文始真經註

Wén shǐ zhēn jīng zhù 文始真經註

Commentary on the True Scripture of Wénshǐ

by 牛道淳 (Niú Dàochún, hào Xiāo yáo zǐ 逍遙子; fl. 1296) — Quán zhēn Daoist master; preface 1296

A late-13th-century Yuán commentary on the Wén shǐ zhēn jīng 文始真經 (also known as the Guān Yǐn zǐ 關尹子 — the Yǐn Xǐ 尹喜 canonical scripture) in nine juàn, by the Quán zhēn 全真 Daoist master Niú Dàochún 牛道淳. Preserved in the Zhèngtǒng Dàozàng as DZ 727 / CT 727 (Dòngshén bù, Yù jué lèi 洞神部玉訣類). This is not a Dàodé jīng commentary — it is a commentary on the distinct Wénshǐ zhēn jīng / Guān Yǐn zǐ, the scripture attributed to Yǐn Xǐ, the Hángǔ-pass warden who received Lǎozǐ’s Dàodé jīng.

About the work

Hans-Hermann Schmidt’s notice in Schipper & Verellen eds., The Taoist Canon: A Historical Companion to the Daozang (2004, 2:2992–3020, DZ 727) gives the authoritative modern framing.

The Wénshǐ zhēn jīng

The Wén shǐ zhēn jīng 文始真經 (“True Scripture of Wénshǐ”, also Wú shàng miào dào wén shǐ zhēn jīng 無上妙道文始真經 = DZ 667) is attributed to Yǐn Xǐ 尹喜 (Wénshǐ xiān shēng 文始先生), the Hángǔ-pass warden who received Lǎozǐ at the pass and to whom the Dàodé jīng was transmitted. The scripture was granted the canonical title Wú shàng miào dào 無上妙道 by Táng Xuánzōng in 742, alongside the other three “Daoist true scriptures” (Nán huá, Chōng xū, Dòng líng). It is preserved in multiple Daozang recensions with minor textual variants.

The scripture is structured in 9 piān 篇 / 170 sections (zhāng 章), covering the whole range of Daoist cosmological-ethical teaching.

Preface structure

The DZ 727 text opens with:

1. A brief biography of Yǐn Xǐ — drawn from DZ 667 Wú shàng miào dào wén shǐ zhēn jīng.
2. A preface (probably by the commentator himself) to the zhí jiě 直解 (“direct explanations”) that follow.
3. A postface to the Wén shǐ zhēn jīng itself, dated 327 and attributed to Gé Hóng 葛洪 — who is said to have received the scripture from his master Zhèng Sī yuán 鄭思遠 (i.e., Zhèng Yǐn 鄭隱). This postface is a venerable piece of Daoist hagiography linking the scripture to the early-medieval Gé-clan transmission.

Philosophical character

Niú Dàochún’s explanations are indeed “direct” (zhí 直) and occasionally have a colloquial tinge — characteristic of the Quán zhēn 全真 pedagogical tradition.

The nine piān are commented sentence by sentence, with each section’s contents summarised at the end. This layered editorial presentation — text, gloss, summary — reflects the mature Yuán commentarial convention.

Textual apparatus

Niú Dàochún refers to two otherwise unknown editions of the Guān Yǐn zǐ:

1. Guō Zǐqián’s 郭子謙 edition — Niú’s citations from this edition (4.15b, 7.16b, 8.3a) are all found in DZ 667 Wénshǐ zhēn jīng but not in DZ 728 Wén shǐ zhēn jīng yán wài zhǐ 文始真經言外旨. This suggests Guō Zǐqián’s edition was closer to the DZ 667 recension.
2. Xī xuán zǐ Jiǎ 希玄子賈 — Niú’s citation from this edition (4.6b) is found in DZ 728 but not in DZ 667. This suggests the Xī xuán zǐ edition was closer to the DZ 728 recension.

The DZ 727 commentary thus serves as an important text-critical witness to the variant-readings of the Wénshǐ zhēn jīng tradition.

Abstract

The commentary is a notable Quán zhēn reading of the Wén shǐ zhēn jīng, applying the mature Yuán Quán zhēn pedagogical approach (direct, colloquial, sentence-by-sentence gloss) to the canonical Yǐn Xǐ scripture. Its textual-critical notes on variant editions make it a valuable witness to the pre-Yuán manuscript tradition of the Guān Yǐn zǐ.

Dating. Preface 1296. Per the project’s dating rule, the frontmatter gives 1296 as the composition date. Dynasty: 元.

Author. Niú Dàochún 牛道淳 (hào Xiāo yáo zǐ 逍遙子, “Master of Free-and-Easy Wandering”) is a Quán zhēn Daoist known to us through his Dàoìjiě (DZ 727) and through another attributed work, Zhé yí zhǐ mí lùn 折疑指迷論 (preserved as DZ 276), which has a preface dated 1296. He is otherwise not well documented.

Translations and research

• Schipper, Kristofer, and Franciscus Verellen, eds. The Taoist Canon: A Historical Companion to the Daozang. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004, 2:2992–3020 (DZ 727, H.-H. Schmidt). Primary reference.
• See also DZ 667 Wú shàng miào dào wén shǐ zhēn jīng (the scripture itself) and DZ 728 Wén shǐ zhēn jīng yán wài zhǐ (the cognate commentary with variant-edition notes).

Other points of interest

The Wén shǐ zhēn jīng is one of the more philosophically rich Daoist scriptures, synthesising Lǎozǐ and Zhuāngzǐ material with Yǐn Xǐ-attributed cosmological and psycho-spiritual teaching. Its 9 piān structure — Extra (yī pián 一篇), Stalls (èr pián 二篇), Ultimate Change (sān pián 三篇), Sign (sì pián 四篇), Guise (wǔ pián 五篇), Sticks (liù pián 六篇), Caps (qī pián 七篇), Chops (bā pián 八篇), Medicine (jiǔ pián 九篇) — is distinctive and has been read variously as a cosmological programme, a meditative curriculum, or a metaphysical treatise.

Niú Dàochún’s placement in the Quán zhēn 全真 tradition is significant: the scripture’s attribution to Yǐn Xǐ placed it squarely within the broader Daoist foundational-scripture canon, but its reception in the Quán zhēn tradition was limited compared with the Dàodé jīng and Zhuāngzǐ. Niú Dàochún’s commentary represents a Quán zhēn attempt to integrate the Wén shǐ zhēn jīng more fully into the tradition’s pedagogical framework.

Links

• Kanseki Repository KR5c0116
• Schipper & Verellen, The Taoist Canon (2004), 2:2992–3020 — DZ 727 entry (H.-H. Schmidt).
• ctext.org: 文始真經註