趙志堅

Táng-dynasty 唐 scholar — possibly a Buddhist master — author of a Dàodé jīng commentary surviving fragmentarily as [[KR5c0108|DZ 719 Dàodé zhēn jīng shū yì]]. 8th century at the latest.

Name ambiguity. The name is variously given as:

• Zhào Zhìjiān 趙志堅 — in the DZ 719 attribution and in the DZ 705 preface (reproducing Dù Guāngtíng).
• Zhào Jiān 趙堅 — in Dù Guāngtíng’s 901 preface to DZ 725 Dàodé zhēn jīng guǎng shèng yì 3b, where he is called “Master of the Law Zhào Jiān” (fǎ shī Zhào Jiān 法師趙堅).

Modern scholarship takes these as variants of the same person; Wáng Zhòngmín 王重民 (Lǎozǐ kǎo 老子考 177, 267) proposes two distinct figures, but Robinet (Schipper & Verellen 2004, 1:292) treats them as one.

Possible Buddhist identification. Isabelle Robinet suggests that Zhào Zhìjiān was in fact a Buddhist under the Táng dynasty, based on the Buddhist-meditational character of the surviving DZ 719 fragment (see KR5c0108). The key Buddhist features:

1. The xū xīn / zhèng xīn 虛心 / 正心 (empty / correct heart-mind) contrast — a Buddhist soteriological framework.
2. The three-degrees-of-contemplation scheme (yǒuwúzhèng guān 有、無、正觀) — Mādhyamika-derived.
3. The śamatha-like treatment of zuò wàng 坐忘.
4. The title “Master of the Law” (fǎ shī 法師) in Dù Guāngtíng’s attribution — conventionally used for Buddhist monks, though Daoist masters could also bear it.

The Buddhist identification is not certain; Zhào Zhìjiān may have been a Chóngxuán 重玄 school Daoist with heavy Mādhyamika influence rather than a formal Buddhist. The surviving text-fragment cannot definitively decide the question.

Dating. Táng (618–907), before the late 8th century (cf. Dù Guāngtíng’s 901 attestation). Robinet’s placement in the early-to-mid Táng is consistent with the Chóngxuán-influenced character of the work. No precise dates. No CBDB record.

Work. The only known work is [[KR5c0108|Dàodé zhēn jīng shū yì]] (DZ 719), originally in three or six juàn (the sources disagree), now preserved only in fragments (the Dào jīng half is entirely lost; 16 chapters of the Dé jīng are also missing).