沖虛至德真經鬳齋口義

Chōng xū zhì dé zhēn jīng Juàn zhāi kǒu yì 沖虛至德真經鬳齋口義

Juàn zhāi’s Oral Explanations of the True Scripture of the Void and Supreme Virtue

by 林希逸 (Lín Xīyì, hào Juàn zhāi 鬳齋; c. 1193–1271) — one of three kǒu yì commentaries by Lín on the classical Daoist texts; probably composed c. 1260

The companion commentary to Lín Xīyì’s other two kǒu yì 口義 (“oral explanations”) works: the Dàodé jīng commentary KR5c0088 (DZ 701, printed 1261) and the Zhuāngzǐ commentary (DZ 745 Nán huá zhēn jīng kǒu yì 南華真經口義). Together they form a coordinated Southern-Sòng scholarly project addressing all three classical Daoist texts. The present work is Lín Xīyì’s reading of the [[KR5c0049|Chōng xū zhì dé zhēn jīng 沖虛至德真經]] (the Lièzǐ 列子), in eight juàn, preserved in the Zhèngtǒng Dàozàng as DZ 730 / CT 730 (Dòngshén bù, Yù jué lèi 洞神部玉訣類).

About the work

Structure and method

The commentary follows the eight-juàn structure of the canonical Lièzǐ (following the standard zhāng division). Like Lín Xīyì’s other kǒu yì commentaries, it:

1. Proceeds chapter by chapter, analysing each sentence in turn.
2. Often provides a summary at the end of each chapter.
3. Interprets political / cosmological passages as metaphors for self-conduct (xiū shēn 修身).
4. Reads the Lièzǐ comparatively with the Zhuāngzǐ — emphasising the metaphorical-paradoxical language of both Daoist classics.
5. Uses Neo-Confucian terminology (lǐ 理, xìng 性, tǐyòng 體用) to render the text accessible to a Confucian-trained audience.
6. Is written in colloquial pedagogical register — “oral explanations” rather than scholastic philology.

The Lièzǐ itself

The Lièzǐ — canonised in 742 as Chōng xū zhēn jīng 沖虛真經 and in 1007 as Chōng xū zhì dé zhēn jīng 沖虛至德真經 — is the second of the four Táng-canonised Daoist classics. Modern philological consensus (following A. C. Graham) dates the received recension to c. 300–370 CE (Eastern Jìn forgery in Zhāng Zhàn’s 張湛 circle); see KR5c0049 for the full account.

Lín Xīyì’s distinctive readings

The commentary is consistent with Lín’s other kǒu yì works in:

1. Clarifying the philosophical argument through colloquial exposition.
2. Integrating Confucian and Daoist metaphysical vocabulary (especially lǐqì, xìngmìng).
3. Cross-referencing the Lièzǐ with the Zhuāngzǐ and the Dàodé jīng — treating the three classics as a unified scholarly object.

Prefaces

No substantive preface survives in the received DZ 730 text.

Abstract

The commentary is one of the three major late-Southern-Sòng kǒu yì commentaries of Lín Xīyì — together with his Dàodé jīng (KR5c0088) and Zhuāngzǐ readings, it constitutes the most widely-circulated pedagogical commentary corpus on the classical Daoist texts in the Southern-Sòng, Yuán, Míng, and Chosǒn-Korean periods.

Dating. Lín Xīyì’s active period spans roughly 1234 (jìnshì) to his death in 1271. The Dàodé jīng kǒu yì was printed in 1261; the Zhuāngzǐ kǒu yì slightly earlier. The Lièzǐ kǒu yì was probably part of the same concerted scholarly project, possibly printed together with the other two. Per the project’s dating rule, the frontmatter gives 1257–1271 as a reasonable composition 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, DZ 730 entry (I. Robinet).
• See KR5c0088 for the Dàodé jīng parallel and its detailed bibliographical discussion.
• See 林希逸 for the author’s biography.
• Graham, A. C. The Book of Lieh-tzu. London: John Murray, 1960. Standard English translation of the Lièzǐ.

Other points of interest

Lín Xīyì’s three-fold kǒu yì project — Dàodé jīng, Zhuāngzǐ, Lièzǐ — represents one of the most ambitious coordinated commentary-projects of the late-Southern-Sòng Daoist scholarly tradition. The coordination of the three works as a unified pedagogical resource — each in the colloquial-clear kǒu yì register — was innovative for its time and proved enormously influential on subsequent East Asian reception of the Daoist classics.

The Lièzǐ kǒu yì extended the approach of Lín’s Zhuāngzǐ kǒu yì (DZ 745) to the sister-text. The two works together shaped the mainstream SòngYuánMíngChosǒn interpretation of the late-medieval Lièzǐ tradition.

Links

• Kanseki Repository KR5c0120
• Parent text: KR5c0049 Chōng xū zhì dé zhēn jīng.
• Companion: KR5c0088 Dàodé jīng kǒu yì.
• Author: 林希逸 Lín Xīyì.
• ctext.org: 沖虛至德真經鬳齋口義