péng Sì’s DZ 707 (1229) — both being jí zhù 集註 / jí yì 集義 compilations, both endorsed by the contemporary religious establishment, both preserving fragments of otherwise-lost commentaries — illustrates the recurring Daoist-scholarly practice of generation-spanning commentarial anthologies: every 50–70 years, a comprehensive compilation was produced to consolidate and preserve the accumulated commentarial tradition. DZ 724 is the Yuán continuation of this practice, 70 years after DZ 707.

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