Daoist Canon PDF
Daoist Canon PDF
Daoist Canon PDF
Fabrizio Pregadio
DAOIST CANON
www.oxfordbibliographies.com/obo/page/chinese-studies
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
GENERAL OVERVIEWS
REFERENCE WORKS
Indexes of Titles
Annotated Catalogues
Historical Studies
Earlier Canons
Early Reprints
Modern Reprints
Early Manuscripts
Contemporary Manuscripts
DIGITAL TRANSCRIPTIONS
F. Pregadio, “Daoist Canon”
INTRODUCTION
The Daoist Canon of the Ming dynasty—published in 1445 and known as the Zhengtong
Daozang , or Daoist Canon of the Zhengtong Reign Period—is the last of these
collections and the only one to be extant today. A supplement entitled Xu Daozang jing
, or Sequel to the Scriptures of the Daoist Canon, was added in 1607, and since then has
been an integral part of the collection. Together, the two parts of the Canon contain almost
1,500 works.
As described in more detail in different sections of this bibliography, the roots of the Daoist
Canon lie in a now-lost catalogue compiled in the late 5th century, which classified scriptures
into three broad categories corresponding to the main Daoist traditions of that time.
Additional categories were added about one and a half centuries later, to take account of
textual corpora that had been disregarded in the former classification. After the first Canon
was compiled in the mid-8th century, works related to newly-created schools and lineages
were progressively added to the earlier collections, while older works were omitted owing to
loss or to editorial decisions. The result of this evolution is the present-day Daozang, which
contains sources related to all major Daoist branches and lineages until the mid-15th century.
While the Daozang as we know it today is still formally organized according to the
classification of scriptures devised one millennium before its publication, it does not use
distinctions that originate outside of Daoism, such as those between “philosophical” and
“religious” texts, or between daojia (a term often understood as “philosophical
Daoism”) and daojiao (so-called “religious Daoism”).
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F. Pregadio, “Daoist Canon”
As many other Daoist texts are not found in the Daozang, the final sections this bibliography
are concerned with the main subsidiary collections and compilations.
GENERAL OVERVIEWS
In English, the main overviews of the Daozang—discussing its origins, evolution, and
contents—are found in the two-part survey in Bokenkamp and Boltz 1986, in Boltz 1987, and
in Boltz 2008. The remarkable book by Zhu Yueli, published in 1992, is the main publication
of its kind in Chinese. A shorter but equally valuable survey in Japanese was published by
Ozaki Masaharu in 1983.
Bokenkamp, Stephen R., and Judith M. Boltz. “Taoist Literature.” Part 1: “Through the T’ang
Dynasty.” Part 2: “Five Dynasties to the Ming.” In William H. Nienhauser, Jr., ed., The
Indiana Companion to Traditional Chinese Literature, 138-52 and 152-74. Second revised
edition. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1986.
An excellent overview of the Daoist Canon and its texts. Part 1 is authored by
Bokenkamp, and Part 2 by Boltz. Each part is subdivided into sections that mirror
those in Boltz 1987 (cited under “Main Textual Corpora”).
Boltz, Judith M. “Daozang and Subsidiary Compilations.” In Fabrizio Pregadio, ed. The
Encyclopedia of Taoism, 1: 28-33. London: Routledge, 2008.
Presents the main data on the Daozang and other major collections of Daoist texts.
Boltz, Judith M. “Taoism: Taoist Literature.” In Mircea Eliade, ed., The Encyclopedia of
Religion, first edition, 14: 317-29; Lindsay Jones, ed., second edition, 4: 2202-12. New York
and London: Macmillan, 1987 and 2005.
Probably the best summary of the history and contents of the Daoist Canon in a
Western language.
A remarkably clear and useful survey of the history and contents of the Daoist Canon.
Describes the formation of the Canon; the different compilations of Daoist texts
through the Ming dynasty; and the main textual corpora found in the Zhengtong
Daozang.
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F. Pregadio, “Daoist Canon”
An extensive overview of Daoist literature. Part 3 (pp. 123-71) is concerned with the
Daoist Canon. The book also includes sections on catalogues, textual corpora, and
Daoist sources outside the Canon.
REFERENCE WORKS
The earliest reference work on the Daoist Canon is its own index, entitled Da Ming Daozang
jing mulu (Index of Texts in the Daoist Canon of the Great Ming Dynasty).
The index is introduced by an essay entitled “Daojiao zongyuan” (Origins of the
Daoist Teaching), which in characteristic Daoist perspective establishes a parallel between
the origins of the cosmos and of Daoist scriptures. It is followed by another index containing
the titles found in the 1607 supplement.
Complete annotated catalogues, or descriptive notes on selected texts (in traditional tiyao
style), were compiled by several authors from the late Ming dynasty onwards. Complete
annotated catalogues include those by Bai Yunji (fl. 1626) and Li Jie (dates
unknown). Selected descriptive notes were published by Shen Zengzhi (1851-1922),
Liu Shipei (1884-1919), and Tang Yongtong (1893-1964). While all of these
works preserve their historical value, they can hardly be used as reliable guides to the Canon
or its texts in the framework of present-day Daoist studies.
The early Chinese bibliography on the Canon found an epigone in Leon Wieger. His
Taoïsme: Bibliographie générale, published in 1911, was the first reference work produced
by a Western scholar on Daoism, but also one of the last premodern catalogues of the
Daozang. Wieger states that he compiled his work on the basis of two sets of the Canon that
he examined in Beijing and Tokyo, and with the help of five Chinese catalogues. His notes on
each entry are usually very short and often generic. On certain occasions, moreover, Wieger
does not hesitate to evaluate a text as “insignifiant” or even as a “traité inepte.”
