The Taoist Canon, Volume 1 (Replacement Volume): A Historical Companion to the Daozang

Taoism remains the only major religion whose canonical texts have not been systematically arranged and made available for study. This long-awaited work, a milestone in Chinese studies, catalogs and describes all existing texts within the Taoist canon. The result will not only make the entire range of existing Taoist texts accessible to scholars of religion, it will open up a crucial resource in the study of the history of China. The vast literature of the Taoist canon, or Daozang , survives in a Ming Dynasty edition of some fifteen hundred different texts. Compiled under imperial auspices and completed in 1445--with a supplement added in 1607--many of the books in the Daozang concern the history, organization, and liturgy of China's indigenous religion. A large number of works deal with medicine, alchemy, and divination. If scholars have long neglected this unique storehouse of China's religious traditions, it is largely because it was so difficult to find one's way within it. Not only was the rationale of its medieval classification system inoperable for the many new texts that later entered the Daozang , but the system itself was no longer understood by the Ming editors; hence the haphazard arrangement of the canon as it has come down to us. This new work sets out the contents of the Daozang chronologically, allowing the reader to follow the long evolution of Taoist literature. Lavishly illustrated, the first volume ranges from antiquity through the Middle Ages, while the second spans the modern period. Within this frame, texts are grouped by theme and subject. Each one is the subject of a historical abstract that identifies the text's contents, date of origin, and author. Throughout the first two volumes, introductions outline the evolution of Taoism and its spiritual heritage. A third volume offering biographical sketches of frequently mentioned Taoists, multiple indexes, and an extensive bibliography provides critical tools for navigating this guide to one of the fundamental aspects of Chinese culture. The Taoist CanonA Historical Companion to the Daozang = [Dao zang tong kao] The University of Chicago PressCopyright © 2004 The University of ChicagoAll right reserved.ISBN: 978-0-226-73811-6Chapter One 1.A Texts in General Circulation This section contains the works of ancient Taoist philosophers or those who were assigned to this school by tradition. Foremost among these works is the Laozi or Daode jing, which was canonized as a classic (jing [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]) probably in the early Han period (206 B.C.-A.D. 220). Later, the Daode jing, also known as the Text in Five Thousand Characters (Wuqian wen [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]), became the fundamental scripture of Heavenly Master Taoism which transmitted it alongside with the Xiang'er [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] commentary. The transmission of the Text in Five Thousand Characters constituted a distinct degree in the hierarchy of ordination grades as officially established during the Northern Zhou dynasty (557-581) (see 1138 Wushang biyao 37 for the corresponding transmission ritual). Later, with the division into Seven Parts (qibu [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]) by Wang Yan, the Daode jing and its canonical commentaries constituted the Taixuan bu (see 1238 Chuanshou jingjie yi zhujue for the ordination ritual corresponding to the ranks of disciple of the Golden Button [jinniu dizi [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]] and of master of the Rites of Divine High Mystery [taishang gaoxuan fashi [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]]. In the Ming canon, the Daode jing and other philosophical scriptures made up the core of the Dongshen bu (see general introduction). The incorporation of philosophical works of the preimperial period into the Taoist canon has been a controversial issue. The Zhuangzi, although not a jing before the eighth century A.D., was very influential in Han Taoism and later, and thus its inclusion can be justified. The same obtains for the Liezi [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] and such later Taoist philosophical texts as the Wenzi [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII], the Huainan zi [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII], and so on. However, the Ming canon also contains the Mozi [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII], the Han Fei zi [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII], the Gongsun Long zi [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII], and others. There is evidence that the Mozi goes back to