Mid-Táng 唐 Daoist master, hào Mò xī zǐ 默希子 (“Master of Silent Hopes”). Active in the early 9th century under the Yuán hé 元和 era (806–820). Author of the foundational Táng commentary on the Wénzǐ ([[KR5c0140|Tōng xuán zhēn jīng DZ 746]], c. 809–815) — the principal surviving ancient commentary on that text.
Religious lineage. Xú Língfǔ was a Daoist master in the Tiān tái shān 天台山 (Zhè jiāng) tradition — the foundational Shàng qīng 上清 mountain. He was associated with (or a successor to) the lineage of Sīmǎ Chéngzhēn 司馬承禎 (646–735, Twelfth Shàng qīng Patriarch), though the precise lineage-link is not fully documented.
Activity period. Attested 809–815 (the Yuán hé era). No precise lifedates. No CBDB record identified.
Works.
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[[KR5c0140|Tōng xuán zhēn jīng zhù]] 通玄真經註 (DZ 746) — his major surviving work, a commentary on the Wénzǐ (12 juan). The primary Táng commentary on the text.
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Xī shēng jīng 西昇經 commentary material — Xú Língfǔ’s commentary on the Xī shēng jīng is preserved in fragmentary form in KR5c0115 DZ 726 Xī shēng jīng jí zhù (among the five commentators there integrated). Xú’s commentary was evidently substantial; its inclusion in Chén Jǐngyuán’s (陳景元) compilation testifies to its authority.
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《天台山記》 Tiāntáishān jì (KR6r0131, T2096, 1 juan, Yuánhé 元和 era ca. 815) — a brief Daoist gazetteer of Mt Tiāntái 天台, composed by Xú in his capacity as a Tiāntáishān Daoist master. The work is preserved in the Buddhist Taishō because it was incorporated by Cháo Yīng 趙瑛 into the Sòng Mt Tiāntái historical-geographical compendium and circulated through Buddhist channels. (Per the Sòng-period Jiāxī Bǐngshēn 嘉熙丙申 = 1236 colophon: “Tang Daoist Xú Língfǔ composed [it]. He was a Yuánhé era person.“)
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Various other short works and poems — some attested in Daoist hagiography.
Philosophical orientation. Xú Língfǔ represents the mature mid-Táng Chóngxuán 重玄 synthesis — integrating Daoist cosmology with Xuánxué 玄學 philosophical apparatus and Buddhist-Mādhyamika dialectical categories. His commentary on the Wénzǐ applies this framework to a text previously lacking substantial scholarly treatment.
Disambiguation. Not to be confused with other mid-Táng figures named Xú (notably Xú Dòng 徐洞 and Xú Dào miào 徐道邈).