Indexes of Titles
The development of Daoist studies from the mid-1960s onwards (initiated in China, Japan,
and France) has produced—and has also been favored by—a series of reference works that
are more reliable compared to those cited above. Their precursor is the index published in
1935 by Weng Dujian in the Harvard-Yenching Index Series. The index itself
contains 1476 titles. The introductory section includes transcriptions of the above-mentioned
“Daojiao zongyuan” (Origins of the Daoist Teaching) and of another section of the Daozang
jing mulu, entitled “Daozang mulu fanli” (Index of Texts in the Daoist Canon: General
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F. Pregadio, “Daoist Canon”
For about four decades after its publication, Weng’s index was virtually the only functional
reference work for Daoist studies. Although it remains a key tool to the present day, its
numbering system has gradually been replaced in Western scholarship by the one found in
Schipper 1975, which lists 1487 titles. (More precisely, Schipper lists as independent works
14 texts that Weng takes as part of other works, and vice versa takes as part of other works 3
texts that Weng lists as independent works.) A comparison of the two numbering systems,
with details on titles added or omitted in each of them, is found in Boltz 1987, 247-50 (cited
under “Main Textual Corpora”). Issues found in both indexes, or resulting from their different
numbering systems, have been discussed by several scholars; see in particular Fukui 1988.
Other indexes of the Zhengtong Daozang are found in Chen 1989, Komjathy 2002, and
Pregadio 2009. Another useful resource is Ding 2008, which also includes many works not
found in the Canon. The Zhonghua Daozang is indexed in Pregadio 2009.
Chen, William Y. A Guide to Cheng-t’ung Tao-tsang. Taipei: Chinese Materials Center, 1989.
Lists 1477 titles. In addition to an index to the whole collection, contains separate
indexes to names of authors, titles, and subjects. Several controversial points found in
this index are discussed by Judith M. Boltz in Journal of Chinese Religions 18 (1990):
195-97.
Rather than an index of the Daozang, this work might better be defined as a general
bibliography of Daoist texts, as it also includes works outside the Canon. Entries are
divided under 11 main headings and about 70 subheadings. Although the catalogue is
quite unsystematic, many entries contain useful bibliographic notes by the author.
Discusses issues found in Weng Dujian’s and Kristofer Schipper’s indexes, with
particular regard to their different numbering systems.
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F. Pregadio, “Daoist Canon”
Komjathy, Louis. Title Index to Daoist Collections. Cambridge, MA: Three Pines Press,
2002.
Contains an index of Daozang texts based on Schipper 1975, with references to the
numbering systems in Weng 1935 and in Ren and Zhong 1991 (for the latter see under
“Annotated Catalogues”). An appendix lists variant titles compared to Schipper’s
index.
The index of this new version of the Canon is followed by lists of texts used as “base
editions”, including all works in the Zhengtong Daozang. This provides a way to
locate Zhengtong Daozang texts in the Zhonghua Daozang, and vice versa.
Lists 1487 titles. The first of the two main indexes of the Canon. The index is
followed by a concordance to all characters that form the titles. A new edition of this
work was published as Shi Zhouren [Kristofer Schipper] and Chen Yaoting
, Daozang suoyin ( ) (Shanghai: Shanghai Shudian Chubanshe, 1996).
Lists 1476 titles. The second main index of the Canon. Divided into four parts: (1) An
analytic index based on the Daozang jing mulu; (2) A title index; (3) An author index;
(4) An index to biographies found in 77 Daozang sources. The title index also
includes the works—almost all of which are now lost—cited in the Daozang quejing
mulu (Index of Texts Missing from the Daoist Canon).
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F. Pregadio, “Daoist Canon”
Annotated Catalogues
Unlike the indexes listed above, the annotated catalogues of the Canon contain usually
short—but sometimes more detailed—entries on each text, and are often the first resource to
turn to in order to find basic information on Daozang works. In Chinese, the main annotated
catalogue is Ren and Zhong 2005 (first edition published in 1991), which lists and describes
1473 texts. Several entries preliminarily published by the Shijie Zongjiao Yanjiusuo Daojiao
Yanjiushi (Research Group on Daoism of the Research Institute on World Religions) in 1984
are more detailed compared to the corresponding entries in the final publication, and still
deserve to be consulted.
In English, the primary reference work on the Daozang is Schipper and Verellen 2004, which
also contains the most comprehensive and reliable introduction to the history and the contents
of the Canon. The fruit of a project directed by Kristofer Schipper at the École Pratique des
Hautes Études in Paris from 1979 to 1984, and initially promoted by the European Science
Foundation, this 3-volume work contains contributions by 29 scholars, several of whom
inaugurated their careers in Daoist scholarship by participating in the project. The numbering
of texts corresponds to the one found in Schipper 1975 (cited under “Indexes of Titles”).
The partial catalogue published by Pan Yuting in 2003 is remarkable for the quality and the
detail of its annotations. Two other Chinese annotated catalogues—Zhu 1996 and Zhong
1999—list the Daozang texts according to alternative classification systems. Although these
revised arrangements offer valuable alternatives to the traditional classification system, they
sometimes produce questionable results, such as the listing of ritual texts under
“Literature” (“Wenxue” ) and of texts on meditation under “Other Healing
Methods” (“Qita liaofa” ).
Balazs, Etienne, and Yves Hervouet, eds. A Sung Bibliography (Bibliographie des Sung).
Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press, 1978.
The section entitled “Taoists” contains detailed entries on 14 Daozang texts, most of
which are commentaries to the Laozi and the Zhuangzi . With one
exception, these entries are attributed to Liu Ts’un-yan , but some of them
were contributed by Wong Shiu Hon .