a copy in the Song canon (see Wu Yujiang, Mozi jiaozhu). In incorporating these texts, the compilers of the Ming canon continued a wellestablished tradition that goes back to the above-mentioned Wang Yan. His Xuandu jingmu catalogue was presented to the throne in 570, and it contained a great number of philosophical texts (zhuzi lun [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]). In his Xiaodao lun (9.153b), Zhen Luan criticizes the fact that the canon contained the Han Fei zi, the Huainan zi, the Taixuan jing [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII], the Yilin [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII], and the Huangdi jingui [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII], all works still present in the Ming canon. Among the works now lost but cited by Zhen Luan as incorporated into the Northern Zhou canon are the oracle manuals Lianshan [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] and Guizang [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]. Interestingly enough, even the Mengzi [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] was considered to be a Taoist canon (see CGF 108). The collection of Taoist books under the Northern Zhou was undertaken against the background of the Buddhist and Taoist controversies of the time. It would appear from the above-mentioned evidence that the compilers aimed at defining Taoism as the way of thought and ritual in ancient China, representing all those traditions of Chinese thought that were not explicitly Confucian (the Mengzi became recognized as a fundamental Confucian scripture only in Song times). Later, the editors of the Siku quanshu echoed Zhen Luan's indignation, when discussing the contents of the Ming canon in their article concerning the Daozang mulu xiangzhu by Bo Yunji. What they and many Qing scholars with them failed to acknowledge, was that without the Daozang many precious philosophical texts (such as the Mozi, the Gongsun Long zi, and others) would have been irretrievably lost. The Ming canon contains a number of philosophical texts in plain, un-annotated versions, presented as Fundamental Scriptures (benwen [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]). These are the Laozi and the Zhuangzi. Other ancient philosophic texts, such as the Wenzi, are represented by annotated versions of a later date only. These works are discussed under the period when their commentaries were written. In this chapter they are only listed, with the indication as to where the relevant article can be found. 1.A.1 Philosophy 1.A.1.a Texts Daode zhenjing [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] 2 juan Attributed to Laozi [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] (traditional date sixth century B.C.); Warring States (475-221 B.C.) 664 (fasc. 346) "The True Scripture of the Way and Its Virtue." This is the book of Laozi as Fundamental Scripture (benwen [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]), without commentary. Sima Qian, in his biography of Laozi, speaks already of Laozi's book "in two parts, expounding the meaning of the Way and Its Virtue, in some five thousand words [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]" (Shiji 63.2141). Thanks to the manuscripts found at Mawang dui (see 665 Daode jing guben pian), we know that the present division into two parts and the title of The Book of the Way and its Virtue was already current at the beginning of the Han dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 220). The present version is, moreover, divided in zhangju [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] chapters amounting to the symbolic number of eighty-one, an arrangement that probably dates from the Later Han period (A.D. 25-220). The titles of these chapters correspond to those of the Heshang gong commentary (see 682 Daode zhenjing zhu). The word zhen (true) in the title of the present version became current in Tang times (618-907). Part of the original text (1.8b-10b) has been lost, and the missing passages have been replaced with the corresponding ones of 665 Daode jing guben pian. Recent research places the date of Laozi's book in the fourth century B.C., during the Warring States period, but some parts of the text may well be older, considering the vocabulary and the rhymes used. The Mawang dui versions show already displaced and corrupt passages. The division of the book into two parts, on Tao and De, on ontology and strategy, is not clearly evident in the respective contents, while the division into eighty-one chapters makes the text appear as a series of separate axiomatic statements. Doing away with this division, and reading the text as a continuous discourse, allows one to determine a few instances where formerly