Tài píng jīng 太平經
The Scripture of Great Peace
Anonymous; Eastern Hàn core, Six-Dynasties expansion
One of the foundational scriptures of Chinese Daoism — the cornerstone text of the earliest organized Daoist movement, traditionally associated with the Yellow Turban / Five-Pecks-of-Rice context of the late Eastern Hàn. The Tài píng jīng is extensively quoted in the Hòu Hàn shū as a source of the revolutionary Tài píng dào 太平道 movement of Zhāng Jué 張角 (184 CE Yellow Turban rebellion). Later re-edited and expanded in the Six Dynasties.
Abstract
The received text is defective — the transmitted corpus covers only 57 of an original 170 juàn. The three items DZ 1101 a/b/c provide:
- The Táng epitome (KR5e0001 Tài píng jīng chāo, 10 juàn) — preserving the scripture’s doctrinal content in condensed form.
- The main surviving text (this entry, KR5e0002, 57 juàn) — fragmentary remains of the full scripture.
- The preface (KR5e0003 Tài píng jīng fù wén xù) — an introduction.
The scripture’s doctrinal core concerns Great Peace (tài píng 太平) — a utopian millennial social-cosmic order under a sage-ruler, aided by scriptural revelations that diagnose the world’s illness and prescribe corrective moral and ritual action. Central concepts include chéng fù 承負 (inherited moral-cosmic burden across generations), sān qì 三氣 (the three cosmic pneumas that must be harmonized), and a prototype of Daoist ritual confession and self-cultivation.
Dating. Core Eastern Hàn (2nd century); extensive Six-Dynasties revision. Dynasty: 東漢-六朝.
Translations and research
- Petersen, Jens Østergård. “The Early Traditions Relating to the Han Dynasty Transmission of the Taiping Jing.” Acta Orientalia 50 (1989): 133–171; 51 (1990): 173–216. Authoritative textual study.
- Hendrischke, Barbara. The Scripture on Great Peace: The Taiping Jing and the Beginnings of Daoism. University of California Press, 2006. Standard English translation and study.
- Kaltenmark, Max. “The Ideology of the T’ai-p’ing Ching.” In Facets of Taoism, eds. Holmes Welch and Anna Seidel (Yale UP, 1979).
- Wáng Míng 王明. Tài píng jīng hé jiào 太平經合校. Běijīng: Zhōng huá shū jú, 1960. Standard Chinese critical edition.