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F. Pregadio, “Daoist Canon”
Lists 1473 titles. In addition to descriptive notes on each text, this major work
contains several appendixes, including one with short biographical notes on about 500
authors. (An appendix containing a classification of the texts into nine main headings
and several subheadings was found in the 1991 first edition, but is omitted in the third
edition). The first edition was thoroughly reviewed by Judith M. Boltz in China
Review International 1.2 (1994): 1-33.
Schipper, Kristofer, and Franciscus Verellen, eds. The Taoist Canon: A Historical Companion
to the Daozang. 3 vols. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2004.
An indispensable reference work for Daoist studies. Contains entries for each text of
the Canon, arranged first chronologically and then by traditions, with details on date,
authorship, transmission, relation to other sources, and contents. Vol. 3 contains
several indexes and appendixes, including one with brief biographies of authors.
Reviewed by T.H. Barrett in Zhongguo Wenhua Yanjiusuo xuebao
(Journal of Chinese Studies) 47 (2007): 481-94.
Vol. 1 lists 1527 titles, subdivided into 6 main headings and 22 subheadings. Volume
2 contains indexes to authors and titles.
Lists 1473 titles, arranged into 15 headings and 33 subheadings. The entries contain
annotations by the author.
As was mentioned above, the Zhengtong Daozang is the last in a series of major collections
of Daoist texts. In chronological order, the five earlier compilations are:
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F. Pregadio, “Daoist Canon”
(2) Da Song Tiangong baozang (Precious Canon of the Celestial Palace of the
Great Song Dynasty; 1019)
With the exception of two fragments of the Xuandu baozang, none of these earlier
compilations has survived. (One of the two fragments is reproduced in Zangwai daoshu
, Chengdu: Ba-Shu Shushe, 1992, vol. 1.)
Historical Studies
The classical study on the history of the Daoist Canon was published by Chen Guofu in 1949,
and reprinted in 1963 with the addition of a second volume. A few years later, Yoshioka 1955
offered another broad survey that supplements the one provided by Chen Guofu, in particular
by taking account of Daoist Dunhuang manuscripts. With two works published by Fukui
Kōjun in 1958 and by Ōfuchi Ninji in 1964 (both cited in the next subsection of this
bibliography), these four books have laid the foundations of modern Daoist studies.
There is not yet a comparable book-length study in a Western language that examines the
entire history of the Daozang. The main work on this subject is Schipper 2004, which
provides a thorough, authoritative account of its origins and development. Shorter accounts
are found in Liu Ts’un-yen 1973 and 1982; Needham 1976; Boltz 1986; and Wang Ka 2012.
Works concerned with particular periods in the history of the Daozang will be cited in the
next two subsections of this bibliography.
Boltz, Judith M. “Tao-tsang.” In William H. Nienhauser, Jr., ed., The Indiana Companion to
Traditional Chinese Literature, 763-66. Second revised edition. Bloomington: Indiana
University Press, 1986.
Probably the work to which the whole field of modern Daoist Studies is most
indebted. The first part of vol. 1 (pp. 1-104) traces the formation of the various
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F. Pregadio, “Daoist Canon”
sections of the Canon through the Tang period. The second part (pp. 105-231)
examines early catalogues of Daoist texts and the history of the six collections until
the Zhengtong Daozang.
A relatively early, but still valuable historical overview of the Daozang and its history,
by a scholar who published extensively on different aspects of Daoism.
Needham, Joseph. Science and Civilisation in China. Vol. 5: Chemistry and Chemical
Technology. Part III: Spagyrical Discovery and Invention: Historical Survey, from Cinnabar
Elixirs to Synthetic Insulin. With the collaboration of Ho Ping-Yü and Lu Gwei-Djen.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1976.
Several sections in vol. V (mainly concerned with the Chinese alchemical traditions)
of Needham’s work draw almost entirely on Daoist sources. A brief but accurate
survey of the history of the Canon, first drafted by Ho Peng Yoke, is found on pp.
113-17 of vol. V, part 3.
The most comprehensive and important study the Daoist Canon in a Western
language. It summarizes not only the history of the Daozang, but also a lifetime’s
work on the scriptural and the living traditions of Daoism.
Wang, Ka. “From Yiqie daojing to Zhonghua Daozang: A Retrospective of the Study of the
Taoist Textual Heritage.” In Mou Zhongjian, ed., Taoism, 45-64. Leiden and Boston: E.J.
Brill, 2012.
The first part of this fundamental work on the history of Daoism contains a survey of
Daoist collections—both “canonical” and private—from the origins until the Ming
dynasty. The second part is concerned with Six Dynasties sources. The third part
consists of an index of Daoist texts cited in 15 works dating from the 4th to the 11th
centuries.
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F. Pregadio, “Daoist Canon”
The origins of the present-day Daozang lie in the now-lost catalogue compiled in 471 by Lu
Xiujing (406-77), entitled Sandong jingshu mulu or Index of Texts of
the Three Caverns. The Three Caverns (sandong ) mentioned in the title refer to the
textual corpora associated with the major Daoist traditions of south-eastern China in
medieval times: Dongzhen (Cavern of Reality, or Cavern of Perfection), containing the
Shangqing (Highest Clarity) corpus; Dongxuan (Cavern of Mystery), containing
the Lingbao (Numinous Treasure) corpus; and Dongshen (Cavern of Spirit),
containing the Sanhuang (Three Sovereigns) corpus.
