Yuán-dynasty 元 Daoist commentator, known chiefly as the author of the four-juàn three-level commentary on the Dàodé jīng, [[KR5c0070|Dàodé zhēn jīng sān jiě 道德真經三解]] (DZ 687), preface dated to the autumn of Dàdé 大德 2 (1298 CE).
Style name. Hào 玉賔子 Yù bīn zǐ (“Master Jade-Guest”). Used in the preface-signature to DZ 687.
Scholarly context. Dèng Qí was evidently associated with the Southern Lineage (Nán zōng 南宗) of nèi dān 內丹 inner alchemy descending from Zhāng Bóduān 張伯端 (984–1082) through Shí Tài 石泰, Xuē Dàoguāng 薛道光, Chén Nán 陳楠, Bái Yù chán 白玉蟾, Péng Sì 彭耜, and Xiāo Tíngzhī 蕭廷芝 (13th cent.). His commentary incorporates substantial prefatory material drawn from Xiāo Tíngzhī’s 1260 Dà dào zhèng tǒng 大道正統 (an independent nèi dān genealogy of the Southern Lineage), indicating Dèng’s direct engagement with the Southern transmission. At the same time, the commentary’s inclusive recognition of the Northern Lineage (Quán zhēn 全真, Wáng Zhé 王喆 and his seven disciples) reflects the mature Yuán-era convergence of the two traditions — the formal institutional unification of which came shortly after Dèng’s time, under the 1306 imperial decree of Chéngzōng 成宗.
Work. His sole known surviving work is the Dàodé zhēn jīng sān jiě (DZ 687), a distinctive Yuán-period commentary reading the Dàodé jīng on three simultaneous levels: jīng 經 (textual), dào 道 (cosmological, with heavy Yì jīng 易經 and Shào Yōng 邵雍 numerological references), and dé 德 (alchemical / nèi dān, with references to Zhāng Bóduān and Lǚ Dòngbīn 呂洞賓). The commentary’s preface implies Dèng was also engaged with the Yì jīng and the Lún yǔ, suggesting a Confucian-trained scholar-official background, but no independent Confucian work is attested.
Dating. Active 1298 (DZ 687 preface). No lifedates, office, or biographical details are recorded. No CBDB record identified. The preface’s polite signature (Yù bīn zǐ Dèng Qí xù 玉賓子鄧錡序) and its rich learned apparatus suggest a scholar of some standing, but his historical identity is not otherwise documented.