separated parts might be linked. The book as a whole, however, does not read as a systematically developed argument. It must have been from the beginning a collection of short axiomatically paradoxical texts, compiled without particular order. The original number of these texts is difficult to assess. There may have been fifty-five (see 1177 Han Fei zi) or seventy-two (see 693 Daode zhenjing zhigui, preface, 4b) before the present division into eighty-one. Although the exact place of Laozi's book in Taoist tradition has been, and will continue to be, a much debated issue, its dominant position since antiquity is clear. Indeed, the book deals with the major topics of Taoism with a depth and insight that have earned it the place of the religion's foremost scripture. Daode jing guben pian [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] 2 juan Edited by Fu Yi [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] (555-639) 665 (fasc. 346) "Ancient Recension of the Book of the Way and Its Virtue." This is the plain text of the Laozi, without commentary, based on a manuscript discovered in A.D. 574 at Pengcheng [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] (Xuzhou, Jiangsu), in the tomb of a concubine of Xiang Yu [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] (233-202 B.C.). See 770 Hunyuan shengji 3.20a. The date as well as the stylistic characteristics of the present text establish a relationship with the manuscripts of the Laozi found in 1973 in Han tomb no. 3 at Mawang dui near Changsha (Hunan). The division into a Daopian [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] and a Depian [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] may therefore well correspond to the original arrangement of the text, while the arrangement into eighty-one chapters, according to the so-called Heshang gong zhangju, as well as the indications on the number of characters in each chapter are probably of Fu Yi's own devising. The present text contains 5,556 characters, almost 300 more than the Heshang gong commentary version of 682 Daode zhenjing zhu, which has 5,274. None of these numbers correspond to the indications supposedly given by Fu Yi on the versions he examined in his time: 5,722 characters for the manuscript found at Pengcheng, 5,683 or 5,610 for the Wang Bi commentary version, and 5,555 or 5,590 for the Heshang gong commentary version (770 Hunyuan shengji 3.20a). The present text, however, shows greater affinities to the extant Wang Bi edition than to that attributed to Heshang gong. Nanhua zhenjing [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] 5 juan Attributed to Zhuang Zhou [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] (second half of the fourth century B.C.) and his followers 670 (fasc. 349-351) "True Canon of the Southern Florescence." This is an unannotated edition of the Zhuangzi, under the canonical title bestowed on it by Emperor Xuanzong in 742. This edition is part of a series, comprising also the Guanyin zi (667 Wushang miaodao wenshi zhenjing), the Liezi (668 Chongxu zhide zhenjing), and the Gengsang zi (669 Dongling zhenjing). Each of these editions has a preface and a portrait of the sage in question. The origin of this small collection of the four Taoist authors canonized by Xuanzong is unknown. Sparse indications in the different prefaces make it appear later than the Song period. The preface of the present Nanhua zhenjing is mostly abstracted from Zhuang Zhou's biography in the Shiji. The division into five juan does not respect the arrangement into inner, outer, and miscellaneous chapters. Zhuang Zhou was a southerner, that is, he came from the region south of the Yellow River. His native place, according to the sparse information we have from the Shiji and a few other records, appears to have been the township of Meng, a place near the present town of Shangqiu in Henan province, in a region at the intersection of Shandong, Jiangsu, and Anhui provinces. It was part of the ancient state of Song, and Zhuang Zhou is often referred to as a man of Song. After the fall of Song in 286 B.C., the region fell into the hands of other principalities, including Chu. As a result, Zhuang Zhou is also known as a native of Chu. The dates of Zhuang Zhou are tentative, but most scholars agree with the affirmation in the Shiji that he lived during the times of King Hui [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] of Wei [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] (r. ca. 369-325). He was also invited to the court of King Wei [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] of Chu [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] (r. ca. 339-328). The exact dates of these King s are still under discussion, but grosso modo this