After one century or slightly later (the precise date is still debated by scholars), the Four
Supplements (sifu ) were added to the main subdivisions: Taixuan (Great Mystery),
based on the Laozi ; Taiping (Great Peace), based on the Taiping jing
(Scripture of Great Peace); Taiqing (Great Clarity), based on the homonymous
alchemical corpus but probably also including works on “nourishing life” (yangsheng )
practices; and Zhengyi (Correct Unity), containing scriptures of the Way of the Celestial
Masters (Tianshi dao ).
The successive Canons — with the exception of the Zhonghua Daozang — retained with no
changes the basic organization into Caverns and Supplements. Texts belonging to later
traditions were forcibly assigned to one of the existing sections, sometimes in a coherent way
but often with no clear rationale. The present-day Zhengtong Daozang is still built on that
model, with the result that many works are placed where they hardly should belong.
Most of the studies cited below examine in detail the formation of the Caverns and the
Supplements (Chen 1963 and Yoshioka 1955, cited in the previous subsection, should also be
included in this list). As shown in particular in Schipper 1985, not only did the original seven
sections of the Canon reflect the arrangement of the Daoist scriptural collections; they also
served to define other aspects of medieval Daoist doctrine and practice, such as the ordination
process of Daoist priests who, at each stage of their career, received the transmission of one
corpus, starting from the lower ones and proceeding to the higher ones.
Bokenkamp, Stephen R. “Lu Xiujing, Buddhism, and the First Daoist Canon”. In Scott
Pearce, Audrey Spiro, and Patricia Ebrey, eds., Culture and Power in the Reconstitution of
the Chinese Realm, 200-600, 181-99. Cambridge, MA: Center for the Study of World
Religions, Harvard University Press, 2001.
An important study that examines the formation of the Three Caverns in the context
of the history and doctrines of 5th-century Daoism.
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F. Pregadio, “Daoist Canon”
One of the main early Japanese studies on Daoism. In addition to chapters devoted to
other texts or subjects, pp. 133-213 are concerned with on the formation of the Canon
and the system of the Three Caverns.
Lagerwey, John. “Littérature taoïste et formation du Canon.” In John Lagerwey, ed., Religion
et société en Chine ancienne et médiévale, 459-92. Paris: Les Éditions du Cerf and Institut
Ricci, 2009.
An authoritative study of the early history and development of Daoist literature, from
the Laozi to the catalogue compiled by Lu Xiujing in the 5th century.
Part 3, entitled “A Study of the History of Daoist Texts” (pp. 215-547) contains
several chapters that examine the formation of the Canon and its earliest texts and
corpora.
Ōfuchi Ninji. “The Formation of the Taoist Canon.” In Holmes Welch and Anna K. Seidel,
eds., Facets of Taoism: Essays in Chinese Religion, 253-67. New Haven and London: Yale
University Press, 1979.
One of the main studies in a Western language on the early history of the Canon, with
focus on the creation of the Three Caverns and the Four Supplements. The article is
published in one of the books that have marked the history of Daoist studies in the
West.
Ozaki, Masaharu. “The History of the Evolution of Taoist Scriptures.” Acta Asiatica 68
(1995): 37-53.
An overview of the development of Daoist literature during the Six Dynasties, with
emphasis on the formation of the Three Caverns.
On the basis of several Dunhuang manuscripts and Daozang texts, shows that the
ordination ranks of Daoist priesthood in the Tang period corresponded to the
subdivisions of the Canon.
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F. Pregadio, “Daoist Canon”
A very detailed analysis of the formation of the Daoist Canon. Suggests that the
Canon was formed on the basis of the revealed scriptures of the Lingbao (Numinous
Treasure) tradition. See also the author’s Dunhuang gu Lingbao jing yu Jin Tang
Daojiao ( ) (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2002).
Earlier Canons
In addition to those cited above, other studies are especially concerned with individual
periods or with the single compilations prior to the Ming-dynasty Daozang. The contents and
scope of Six Dynasties Daoist literature (when no “official” Canon yet existed) are reflected
in the Wushang biyao (The Ultimate Secret Essentials), a 6th-century encyclopedia
superbly summarized and analyzed in Lagerwey 1981. On the Tang-dynasty Canon see Liu
Yi 2005. For the history of the Canon from the Song period onwards, the most detailed study
is another outstanding work, published by Piet van der Loon in 1984. His book is also helpful
for tracing the history of individual Daoist texts cited in catalogues of imperial and private
libraries and in other Daoist sources. On the Yunji qiqian (Seven Lots from the
Bookbag of the Clouds; CT 1032), an encyclopedia compiled in ca. 1028 for inclusion in the
Da Song Tiangong baozang, see Schipper 1981 and Lagerwey 1981. On the Yuan-dynasty
Xuandu baozang see Wang Jinping 2014. An imperial edict mentioning the publication of this
Canon was studied in Cleaves 1960.
Lagerwey, John. “Le Yun-ji qi-qian: structure et sources”. In Kristofer Schipper, Projet Tao-
tsang: Index du Yunji qiqian, 1: xix-lxxi. Paris: École Française d’Extrême-Orient, 1981.
A detailed analysis of the contents of the Yunji qiqian. The author systematically
traces parallel texts (or portions of texts) in the Daozang, and provides a list of works
that are only preserved, either entirely or in part, in this 11th-century encyclopedia.
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F. Pregadio, “Daoist Canon”
Lagerwey, John. Wu-shang pi-yao: Somme taoïste du VIe siècle. Paris: École Française
d’Extrême-Orient, 1981.
One of the main contributions to the study of the formation of the Daoist Canon. In
addition to an exhaustive introduction to the composition and contents of the
Wushang biyao, and to a 150-page summary of its contents, the last part of this book
identifies the sources of this encyclopedia in about one hundred extant or lost works,
belonging to all three main textual corpora of medieval Daoism.
