The Taoist Canon

The Taoist Canon A Historical Companion to the Daozang

edited by Kristofer Schipper and Franciscus Verellen

University of Chicago Press, 2005
Cloth: 978-0-226-73817-8 | Electronic: 978-0-226-72106-4
DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226721064.001.0001

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ABOUT THIS BOOKAUTHOR BIOGRAPHYREVIEWSTABLE OF CONTENTS

ABOUT THIS BOOK

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.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Kristofer Schipper was, until his retirement in 2003, professor of Chinese Religions at L'Ecole Pratique des Hautes Études; he currently is director of the Library of the Western Belvedere at the University of Fuzhou. Franciscus Verellen is director of L'Ecole Française d’Extrême-Orient, where he holds the chair in History of Taoism.

REVIEWS

"The most comprehensive and awe-inspiring of Taoist reference works available today. . . . Begun in the mid-1970s . . . this three-volume set is a truly magnificent achievement of scholarship, well worth the wait of several decades. . . . A model research tool that will further open the doors of traditional China and encourage more in-depth studies of the Taoist religion by providing systematic guidance to its key sources. . . . It provides a well-organized, systematic, and superbly executed collection of highly relevant and often overlooked materials, giving scholars access to an enormous trreasure trove of information and historical data."

— Livia Kohn, Asian Folklore Studies

"A work of great usefulness and importance, which should stimulate and facilitate the advancement of the field of Daoist Studies."

— Stephen Eskildsen, Journal of Chinese Religions

Volume 1

List of Illustrations

Summary Contents of Volumes 2 and 3

Preface

User’s Guide

List of Contributors

General Introduction

The History of the Taoist Canon before the Ming Dynasty

Wang Chong's Daozang

Ge Hong's Catalogue of Taoist Books

The Canon of the Early Taoist Ecclesia (Zhengyi fawen)

The Books of the Three Caverns (Sandong jing)

Lu Xiujing and the Canon of the Three Caverns

The Seven Parts

The Twelve Categories and the Thirty-Six Divisions

The Liturgical Organizations of the Tang

The Canon of the Kaiyuan Era

The Song and Yuan Canons

The Destruction of the Old Canon

The Compilation of the Zhengtong daozang

The Supplement of 1607

Destruction and Rebirth

Daozang Studies after 1926

The Beginning of the Tao-tsang Project

The Final Stage

New Perspectives

Part 1: Eastern Zhou to Six Dynastie

1. A Texts in General Circulation

1.A.1.a Texts

1.A.1.b Commentaries

1.A.2 Divination

1.A.3 Medicine and Pharmacology

1.A.4 Yangsheng

1.A.5 Alchemy

1.A.6.a Cosmogony and the Pantheon

1.A.6.b Mythology and Hagiography

1.A.7 Collected Works

1.A.8 Compendiums and Encyclopedias

1.B.1.a Didactic and Doctrinal Treatises

1.B.1.b Rituals and Rules

1.B.2 Shangqing

1.B.2.a The Canonical Shangqing Scriptures

1.B.2.b Other Early Shangqing Scriptures

1.B.2.c Early Shangqing Hagiographies

1.B.2.d Anthologies

1.B.2.e Rituals and Rules

1.B.3 Lingbao

1.B.3.a The Canonical Lingbao Scriptures

1.B.3.b Other Early Lingbao Scriptures

1.B.3.c Doctrinal and Liturgical Works

1.B.4 Texts of the Dongshen Division

1.B.5 Other Revealed Scriptures

1.B.6 The Taiping jing

Part 2: Sui, Tang, and Five Dynasties

2.A.1.a Commentaries on Ancient Philosophers

2.A.1.b Tang Philosophical Texts (General)

