Yún jí qī qiān 雲笈七籤
Seven Lots from the Cloud-Satchel
compiled by 張君房 (Zhāng Jūnfáng) — Northern-Sòng official
The single most important pre-modern Daoist encyclopedia, and one of the indispensable reference works of the entire field. Compiled c. 1028–1029 by Zhāng Jūnfáng as a distillation of the Dà Sòng Tiān gōng bǎo zàng 大宋天宮寶藏 (Sòng Daoist Canon of 1019) — which Zhāng had supervised to completion. The title “Seven Lots from the Cloud-Satchel” invokes the “cloud-satchel” (yún jí 雲笈) as metaphor for the Daoist canon and the “seven lots” as the seven parts of the canon (Three Caverns + Four Supplements).
Abstract
The Yún jí qī qiān’s 122 (or 120) juàn preserve a huge range of Daoist materials, many of them not transmitted elsewhere — early hagiographies, alchemical texts, meditation-manuals, ritual instructions, scriptural passages from Six Dynasties through Táng, Shàng qīng meditational materials, medical-dietetic texts, cosmological treatises, and short biographical notices. Because Zhāng was working from the Northern-Sòng canon that was lost in the JīnYuán destructions, the Yún jí qī qiān preserves substantial material not in the surviving Míng Zhèng tǒng Dào zàng. It is the first reference consulted by researchers for any Táng or pre-Táng Daoist text.
Dedicated to Sòng Rén zōng (r. 1022–1063) shortly after his accession, hence c. 1028–29.
Dating. c. 1028–1029. Dynasty: 北宋.
Translations and research
- Schipper, Kristofer M., and Franciscus Verellen, eds. The Taoist Canon: A Historical Companion to the Daozang. Chicago UP, 2004. Extensive analysis of the Yún jí qī qiān structure.
- Hsiang Ta 向達 and other 20th-century editors have produced critical editions.
- Zhang Jiyu 張繼禹, Zhōng huá Dào zàng 中華道藏 reprint with punctuation (Běijīng: Huá xià, 2004).
Links
- Kanseki Repository KR5d0055
- Author: 張君房.
- ctext.org: 雲笈七籤