Liu Yi. “Tang qianqi Daozang jingmu yanjiu: Yi Nanzhu guan ji he Dunhuang daojing wei
zhongxin” ( ). (English title
“Research into the Catalogue of the Daozang of the Early Tang Dynasty: Based on Nanzhu
guan ji and the Daoist Scriptures of Dunhuang.”) In Poul Andersen and Florian C. Reiter,
eds., Scriptures, Schools and Forms of Practice in Daoism: A Berlin Symposium, 185-215.
Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2005.
A study of a stone inscription dated 749, which contains a brief description of the
Tang-dynasty Canon. The author shows how the respective Dunhuang manuscripts of
the works mentioned in the inscription help to clarify its description.
Schipper, Kristofer. Projet Tao-tsang: Index du Yunji qiqian. 2 vols. Paris: École Française
d’Extrême-Orient, 1981.
The introduction to this imposing index (one of the books graced by Kwong Hing
Foon’s calligraphy) is concerned with the composition of the Yunji qiqian,
showing in particular that, although this encyclopedia purports to represent all major
aspects of Daoist doctrine and practice, it neglects to document communal ritual.
Van der Loon, Piet. Taoist Books in the Libraries of the Sung Period: A Critical Study and
Index. London: Ithaca Press, 1984.
Wang, Jinping. “A Social History of the Treasured Canon of the Mysterious Capital in North
China under Mongol-Yuan Rule.” East Asian Publishing and Society 4 (2014): 1-35.
A study of the compilation of the Xuandu baozang, published in 1244, and of the
circumstances surrounding the imperial edict for its destruction in 1281, which, as the
author suggests, “might not have been thoroughly implemented”.
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F. Pregadio, “Daoist Canon”
The history of the present-day Daoist Canon, the Zhengtong Daozang, begins in 1406, when
the Yongle Emperor (r. 1403-24) entrusted the 43th Celestial Master, Zhang Yuchu
(1361-1410), with the task of editing a new general collection of Daoist texts. After
Zhang’s death, the project was suspended, and it resumed only under the Zhengtong
Emperor (r. 1436-49), who asked Shao Yizheng (?-1462) to bring it to completion.
The Canon was printed in 1445, using a format similar to that of the Ming Buddhist Canon,
which had been printed only five years earlier: in “concertina” format (jingzhe zhuang
), but with each sheet containing 25 lines (instead of 30), folded every five columns
(instead of six). A supplement entitled Xu Daozang jing (Sequel to the Scriptures
of the Daoist Canon), containing only 56 texts, was added in 1607.
Early Reprints
Within one and a half centuries from its first printing, two reprints of the Zhengtong Daozang
were made, respectively in 1524 and 1598. New woodblocks were used when necessary, but
it it unknown whether the reprints were complete or partial. Barrett 1994 shows that at least a
few fascicles contain variants compared to the 1445 first edition.
Incomplete sets of both reprints are held in Japanese libraries; see Kubo 1955. Kubo also
published the results of a comparison of several fascicles preserved both at the Baiyun guan
(Abbey of the White Clouds) in Beijing and at the Kunaichō Shoryōbu
(Archives and Mausolea Department of the Imperial Household Agency) in Tokyo,
pointing out their textual differences; see Kubo 1956. Two other incomplete sets, at least one
of which includes fascicles dating from 1598, are kept at the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris.
They were respectively acquired by two early masters of Western sinology, namely Édouard
Chavannes and Paul Pelliot.
Barrett, T.H. “The Taoist Canon in Japan: Some Implications of the Research of Ho Peng
Yoke.” Taoist Resources (1994) 5.2: 71-77.
Based on work done on a Daoist alchemical text by the late Ho Peng Yoke, who used
a Japanese manuscript copy dated 1804. Concludes that the Japanese manuscript
derives from the 1598 reprint of the Daozang, and does contain variants compared to
the original 1445 edition.
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F. Pregadio, “Daoist Canon”
On the copy of the Daozang kept at the Archives and Mausolea Department of the
Imperial Household Agency in Tokyo.
Kubo Noritada . 1956. “Kanfun-rō ei’in-hon Dōzō kōkanki: Zenshinkyō kankei shiryō
ni tsuite” ( ). Tōhō shūkyō
10: 69-81.
On the basis of internal evidence found in some of its texts, discusses four key dates
in the history of the Zhengtong Daozang, namely 1444 (beginning of the printing
process), 1524 (first reprint), 1598 (second reprint), and 1607 (printing of the Xu
Daozang jing).
Modern Reprints
An exemplar of the Zhangtong Daozang kept at the Baiyun guan (Abbey of the
White Clouds) in Beijing was restored to a form close to its original state in 1845, after the
recovery of fascicles that in the meantime had been lost. (A “memory” on this restoration is
included in the Xinwenfeng reprint of the Canon, vol 60.) This exemplar is at the basis of all
the six modern reprints of the Zhangtong Daozang (not including the above-mentioned
Zhonghua Daozang, which is not a reprint but a new edition of the Canon).
The earliest one (often called the “Hanfenlou reprint” from the name of the library of
rare editions of the Shangwu publishing house) was published in traditional thread-bound
fascicles in 1923-26. It was promoted by Xu Shichang , president of the Republic of
China between 1918 and 1922, with the support of important intellectuals and politicians of
that time, including Kang Youwei (1858-1927), Fu Zengxiang (1872-1950),
and Liang Qichao (1873-1929). The reprint was published in 500 copies and was
distributed to several libraries also outside China. Scholars are unanymous in saying that this
reprint made possible the birth of modern Daoist Studies.
