南華真經註疏

Nán huá zhēn jīng zhù shū 南華真經註疏

Commentary and Subcommentary on the True Scripture of the Southern Florescence

郭象 (Guō Xiàng, 252–312) commentary with 成玄英 (Chéng Xuányīng, early 7th cent.) subcommentary

The canonical Daozang text of the Zhuāngzǐ with its two foundational layers of scholarly apparatus:

1. Guō Xiàng’s 郭象 commentary (zhù 註, composed c. 290–312) — the foundational Xuánxué reading.
2. Chéng Xuányīng’s 成玄英 subcommentary (shū 疏, composed c. 630–660) — the mature Chóngxuán 重玄 elaboration.

Preserved in the Zhèngtǒng Dàozàng as DZ 745 / CT 745 (Dòngshén bù, Yù jué lèi 洞神部玉訣類) in 35 juàn (= 33 piān + prefatory material), and in the Qīng Dàozàng jíyào as JY132.

About the work

The two-layer structure

The combination of Guō Xiàng’s commentary and Chéng Xuányīng’s subcommentary represents the authoritative medieval Chinese philosophical reading of the Zhuāngzǐ:

• Guō Xiàng established the 33-chapter redaction and the dú huà 獨化 metaphysical framework (see KR5c0138 and 郭象).
• Chéng Xuányīng extended this reading with the Chóngxuán 重玄 (“double-mystery”) dialectical soteriology — integrating Xuánxué metaphysics with mature Tang Buddhist-Mādhyamika philosophical apparatus.

Chéng Xuányīng’s subcommentary preserves otherwise-lost early-Táng Chóngxuán school philosophy and is one of the primary documents for the reconstruction of mature Táng Daoist thought.

Chéng Xuányīng’s contribution

Chéng Xuányīng 成玄英 (fl. c. 631–655) was an early-Táng Daoist master associated with the Chóngxuán school. His subcommentary on the Zhuāngzǐ — alongside his parallel Dàodé jīng commentary (preserved fragmentarily in KR5c0099 DZ 711 and KR5c0098 DZ 710) — is the primary surviving document of his mature philosophical system.

Key moves in Chéng Xuányīng’s subcommentary:

1. Deepens Guō Xiàng’s dú huà 獨化 into a Mādhyamika-Buddhist dialectical framework.
2. Develops the Chóngxuán 重玄 (“double-mystery”) doctrine — xuán zhī yòu xuán 玄之又玄, rejection of rejection.
3. Introduces jiān wàng 兼忘 (“total forgetfulness”) as the soteriological goal.
4. Uses Buddhist categories (kōng xìng 空性 emptiness-nature, fēi yǒu fēi wú 非有非無 neither-being-nor-non-being) in Daoist interpretive service.

Preservation value

The Chéng Xuányīng subcommentary does not survive independently; its preservation in DZ 745 is the primary source for his Zhuāngzǐ thought. Modern philological reconstruction of early-Táng Chóngxuán Daoism depends heavily on DZ 745 (plus the parallel DZ 711 fragments for his Dàodé jīng commentary).

Prefaces

The DZ 745 text preserves Guō Xiàng’s original preface at the opening, plus prefatorial material by later editors.

Abstract

DZ 745 is the single most philosophically consequential Zhuāngzǐ edition in Chinese history. The combination of Guō Xiàng’s foundational Xuánxué reading with Chéng Xuányīng’s mature Chóngxuán elaboration produced a two-layer commentarial tradition that shaped all subsequent Chinese (and East Asian) Zhuāngzǐ scholarship — from Sòng Neo-Confucian engagement (Sū Zhé, Zhū Xī), through Yuán syncretic commentators (Wú Chéng, Lǐ Dàochún), to Edo Japanese scholars (Ogyū Sorai, Itō Jinsai).

Dating. Chéng Xuányīng’s fl. 631–655 places his subcommentary in the early Táng. Per the project’s dating rule, the frontmatter gives 630–660 as the composition window for Chéng Xuányīng’s layer (Guō Xiàng’s commentary is from c. 290–312). Dynasty: 唐 (reflecting the dominant Chéng Xuányīng layer).

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 745 entry (I. Robinet). Primary reference.
• Assandri, Friederike. Beyond the Daodejing: Twofold Mystery in Tang Daoism. Magdalena: Three Pines Press, 2009. The definitive modern English-language monograph on the Chóngxuán school including Chéng Xuányīng.
• Ziporyn, Brook. The Penumbra Unbound: The Neo-Taoist Philosophy of Guo Xiang. Albany: SUNY Press, 2003. For the Guō Xiàng layer.
• Guō Qìngfán 郭慶藩. Zhuāngzǐ jí shì 莊子集釋. Běijīng: Zhōnghuá, 1961 (rpt. 2013). The standard modern critical edition integrating Guō Xiàng, Chéng Xuányīng, and later commentators.

Other points of interest

The combination of commentary and subcommentary in DZ 745 creates a three-layer text: the Zhuāngzǐ base (written over centuries, fixed by Guō Xiàng); Guō Xiàng’s 3rd/4th-century commentary; Chéng Xuányīng’s 7th-century subcommentary. Reading DZ 745 is therefore reading the Zhuāngzǐ through successive layers of canonical interpretive authority — the most authoritative presentation of the text in the medieval Chinese scholarly tradition.

Links

• Kanseki Repository KR5c0139
• Schipper & Verellen, The Taoist Canon (2004), DZ 745 entry.
• Parent text: KR5c0051 Nán huá zhēn jīng.
• Parallel Guō Xiàng commentary alone: KR5c0138 (WYG edition).
• Authors: 郭象 Guō Xiàng, 成玄英 Chéng Xuányīng.
• Assandri, Beyond the Daodejing (2009) — standard monograph.
• ctext.org: 南華真經註疏