西昇經集註

Xī shēng jīng jí zhù 西昇經集註

Collected Commentaries on the Scripture of the Ascent to the West

compiled by 陳景元 (Chén Jǐngyuán, hào Bìxūzǐ 碧虛子; 1025–1094) — incorporating earlier commentaries by Wèi Jié 韋節, Xú Dàomiào 徐道邈, Chóngxuán zǐ 重玄子 (unidentified), Lǐ Róng (李榮), and Liú Rénhuì 劉仁會

A Northern-Sòng collected-commentary edition of the Xī shēng jīng 西昇經 (“Scripture of the Ascent to the West”) in six juàn, compiled by Chén Jǐngyuán 陳景元. Preserved in the Zhèngtǒng Dàozàng as DZ 726 / CT 726 (Dòngshén bù, Yù jué lèi 洞神部玉訣類). This is not a Dàodé jīng commentary but a separate work on the Xī shēng jīng — a closely related Daoist scripture traditionally held to contain the teachings Lǎozǐ left to Yǐn Xǐ 尹喜 before heading west.

About the work

Hans-Hermann Schmidt’s notice in Schipper & Verellen eds., The Taoist Canon: A Historical Companion to the Daozang (2004, 2:2899–2906, DZ 726) gives the authoritative modern framing.

The Xī shēng jīng

The Xī shēng jīng 西昇經 (“Scripture of the Ascent to the West”) is an early medieval Daoist scripture — possibly written before the mid-4th century — that develops the narrative of Lǎozǐ’s westward journey through the Hángǔ 函谷 pass. Its contents rely heavily on the Dàodé jīng.

Central doctrinal themes:

• Yǎng shēn 養身 (nourishing the body) as foundational to personal cultivation.
• Shǒu yī 守一 (holding the One) as the principal meditative practice — preferred over alchemical practices (3.19b).

Structurally, the scripture is divided into thirty-nine sections, with large portions rhymed (mostly in mnemonic verses of eight or ten syllables, especially sections 5–14).

Historicity and Buddhist-Daoist polemics

The Xī shēng jīng was central to the huà hú 化胡 (“conversion of the barbarians”) controversy that occupied Chinese Buddhist-Daoist relations for several centuries. The scripture’s opening and concluding passages were repeatedly the object of Buddhist polemics, since by small textual modifications it could be proven either that the Buddha was Lǎozǐ’s teacher or the reverse. The Daoist use of this scripture to support the claim that Lǎozǐ travelled west and taught the Buddha (i.e., that Buddhism is ultimately derived from Daoism) was a foundational Daoist polemical strategy; Buddhist counter-arguments (see Zhèn zhèng lùn 甄正論 2.564c–565c) sought to reverse the implication.

Textual evidence for early dating

The scripture’s opening sentences are cited — without explicit source-naming — in the Zhèng wù lùn 正誣論 1.7b (cf. Erik Zürcher, The Buddhist Conquest of China 311–12 and 436 n. 11). This places the Xī shēng jīng before the mid-4th century. Lǎozǐ’s biography in Shén xiān zhuàn 神仙傳 (Gé Hóng, Eastern Jìn) also mentions it.

Chén Jǐngyuán’s editorial method

Chén Jǐngyuán used five originally separate commentaries on the Xī shēng jīng, which he verified before producing his definitive main text. Within the work, Chén limits himself to pointing out textual variants — his own interpretive voice is minimal.

The five commentators are:

1. Wèi Jié 韋節 (zì Chǔ xuán 處玄) — probably lived c. 497–569 (cf. LZTT 29.4a–5b — reading Tiān hé for Tài hé).
2. Xú Dàomiào 徐道邈 — together with Pān Shì zhèng 潘師正 (585–682), a disciple of Wáng Yuán zhī 王遠知 (LZJLT 25.2b).
3. Chóngxuán zǐ 重玄子 — identity remains a mystery (a pseudonym; possibly one of the Táng Chóngxuán school, but no firm identification).
4. Lǐ Róng 李榮 (李榮) — the mid-Táng Daoist, active 658–663 in the Buddho-Daoist debates before the emperor (see Jí gǔ jīn fó dào lùn héng 集古今佛道論衡 4.387b–394c). Also the author of the Dàodé jīng commentary DZ 722 (KR5c0111).
5. Liú Rénhuì 劉仁會 — lived during the Northern Wèi dynasty (386–556); also known to have written a commentary on the Dàodé jīng (per DZ 725 Dàodé zhēn jīng guǎng shèng yì preface).

The original commentaries totalled thirteen or fourteen juàn (cf. VDL 103–104); Chén Jǐngyuán selectively incorporated them into the six-juàn DZ 726.

Abstract

The Xī shēng jīng jí zhù is the single most comprehensive witness to the pre-Sòng commentary tradition on the Xī shēng jīng. Through it, substantial portions of the otherwise-lost commentaries of Wèi Jié, Xú Dàomiào, the mysterious Chóngxuán zǐ, Lǐ Róng, and Liú Rénhuì are preserved. The compilation is therefore an important document for the reconstruction of early-medieval and Táng Daoist commentary.

Dating. Chén Jǐngyuán’s active period: 1060s–1094. The compilation’s specific date is not recorded; per the project’s dating rule, the frontmatter gives 1060–1094 as Chén Jǐngyuán’s mature-activity window. Dynasty: 宋.

Translations and research

• Schipper, Kristofer, and Franciscus Verellen, eds. The Taoist Canon: A Historical Companion to the Daozang. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004, 2:2899–2906 (DZ 726, H.-H. Schmidt). Primary reference.
• Kohn, Livia. Taoist Mystical Philosophy: The Scripture of Western Ascension. Albany: SUNY Press, 1991. The standard modern English-language study and translation of the Xī shēng jīng.
• Zürcher, Erik. The Buddhist Conquest of China. Leiden: Brill, 1959, pp. 311–12 and 436 n. 111. On the early citation of the Xī shēng jīng.
• See also DZ 666 Xī shēng jīng (the scripture itself, without commentary) and KR5c0111 (Lǐ Róng’s Dàodé jīng commentary, for his general approach).

Other points of interest

The Xī shēng jīng is one of the most important Daoist scriptures after the Dàodé jīng itself, and its five-commentator genealogy (Wèi Jié → Xú Dàomiào → Chóngxuán zǐ → Lǐ Róng → Liú Rénhuì) preserved through Chén Jǐngyuán’s compilation constitutes the single most valuable evidence for the history of Táng Daoist commentary on a non-Dàodé jīng text.

The inclusion of Lǐ Róng 李榮 (李榮) — whose Dàodé jīng commentary KR5c0111 is the foundational Chóngxuán text — alongside the four earlier commentators makes the Xī shēng jīng jí zhù a particularly valuable source for understanding the evolution of mid-Táng Chóngxuán Daoism. The editorial decision to integrate Lǐ Róng’s Xī shēng commentary with those of his predecessors places him explicitly in a continuous textual-scholarly tradition.

Links

• Kanseki Repository KR5c0115
• Schipper & Verellen, The Taoist Canon (2004), 2:2899–2906 — DZ 726 entry (H.-H. Schmidt).
• Kohn, Taoist Mystical Philosophy (1991) — the standard English study.
• ctext.org: 西昇經集註