The publication data of this and the other five reprints are found below with short notes on
the respective main features. For a list of missing and misplaced folios in the Taipei reprints,
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F. Pregadio, “Daoist Canon”
and of corrected or newly introduced defects in the final, 1988 reprint, see Judith M. Boltz,
“Notes on Modern Editions of the Taoist Canon”, Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies
56 (1993): 87-93.
Instead of the 25 columns of the original edition, each folio in this reprint contains 20
columns of text, so that four folios of the original edition are reproduced in five folios.
This rearrangement has resulted in many illustrations being cut between two folios (a
flaw that in turn has been transmitted to all later reprints). Each folio bears a header
with the title of the text and the chapter and page numbers.
This and the three reprints cited immediately below are bound in Western-style hard-
cover volumes. Each page of the present reprint reproduces, on two horizontal
registers, recto and verso of two folios of the 1923-26 reprint. Title and chapter and
page numbers are retained. Owing to the relatively large size of the reproduction, this
is the most convenient reprint of the Canon among those bound in Western-style
volumes.
Reprint in volumes smaller than those of the Xinwenfeng chubanshe, with a different
pagination but an identical page layout.
Each page reproduces, on three horizontal registers, recto and verso of three folios of
the 1923-26 reprint. Titles, chapter numbers, and page numbers in the headers are
omitted and are replaced with a continuous Western-style pagination for the entire
collection. Vol. 1 contains a concordance to the titles of texts, with references to
volume and page numbers in this reprint. Except for these references, the concordance
is the same as the one found in Schipper 1975 (cited under “Indexes of Titles”).
Often referred to as the “Sanjia edition” , with reference to its three publishers.
Here again, each page reproduces, on three horizontal registers, recto and verso of
three folios of the 1923-26 reprint. The Chinese-style pagination of individual texts is
17
F. Pregadio, “Daoist Canon”
omitted and the reprint contains only a progressive pagination for the entire
collection.
In addition to those cited in the subsection “Historical Studies”, Japanese scholars have
produced other major studies of the early textual corpora found in the Daozang, dating from
the Han to the Six Dynasties. To give a few examples, these studies include Ōfuchi 1997
(incorporating earlier publications by the same author) on various Six Dynasties corpora;
Kobayashi 1990, especially on Tianshi dao (Way of the Celestial Masters) and
Lingbao (Numinous Treasure) texts; and Kamitsuka 1999, mainly focused on
Shangqing (Highest Clarity) and Lingbao texts. In Western languages, systematic
descriptions of eaarly textual corpora are found in Strickmann 1981 and Robinet 1984 for
Shangqing, and in Ōfuchi 1974 and Bokenkamp 1983 for Lingbao. Later texts, dating from
the Song, Yuan and Ming periods, are closely examined in Boltz 1995. Although it does not
constitute a “textual corpus” in the literal sense, mention should also be made here of the
remarkable collection of materials on Buddhism in the Daoist Canon published by Kamata
Shigeo under the title Dōzō nai Bukkyō shisō shiryō shōsei
(Tokyo: Taishō Shuppan, 1986).
In addition to the works cited below, concise descriptions in English of Daoist textual corpora
and of individual works of different periods may be found in the following works:
(1) Most of the articles in Livia Kohn, ed., Daoism Handbook (Leiden: E.J., 2000)
(2) The relevant entries in Fabrizio Pregadio, ed., The Encyclopedia of Taoism (London:
Routledge, 2008), which can be identified by consulting the “Synoptical Table of Contents”
in vol. 1
(3) The introductions to the different sections in Kristofer Schipper and Franciscus Verellen,
eds., The Taoist Canon: A Historical Companion to the Daozang (Chicago: The University of
Chicago Press, 2004)
This was the first study by a Western scholar to examine the early history and the
contents of the Lingbao corpus. The study is concluded by an appendix containing an
annotated catalogue of the originals scriptures, with references to their existing
versions in the present-day Daozang.
18
F. Pregadio, “Daoist Canon”
A masterful bibliographic work, and one of the main studies on Daoism. It contains
systematic introductions to more than 200 texts of the Song, Yuan and Ming periods,
arranged by literary genres: revelation; ritual; hagiography; topography; epigraphy;
historiography; literary anthologies; dialogic treatises; exegesis; and encyclopedic
compilations. Reviewed by John Lagerwey and Isabelle Robinet in *Cahiers
d’Extrême-Asie 4 (1988): 227-30 [http://www.persee.fr/doc/
asie_0766-1177_1988_num_4_1_930]*
Detailed studies of the Tianshi dao and Lingbao corpora, with several chapters
devoted to the respective sources and to other early Daoist texts.
A synthesis of research done through several decades by one of the main Japanese
scholars of Daoism. Examines the main Han and Six Dynasties Daoist works and
their integration into the Daozang.
Robinet, Isabelle. La révélation du Shangqing dans l’histoire du Taoïsme. 2 vols. Paris: École
Française d’Extrême-Orient, 1984.
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F. Pregadio, “Daoist Canon”
Strickmann, Michel. Le Taoïsme du Mao Chan: Chronique d’une révélation. Paris: Collège
de France, Institut des Hautes Études Chinoises, 1981.
Whether because of their later date or for other reasons, a large number of Daoist sources are
not found in the Daozang, but are published in other collections. The following subsections
list the main collections and, when available, the relevant reference works.
Early Manuscripts
The earliest known corpus of Daoist texts is made of the three incomplete manuscripts of the
Laozi (or Daode jing ) found in Guodian (Hubei) in 1993, and published in
Jingmen shi bowuguan 1998. Another manuscript corpus had been found earlier in
Mawangdui (Hunan) in 1973. In addition to two copies of the Laozi, it includes other
works relevant to Daoist studies. Reproductions and editions of the Mawangdui Laozi
manuscripts are found in Guojia wenwuju Guwenxian yanjiushi 1980.