means that Zhuang Zhou was active during the second half of the fourth century. Liu Xiaogan gives his dates tentatively as 369-286 B.C. (Liu, Classifying the Zhuangzi chapters, 41) which would make Zhuang Zhou a contemporary of Mengzi [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] (tentative dates 372-289). According to the Shiji, the book of Zhuangzi amounted to more than 100,000 characters. The Han shu, "Yiwen zhi," 30.1730 lists the Zhuangzi as having fifty-two chapters (pian [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]), comprising seven inner, twenty-eight outer, fourteen miscellaneous, and three additional chapters with "explanations" (jieshuo [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]). The present edition of the Zhuangzi has only 70,000 characters, and the outer and miscellaneous chapters number, respectively, fifteen and eleven; no trace remains of the "explanations." The Shiji mentions explicitly the chapters "Youfu," "Daozhi," and "Quqie," which occupy today the position of chapters 31, 29 (miscellaneous chapters, zapian [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]) and 10 (outer chapters, waipian [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]). Guo Xiang (d. 312) is generally regarded as the editor of today's version in thirty-three chapters. According to his preface (see Guo Qingfan, Zhuangzi jishi), he considered sizeable parts of the work spurious or superfluous and therefore discarded them. Problematically, virtually none of the discarded texts have survived elsewhere. There is a general consensus for ascribing the seven so-called inner chapters (neipian [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]) to the author. These stand apart from the others in language, style, and vocabulary. They also have distinct three-character titles, enunciating what may be considered to be their main themes (e.g., "Xiaoyao you," Free and easy wandering), whereas the other chapters (with the exception of chapters 28 to 31) are simply named after their opening words. The distinctiveness and comparatively earlier date for the inner chapters have been demonstrated by Liu Xiaogan. Liu's arguments are based on the vocabulary of the inner chapters and on the more circumstantial, but evident, fact that much of the text in the other chapters consists of explanations and developments of writings contained in the inner chapters. The dating of the outer and miscellaneous chapters is far more problematic. The general opinion, notably voiced by Graham, is that they come from different periods, the latest, such as the "Tianxia" chapter (33) being early Han (206 B.C.-A.D. 220). Some sets of chapters, such as the above-mentioned series of 28 to 31, are distinguished by thematic, two-character titles. Graham thinks these chapters come from a different school of thought, that of the hedonist Yang Zhu [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]. Liu Xiaogan considers such an assumption unnecessary. The book of Zhuangzi is quoted extensively in the L��shi chunqiu [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] (compiled ca. 239 B.C.), in such a way that suggests it had found its definitive shape by that time. In spite of the long period during which the text of the book was written (roughly between 340 B.C. and A.D. 240), there is a great coherence and unity of thought in the entire work, even if the influence of other schools of thought is very much in evidence in the later chapters. These chapters do, however, refer time and again to passages in the inner chapters, which does convey the impression that parts of the outer and miscellaneous chapters are equally old (this cross-referencing has inspired Graham to supplement the text of the inner chapters with excerpts from the others). We may conclude that the Zhuangzi is the recipient of the writings of a single tradition, that it was constitutive of the way of thought that later came to be called Taoist and that the older and the newer parts together are representative of the evolution of this thought during the century that preceded the hegemony of Legalism and the united empire (third century B.C.). Taking this into consideration, we may say that the Zhuangzi displays a marked absence of political thought, at least in the inner chapters. This absence contrasts with all contemporary schools, with the exception of the Logicians (mingjia [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]). The relationship with the latter school is evident, but also of a controversial nature. The Zhuangzi is truly philosophical inasmuch as its object of investigation is human knowledge and its relationship to cognition in all its forms. Zhuang Zhou's epistemology goes farther than most observers have noted. Most striking is his treatment of mythology and religion. The mythical fish and bird (the iconography of both is present on Warring States bronzes) are compared with ordinary animals and found lacking: too cumbersome! When Laozi sits in meditation with unfastened hair, this is not in conformity with a ritual prescription, but "because he had just bathed" and needed to let his hair dry. Through bodily exercises of the "nurturing life" kind, old Pengzu [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] lived only 800 years: what a pity! Humor is Zhuang Zhou's foremost maieutic tool. (Continues...) Excerpted from The Taoist Canon Copyright © 2004 by The University of Chicago. Excerpted by permission. