Nán huá zhēn jīng zhí yīn 南華真經直音
Direct Pronunciations of the True Scripture of the Southern Florescence
by 賈善翔 (Jiǎ Shànxiáng); preface dated 1086
A Northern-Sòng phonetic-gloss apparatus to the Nán huá zhēn jīng (the Zhuāngzǐ) by Jiǎ Shànxiáng 賈善翔, preserved as DZ 739 / CT 739 (Dòngshén bù, Yù jué lèi 洞神部玉訣類). Preface dated 1086. The work provides fǎnqiè pronunciations and direct-homophone glosses (zhí yīn 直音 = “direct pronunciation”, using common characters to indicate the sound of rare ones) for the difficult characters of the Zhuāngzǐ — a reader-aid in the tradition of Lù Démíng’s 陸德明 Jīng diǎn shì wén 經典釋文.
About the work
Genre
The zhí yīn 直音 genre — using a common character to indicate the pronunciation of a rare character (rather than the full fǎnqiè 反切 spelling system) — was a widely-used pedagogical convention in late-medieval Chinese philological literature. Jiǎ Shànxiáng’s DZ 739 is one of the significant Northern-Sòng examples of the genre.
Contents
The work systematically lists difficult characters in the Zhuāngzǐ, chapter by chapter, giving:
- Direct-homophone pronunciations — “X, 音 Y” meaning “X is pronounced like Y”.
- Some fǎnqiè glosses — for characters without obvious homophones.
- Occasional brief semantic notes — though the primary focus is phonetic.
Prefaces
The 1086 preface (signed by Jiǎ Shànxiáng himself) articulates the pedagogical purpose: to make the Zhuāngzǐ readable to students who might otherwise stumble over its archaic or technical vocabulary.
Abstract
The Zhí yīn is a minor but useful reading aid for the Zhuāngzǐ. It complements Chén Jǐngyuán’s (陳景元) more comprehensive Yīn yì (KR5c0129, DZ 736, 1084) in the same decade, indicating an active Northern-Sòng engagement with the Zhuāngzǐ’s philological challenges.
Dating. Preface 1086. Per the project’s dating rule, the frontmatter gives 1086 as the composition date. Dynasty: 宋.
Author. Jiǎ Shànxiáng 賈善翔 was a Northern-Sòng Daoist scholar, author of several works preserved in the Daozang, including Yóu lóng zhuàn 猶龍傳 (DZ 774, a Lǎozǐ hagiography) and Gāo dào zhuàn 高道傳 (fragments preserved in DZ 783). He was active in the Yuán fēng 元豐 (1078–1085) and Yuán yòu 元祐 (1086–1094) eras.
Translations and research
Reminder: AI generated list - beware of hallucinations. Corrections and additions welcome
- Schipper, Kristofer, and Franciscus Verellen, eds. The Taoist Canon: A Historical Companion to the Daozang. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004, DZ 739 entry.
Links
- Kanseki Repository KR5c0132
- Parent text: KR5c0051 Nán huá zhēn jīng.
- Parallel apparatus: KR5c0129 Zhāng jù yīn yì.
- ctext.org: 南華真經直音