As a whole, however, the largest and most important corpus of Daoist manuscripts is the one
discovered in Dunhuang (Gansu) in 1900. The standard reference work for the study of
these manuscripts is Ōfuchi Ninji 1978-79, now complemented by Wang Ka 2004. The whole
corpus is reproduced in the five-volume Dunhuang Daozang (Daoist Canon of
Dunhuang), edited by Li Defan in 1999. Note that about 60 manuscripts are also transcribed
in the Zhonghua Daozang. An important collection of studies in Japanese on the Daoist
Dunhuang manuscripts was published by Kanaoka, Ikeda, and Fukui in 1983.
Contains reproductions and annotated transcriptions of the two silk manuscripts of the
Laozi found in Mawangdui (Hunan) in 1973.
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F. Pregadio, “Daoist Canon”
About fifteen studies, mostly concerned with the different textual corpora represented
in Dunhuang manuscripts, contributed by some of the main Japanese scholars of
Daoism.
A masterful reference work for Daoist studies. Vol. 1 identifies Dunhuang manuscripts
corresponding to extant or lost works; in addition to introductory notes on each
manuscript, it also lists textual variants compared to the received vesions. Vol. 2
contains reproductions of the manuscripts.
Contemporary Manuscripts
Fieldwork done in Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China has enabled several scholars to
gather manuscripts concerned with Daoist ritual. The manuscripts collected by Kristofer
Schipper in Taiwan are deposited at the Collège de France; on this collection see Shi Bo’er
1966. Two sets of manuscripts collected by Michael Saso are published in Saso 1975 and
Saso 1978; on the former set see Saso 1979 and Ōfuchi 1976. The manuscripts collected by
Ōfuchi Ninji are published in Ōfuchi 1983. The manuscripts collected by Kenneth Dean in
the People’s Republic of China are catalogued in Dean 1988.
21
F. Pregadio, “Daoist Canon”
A major collection of manuscripts related to Buddhist, Daoist, and popular cults from
Taiwan and Hong Kong.
Somewhat overstatedly entitled “The Zhuang-Lin Sequel to the Daoist Canon”, this is
a large collection of manuscripts from the Zhuang and Lin Daoist families of
Hsinchu, Taiwan. See the author’s “A Guide to the Chuang Lin Hsü Tao-tsang,”
Journal of the China Society 16-17 (1979): 9-28; and Ōfuchi Ninji , “Sasō-
shi hen Sō-Rin zoku Dōzō no shuppan ni yosete” (
), Tōhō shūkyō 47 (1976): 65-70.
Saso, Michael R.. Dōkyō hiketsu shūsei . Tokyo: Ryūkei Shosha, 1978.
An index of about 250 Daoist ritual manuscripts collected by the author in southern
Taiwan, classified according to their genres and contents.
Outside the Zhengtong Daozang — and its contemporary version, the Zhonghua Daozang —
the four main printed collections of Daoist texts are:
(1) Daozang jiyao (Essentials of the Daoist Canon). Edited by Jiang Yupu
(1756-1819) and first published ca. 1800. An expanded version entitled Chongkan Daozang
jiyao was published in 1906, but a few individual texts were added until 1929.
The expanded version has been reprinted three times, by Kaozheng Chubanshe (Taipei,
1977), Xinwenfeng Chubanshe (id.), and Bashu Shushe (Chengdu, 1995). The expanded
version contains 310 texts, seven of which are compilations of altogether 32 independent
22
F. Pregadio, “Daoist Canon”
texts. On the history of this important collection see Esposito 2009. Indexed in Chen 1987
and in Esposito and Pregadio 2014.
(2) Daozang xubian (Sequel to the Daoist Canon). Edited by Ding Fubao
(1874-1952) on the basis of an earlier collection by Min Yide (1758-1836, eleventh
patriarch of one of the branches of the Longmen lineage). Published by Yixue shuju
(Shanghai, 1952), and later by Haiyang Chubanshe (Beijing, 1989) and Shumu wenxian
chubanshe (Beijing, 1993). A collection of 23 works, mostly concerned with Neidan
(Internal Alchemy), none of which is found in the Daozang. Detailed descriptive notes on
each text are found in Esposito 2014.
(4) Daozang jinghua (Essential Splendors of the Daoist Canon). Edited by Xiao
Tianshi (1908-86) and published by Ziyou Chubanshe (Taipei, from the mid-1950
onwards), with several reprints in both harcover and paperback formats. Contains more that
500 works, most of which are reprinted from earlier collections. Indexed in Chen 1984 and
more reliably in Yokote 2009.
Chen, William Y. A Guide to Tao-tsang chi yao. Stony Brook, NY: Institute for Advanced
Studies of World Religions, 1978.
Includes an index of the whole collection and separate indexes of authors, titles, and
subjects. Lists 309 titles, owing to the compiler’s choice of considering several texts
as independent works rather than parts of other texts (and not, as mentioned in the
preface, owing to the addition of new texts after 1906).
Chen, William Y. A Guide to Tao tsang ching hua. N.p.: Chinese Materials Center, 1984.
Esposito, Monica. “The Daozang jiyao Project: Mutations of a Canon.” Daoism: Religion,
History and Society (Daojiao yanjiu xuebao ) 1 (2009): 95-152.
A detailed study of the different extant versions of the original Daozang jiyao (ca.
1800) and its new edition, the Chongkan Daozang jiyao (1906), which was published
on the basis of the exemplar of the original version held at the Qingyang gong
(Palace of the Black Ram) in Chengdu (Sichuan).
