Dào dé jīng shùn zhū 道德經順硃
Vermilion-Following Annotations on the Dao De Jing
A two-juan early-Qīng Buddhist commentary on the Dào dé jīng 道德經 ([[老子|Lǎozǐ]] 老子) by the Chán master Shèngkě Déyù 聖可德玉 (1628–1701/02), abbot of the Huáyánsì 華嚴寺 in Sichuan. Paralleling Ǒuyì Zhìxù’s Zhōu yì chán jiě KR6q0184 (Chán commentary on the Yìjīng) and Liángtíng Jìngtǐng’s Qīyuán zhǐ tōng KR6q0219 (Chán commentary on Zhuāngzǐ), as a Chán-Buddhist hermeneutic engagement with classical Chinese non-Buddhist texts.
About the work
A two-juan Chán-Buddhist commentary on a core Chinese Daoist text, J36 B351. Commentary on the Dào dé jīng, which is outside the Buddhist canonical corpus; commentedTextid omitted.
The title’s shùn zhū 順硃 (“vermilion-following”) refers to the traditional Chinese textual-commentary practice of marking the original text in red ink (vermilion) and providing commentary in black ink — a typesetting convention indicating that the commentary follows the original text’s sequence phrase-by-phrase.
Déyù’s commentary provides a Chán-Buddhist reading of the 81 chapters of the Dào dé jīng, exploring the classical Daoist philosophical categories (dào 道, dé 德, wú wéi 無為, zì rán 自然) through the lens of Buddhist doctrine.
Abstract
Shèngkě Déyù 聖可德玉 (1628/8/12 – 1701/02 approx). Hào Shèngkě 聖可 (“Saintly-Permissible”), Yìnyù 印玉 (“Seal-Jade”), Huáyán lǎorén 華嚴老人 (“Old-Man of Huáyán”). Native of Yíngshān 營山 (Sichuan).
Active at the Huáyánsì 華嚴寺 in Sichuan, one of the major Qīng Buddhist monastic centres in the Sichuan region. Produced several commentaries on classical Chinese philosophical texts, including the present Dào dé jīng shùn zhū and (likely) parallel commentaries on other texts.
Dating: notBefore c. 1670 (Déyù’s mature productive period begins); notAfter c. 1701 (his death).
Translations and research
- Studies on Chinese Buddhist-Daoist integration in late-imperial intellectual history.
- No substantial Western-language monographic study located specifically on J36 B351.
Other points of interest
Déyù’s work is one of several late-imperial Chinese Buddhist commentaries on the Dào dé jīng. Together with 智旭’s Zhōu yì chán jiě (commentary on the Yìjīng) and 淨挺’s Qīyuán zhǐ tōng (commentary on Zhuāngzǐ), the Dào dé jīng shùn zhū represents the late-Míng / early-Qīng Buddhist programme of systematic Chán-hermeneutic engagement with the classical Chinese philosophical tradition — a Buddhist response to the dominant Neo-Confucian exclusive-claims on the classics.
Déyù’s Sichuan-regional position — at the Huáyánsì, one of the major Chinese provincial-Buddhist centres — places the text within the late-imperial Chinese regional-Buddhist publishing tradition alongside the Yúnnán Chán works of Zhōulǐ and his successors (KR6q0195–KR6q0198).
Links
- CBETA J36nB351
- Kanseki DB
- Parallel Buddhist-classical commentaries: KR6q0184 (Yìjīng), KR6q0219 (Zhuāngzǐ).
- Parent text: Dào dé jīng 道德經 ([[老子|Lǎozǐ]]), outside the Buddhist canonical corpus.