2.A.1.c The Yinfu jing and Its Commentaries

2.A.1.d Commentaries on the Zhouyi cantong qi and Related Scriptures

2.A.1.e Commentaries on Lingbao Scriptur

2.A.2 Divination and Numerology

2.A.3 Medicine and Pharmacology

2.A.4 Yangsheng

2.A.4.a Miscellaneous Practices

2.A.4.b Respiratory Techniques

2.A.5 Alchemy

2.A.5.a Laboratory Alchemy

2.A.5.b Inner Alchemy

2.A.6.a Sacred Annals and Records

2.A.6.b Hagiographies

2.A.6.c Mountain and Temple Monographs; Epigraphy

2.A.7 Collected Works

2.A.8 Handbooks and Encyclopedias

2.B.1 The General Liturgical Organization of the Tang

2.B.2 The Orthodox One Way of the Heavenly Master

2.B.2.a Liturgical Organization

2.B.2.b Rituals

2.B.2.c Miscellaneous

2.B.3 The Taiping Division

2.B.4 The Taixuan Division

2.B.5 Sanhuang Scriptures and Rituals

2.B.6.a The Dongyuan shenzhou jing

2.B.6.b The Shengxuan neijiao jing

2.B.7.a Scriptures

2.B.7.a.1 The Long Treatises

2.B.7.a.2 Medium-Length Scriptures

2.B.7.a.3 Short Doctrinal and Prophylactic Texts

2.B.7.b Litanies

2.B.7.c Rituals and Rules

2.B.8.a Scriptures

2.B.8.b The Shangqing Registers

2.B.8.c.1 Practices

2.B.8.c.2 Liturgy

2.B.8.c.3 Encyclopedias

Volume 2

List of Illustrations

Summary Contents of Volumes 1 and 3

List of Contributors

Part 3: The Song, Yuan, and Ming

Introduction: Taoism in the Early Modern Era

3.A.1.a.1 The Daode jing

3.A.1.a.2 The Zhuangzi

3.A.1.a.3 The Liezi

3.A.1.a.4 Others

3.A.1.b Commentaries on the Yinfu jing

3.A.1.c Commentaries on the Zhouyi cantong qi and Related Scriptures

3.A.1.d Commentaries on Zhengyi, Shangqing, and Lingbao Scriptures

3.A.1.e Treatises and Essays

3.A.2 Divination and Numerology

3.A.3 Medicine and Pharmacology

3.A.4 Neidan and Yangsheng

3.A.4.a General Works and Manuals

3.A.4.b The Zhong-Lü Tradition

3.A.4.c The Wuzhen pian and the Southern School (Nanzong)

3.A.4.d Other Neidan Traditions

3.A.5 Alchemy

3.A.6.a Sacred Histories and Records

3.A.6.b Hagiographies

3.A.6.c Mountain and Temple Monographs

3.A.7.a Logia (Yulu)

3.A.7.b Collected Works

3.A.8 Handbooks and Anthologies

3.B.1 Zhengyi

3.B.1.a Scriptures

3.B.1.b Lamp Rituals

3.B.1.c Registers and Talismans

3.B.1.d Miscellanea

3.B.2 Sanhuang

3.B.3 Lingbao

3.B.3.a Scriptures

3.B.3.b Litanies

3.B.3.c Rituals

3.B.3.d Manuals

3.B.3.e Hymnology

3.B.4 Shangqing

3.B.4.a Scriptures

3.B.4.b Registers

3.B.5 Tianxin Zhengfa and Related Rites

3.B.6 Shenxiao Fa and Related Thunder Rites

3.B.7 The Qingwei School

3.B.8 The Jingming Zhongxiao School

3.B.9 The Quanzhen Order

3.B.9.a Hagiography and Biography

3.B.9.b Logia and Collected Works

3.B.9.c Rules and Organization

3.B.9.d Individual Practice

3.B.10 The Beidi and Xuantian Shangdi Cult

3.B.11 The Wenchang Cult

3.B.12 The Hongen Lingji Zhenjun Cult

3.B.13 The Zhenyuan Scriptures

3.B.14 Other Popular Cults

3.B.14.a Scriptures of Popular Cults

3.B.14.b The Cult of the Northern Dipper

3.B.14.c Popular Rites

3.B.14.d Divination Slips

Tables of Contents

Volume 3

Summary Contents of Volumes 1 and 2

List of Contributors

Biographical Notices: Frequently Mentioned Taoists

Primary Sources

Secondary Sources

About the Contributors

Classified Title Index

Work Number Index

Pinyin Title Index

Finding List for Other Daozang Editions

General Index