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F. Pregadio, “Daoist Canon”
Pp. 191-211 of this book contain bibliographic notes on the 23 works included in the
Daozang xubian, with detailed summaries of their contents.
Esposito, Monica, and Fabrizio Pregadio. “*Catalogue of the Daozang jiyao [http://
www.goldenelixirpress.com/files/Daozang_jiyao_Catalogue.pdf]*”. 2014.
An exemplary work of indexing. Identifies the 509 works included in the Daozang
jinghua, providing for each of them details on the author and the edition (if they are
reprints). When available, it also transcribes Xiao Tianshi’s own descriptive notes.
Other important sources for Daoist studies are several collections of reprints of editions
different from the Daozang. For the sake of clarity, these collections can be divided into three
groups.
(1) The first group consists of collections containing only reprints of editions different from
the Daozang. The largest and most important of these collections is the Zangwai daoshu
(Daoist Texts Outside the Canon). Other compilations of wide scope are the Sandong
shiyi (Supplements to the Three Caverns) and the Zhonghua xu Daozang
(Sequel to the Daoist Canon of China). Two more focused collections are the Daojiao
wenxian (Daoist Texts) and the Zhongguo daoguan zhi congkan
(Collection of Monographs on Daoist Temples in China). (The Daozang jinghua ,
on which see the section “Printed Collections of Daoist Texts”, also contains a large number
of reprints.)
(2) The second group includes only the Daoshu jicheng (Complete Collection of
Daoist Texts), which might be called an “enlarged Daozang”. In addition to the entire Canon,
it also includes reprints of almost 400 other Daoist texts.
(3) The third group consists of two collections published as supplements to the Siku quanshu
(Complete Texts of the Four Repositories, the largest collection of texts ever
compiled in China, completed in 1782). The Siku quanshu itself contains 44 texts in its
“Daojia” (Daoism) section. The two supplementary collections, respectively entitled
24
F. Pregadio, “Daoist Canon”
In addition to the entire Daozang, contains reprints of 384 additional works, arranged
as “integrations” (zengbu ) to each of the traditional subdivisions of the Canon.
Reprints of 75 Daoist works are found in the “Zi” (Masters) section, vols. 245-247
and 256-261.
Reprints of 50 Daoist works are found in the “Zi” (Masters) section, vols. 954-958
and 1290-1295.
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F. Pregadio, “Daoist Canon”
Reprints of 50 “monographs” (zhi ) not only on temples, but also on mountains and
other Daoist sacred sites.
Reprints of about 180 works, including individual texts as well as major collections,
such as both the 33- and the 64-juan editions of the Lüzu quanshu
(Complete Works of Patriarch Lü Dongbin).
While the indexes and concordances of Daoist and other Chinese texts published from the
1930s to the early 1990s may have been superseded by more or less reliable digital versions,
at least some of those works concerned with Daoist texts deserve to be cited in this
bibliography. The selected works are among those that not only provide lists of characters,
text titles, person or place names, etc., but also contain materials that should be rated highly
by scholars (in particular, critical editions of the indexed works), or that enable them to
gather important data more easily, and often more comprehensively, than any search through
the available digital texts.
For instance, the Harvard-Yanching and the ICS concordances of Daoist texts are based on
critical texts of the respective sources. Another example concerns the indexes to several
hundred texts in the Zhengtong Daozang, one the main results of the “Tao-tsang Project”.
They contain names of persons, authors, subjects of biographies, emperors, deities, places,
temples, religious and administrative titles, dates, lineages, and iconographic representations.
The full collection includes about thirty-five microfiches, most of which contain the
equivalent of 270 pages of fifteen lines each, corresponding to more than 100,000 references
altogether. On these indexes, see Schipper 1983.
26
F. Pregadio, “Daoist Canon”
Lau, D. C., ed. Laozi zhuzi suoyin ( ). Hong Kong: Shangwu yinshuguan, 1996.
(The ICS Ancient Chinese Text Concordance Series; Philosophical Works, 24.)
A concordance to the Laozi based on the Daozang edition of Wang Bi’s text and
the Sibu congkan edition of Heshang gong’s text and commentary. Reports
variants found in other editions.
Lau, D. C., ed. Zhuangzi zhuzi suoyin ( ). Hong Kong: Shangwu yinshuguan,
2000. (The ICS Ancient Chinese Text Concordance Series; Philosophical Works, 43.)
A concordance to the Zhuangzi based on the text found in the Xu guyi congshu
. Reports variants found in other editions.
A comparison of chapters and sections in the three extant editions of the Yunji qiqian
: the Zhengtong Daozang edition, the Qingzhen guan edition
(reproduced in the Sibu congkan ), and the Daozang jiyao
edition.
27
F. Pregadio, “Daoist Canon”
Schipper, Kristofer. “Une banque de données informatisée sur l’histoire du taoïsme.” Études
chinoises 1 (1983): 48-54.
DIGITAL TRANSCRIPTIONS
For the Daoist Canon and other Daoist texts, there is not yet anything comparable to the
advanced digital editions of the Buddhist Canon, such as *CBETA [http://www.cbeta.org]*
and *SAT [http://21dzk.l.u-tokyo.ac.jp/SAT/index_en.html]*, which enhance the texts with
such features as search tools and dictionaries. The three websites listed below are the most
useful ones among those available.
Contains digital versions of virtually the entire Zhengtong Daozang. Texts derive
from OCR scans of the respective versions in the Zhonghua Daozang, with the result
that the collection contains many errors. Duplicated in several other websites, with no
improvements compared to the original version.
*Kanripo [http://www.kanripo.org/catalog?coll=KR5]*
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F. Pregadio, “Daoist Canon”
29