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site. Combined Tables of Contents 2 Volume 1 4 Contents 6 List of Illustrations 10 Summary Contents of Volumes 2 and 3 12 Preface 14 User’s Guide 18 List of Contributors 22 General Introduction 24 The History of the Taoist Canon before the Ming Dynasty 28 Wang Chong's Daozang 30 Ge Hong's Catalogue of Taoist Books 31 The Canon of the Early Taoist Ecclesia (Zhengyi fawen) 32 The Books of the Three Caverns (Sandong jing) 34 Lu Xiujing and the Canon of the Three Caverns 37 The Seven Parts 40 The Twelve Categories and the Thirty-Six Divisions 44 The Liturgical Organizations of the Tang 45 The Canon of the Kaiyuan Era 47 The Song and Yuan Canons 49 The Destruction of the Old Canon 52 The Ming Canon and Its Supplement 55 The Compilation of the Zhengtong daozang 55 The Supplement of 1607 60 Destruction and Rebirth 62 The Tao-tsang Project 64 Daozang Studies after 1926 64 The Beginning of the Tao-tsang Project 68 The Final Stage 71 New Perspectives 73 Part 1: Eastern Zhou to Six Dynastie 76 1. A Texts in General Circulation 78 1.A.1 Philosophy 79 1.A.1.a Texts 79 1.A.1.b Commentaries 95 1.A.2 Divination 102 1.A.3 Medicine and Pharmacology 110 1.A.4 Yangsheng 115 1.A.5 Alchemy 122 1.A.6 Sacred History and Geography 130 1.A.6.a Cosmogony and the Pantheon 130 1.A.6.b Mythology and Hagiography 134 1.A.7 Collected Works 140 1.A.8 Compendiums and Encyclopedias 141 1.B Texts in Internal Circulation 143 1.B.1 The Way of the Heavenly Master 143 1.B.1.a Didactic and Doctrinal Treatises 143 1.B.1.b Rituals and Rules 150 1.B.2 Shangqing 160 1.B.2.a The Canonical Shangqing Scriptures 162 1.B.2.b Other Early Shangqing Scriptures 208 1.B.2.c Early Shangqing Hagiographies 219 1.B.2.d Anthologies 221 1.B.2.e Rituals and Rules 230 1.B.3 Lingbao 235 1.B.3.a The Canonical Lingbao Scriptures 237 1.B.3.b Other Early Lingbao Scriptures 263 1.B.3.c Doctrinal and Liturgical Works 275 1.B.4 Texts of the Dongshen Division 283 1.B.5 Other Revealed Scriptures 292 1.B.6 The Taiping jing 300 Part 2: Sui, Tang, and Five Dynasties 304 2.A Texts in General Circulation 306 2.A.1 Philosophy 306 2.A.1.a Commentaries on Ancient Philosophers 306 2.A.1.b Tang Philosophical Texts (General) 321 2.A.1.c The Yinfu jing and Its Commentaries 342 2.A.1.d Commentaries on the Zhouyi cantong qi and Related Scriptures 346 2.A.1.e Commentaries on Lingbao Scriptur 354 2.A.2 Divination and Numerology 356 2.A.3 Medicine and Pharmacology 361 2.A.4 Yangsheng 367 2.A.4.a Miscellaneous Practices 368 2.A.4.b Respiratory Techniques 389 2.A.5 Alchemy 400 2.A.5.a Laboratory Alchemy 401 2.A.5.b Inner Alchemy 424 2.A.6 Sacred History and Geography 436 2.A.6.a Sacred Annals and Records 436 2.A.6.b Hagiographies 447 2.A.6.c Mountain and Temple Monographs; Epigraphy 455 2.A.7 Collected Works 459 2.A.8 Handbooks and Encyclopedias 462 2.B Texts in Internal Circulation 471 2.B.1 The General Liturgical Organization of the Tang 471 2.B.2 The Orthodox One Way of the Heavenly Master 490 2.B.2.a Liturgical Organization 491 2.B.2.b Rituals 499 2.B.2.c Miscellaneous 509 2.B.3 The Taiping Division 516 2.B.4 The Taixuan Division 518 2.B.5 Sanhuang Scriptures and Rituals 524 2.B.6 Dongyuan and Shengxuan Scriptures and Rituals 532 2.B.6.a The Dongyuan shenzhou jing 532 2.B.6.b The Shengxuan neijiao jing 538 2.B.7 Lingbao 539 2.B.7.a Scriptures 539 2.B.7.a.1 The Long Treatises 541 2.B.7.a.2 Medium-Length Scriptures 553 2.B.7.a.3 Short Doctrinal and Prophylactic Texts 577 2.B.7.b Litanies 589 2.B.7.c Rituals and Rules 597 2.B.8 The Dongzhen Division 610 2.B.8.a Scriptures 610 2.B.8.b The Shangqing Registers 622 2.B.8.c Manuals, Anthologies, and Encyclopedias 633 2.B.8.c.1 Practices 633 2.B.8.c.2 Liturgy 646 2.B.8.c.3 Encyclopedias 651 Volume 2 655 Contents 657 List of Illustrations 659 Summary Contents of Volumes 1 and 3 663 List of Contributors 665 Part 3: The Song, Yuan, and Ming 667 Introduction: Taoism in the Early Modern Era 669 3.A Texts in General Circulation 676 3.A.1. Philosophy 676 3.A.1.a Commentaries on Ancient Philosophers 676 3.A.1.a.1 The Daode jing 