Tài shàng Lǎo jūn shuō cháng qīng jìng jīng zhù 太上老君說常清靜經註 (Dù Guāngtíng)
Commentary on the Cháng qīng jìng jīng — Dù Guāngtíng’s commentary
by 杜光庭 (Dù Guāngtíng; 850–933) — the monumental late-Táng / Five-Dynasties Daoist master
The earliest surviving commentary on the Cháng qīng jìng jīng 常清靜經 (DZ 620) — by the great TángWǔdài Daoist scholar Dù Guāngtíng 杜光庭 (see 杜光庭). Preserved in the Zhèngtǒng Dàozàng as DZ 759 / CT 759 (Dòngshén bù, Yù jué lèi 洞神部玉訣類).
About the work
Dù Guāngtíng’s broader output
This short commentary is one of Dù Guāngtíng’s many scriptural commentaries — alongside his monumental [[KR5c0114|Dàodé zhēn jīng guǎng shèng yì]] (DZ 725, 50 juàn, 901), various hagiographic works, and ritual manuals. The Cháng qīng jìng jīng commentary is short (1 juàn) but authoritative.
Importance as “first commentary”
Dù Guāngtíng’s commentary is the first known commentary on the Cháng qīng jìng jīng — the scripture itself being an early-medieval Daoist meditation-text that Dù Guāngtíng’s work helped canonise as a major object of scholarly engagement. Subsequent SòngYuán commentators (Lǐ Dàochún KR5c0151, Wáng Yuánhuī KR5c0153, Hóu Shànyuān KR5c0154, and the anonymous KR5c0152) build on Dù Guāngtíng’s foundational reading.
Philosophical character
Dù Guāngtíng reads the scripture through the mature late-Táng Chóngxuán 重玄 interpretive framework — the same framework that governs his Dàodé jīng guǎng shèng yì.
Abstract
The foundational commentary on the Cháng qīng jìng jīng, establishing the interpretive framework within which all subsequent commentators worked.
Dating. Within Dù Guāngtíng’s mature period, c. 900–933. Frontmatter gives 900–933 as composition window. Dynasty: 唐-五代.
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 759 entry.
- Verellen, Franciscus. Du Guangting (850–933). Paris: Collège de France, 1989.
- Kohn, Livia. The Scripture of Pure Tranquility. Translation and study. Albany: SUNY Press, 1993.
Links
- Kanseki Repository KR5c0155
- Parent scripture: DZ 620 Cháng qīng jìng jīng.
- Author: 杜光庭.
- ctext.org: 太上老君說常清靜經註 (杜光庭)