676 3.A.1.a.2 The Zhuangzi 707 3.A.1.a.3 The Liezi 718 3.A.1.a.4 Others 721 3.A.1.b Commentaries on the Yinfu jing 727 3.A.1.c Commentaries on the Zhouyi cantong qi and Related Scriptures 737 3.A.1.d Commentaries on Zhengyi, Shangqing, and Lingbao Scriptures 742 3.A.1.e Treatises and Essays 771 3.A.2 Divination and Numerology 782 3.A.3 Medicine and Pharmacology 801 3.A.4 Neidan and Yangsheng 815 3.A.4.a General Works and Manuals 816 3.A.4.b The Zhong-Lü Tradition 837 3.A.4.c The Wuzhen pian and the Southern School (Nanzong) 848 3.A.4.d Other Neidan Traditions 876 3.A.5 Alchemy 886 3.A.6 Sacred History and Geography 906 3.A.6.a Sacred Histories and Records 906 3.A.6.b Hagiographies 920 3.A.6.c Mountain and Temple Monographs 945 3.A.7 Collectanea 960 3.A.7.a Logia (Yulu) 960 3.A.7.b Collected Works 967 3.A.8 Handbooks and Anthologies 978 3.B Texts in Internal Circulation 985 3.B.1 Zhengyi 985 3.B.1.a Scriptures 987 3.B.1.b Lamp Rituals 998 3.B.1.c Registers and Talismans 1007 3.B.1.d Miscellanea 1009 3.B.2 Sanhuang 1011 3.B.3 Lingbao 1017 3.B.3.a Scriptures 1018 3.B.3.b Litanies 1028 3.B.3.c Rituals 1031 3.B.3.d Manuals 1046 3.B.3.e Hymnology 1075 3.B.4 Shangqing 1078 3.B.4.a Scriptures 1079 3.B.4.b Registers 1089 3.B.4.c Rituals 1092 3.B.5 Tianxin Zhengfa and Related Rites 1092 3.B.6 Shenxiao Fa and Related Thunder Rites 1117 3.B.7 The Qingwei School 1131 3.B.8 The Jingming Zhongxiao School 1151 3.B.9 The Quanzhen Order 1163 3.B.9.a Hagiography and Biography 1170 3.B.9.b Logia and Collected Works 1178 3.B.9.c Rules and Organization 1203 3.B.9.d Individual Practice 1207 3.B.10 The Beidi and Xuantian Shangdi Cult 1224 3.B.11 The Wenchang Cult 1239 3.B.12 The Hongen Lingji Zhenjun Cult 1246 3.B.13 The Zhenyuan Scriptures 1252 3.B.14 Other Popular Cults 1259 3.B.14.a Scriptures of Popular Cults 1260 3.B.14.b The Cult of the Northern Dipper 1266 3.B.14.c Popular Rites 1271 3.B.14.d Divination Slips 1282 Tables of Contents 1285 Volume 3 1293 Contents 1295 Summary Contents of Volumes 1 and 2 1297 List of Contributors 1299 Biographical Notices: Frequently Mentioned Taoists 1301 Bibliography 1339 Abbreviations 1339 Primary Sources 1339 Secondary Sources 1350 About the Contributors 1381 Indexes 1393 Classified Title Index 1393 Work Number Index 1439 Pinyin Title Index 1487 Finding List for Other Daozang Editions 1531 General Index 1573

Taoism remains the only major religion whose canonical texts have not been systematically arranged and made available for study. This long-awaited work, a milestone in Chinese studies, catalogs and describes all existing texts within the Taoist canon. The result will not only make the entire range of existing Taoist texts accessible to scholars of religion, it will open up a crucial resource in the study of the history of China.

The vast literature of the Taoist canon, or Daozang, survives in a Ming Dynasty edition of some fifteen hundred different texts. Compiled under imperial auspices and completed in 1445—with a supplement added in 1607—many of the books in the Daozang concern the history, organization, and liturgy of China's indigenous religion. A large number of works deal with medicine, alchemy, and divination.

If scholars have long neglected this unique storehouse of China's religious traditions, it is largely because it was so difficult to find one's way within it. Not only was the rationale of its medieval classification system inoperable for the many new texts that later entered the Daozang, but the system itself was no longer understood by the Ming editors; hence the haphazard arrangement of the canon as it has come down to us.

This new work sets out the contents of the Daozang chronologically, allowing the reader to follow the long evolution of Taoist literature. Lavishly illustrated, the first volume ranges from antiquity through the Middle Ages, while the second spans the modern period. Within this frame, texts are grouped by theme and subject. Each one is the subject of a historical abstract that identifies the text's contents, date of origin, and author. Throughout the first two volumes, introductions outline the evolution of Taoism and its spiritual heritage. A third volume offering biographical sketches of frequently mentioned Taoists, multiple indexes, and an extensive bibliography provides critical tools for navigating this guide to one of the fundamental aspects of Chinese culture.

V. 1. Antiquity Through The Middle Ages / Edited By Kristofer Schipper And Franciscus Verellen -- V. 2. The Modern Period / Edited By Kristofer Schipper And Franciscus Verellen -- V. 3. Biographies, Bibliography, Indexes / Edited By Kristofer Schipper And Franciscus Verellen. Parallel Title In Chinese Characters. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [1293]-1333) And Indexes.