Scripture of the Original Bound (Benji jing)太玄真一本际经

Also known as

Benji jing (Scripture of the Original Bound), Benji Miaojing (Wondrous Scripture of the Original Bound)

Author / transmission

,

Period

Sui – Early Tang · According to Xuanyi's Zhenzheng lun of the Tang, the first five juan were composed by the Sui-dynasty Daoist priest Liu Jinxi, and Li Zhongqing of the early Tang extended it to ten juan; it was composed roughly between the late sixth and early seventh centuries. The original text was long lost and has been recovered from Dunhuang manuscripts.

Canon division

Dongxuan Division (outside the Canon)

Collected in

Outside the Canon (only juan 9, the 'Bequeathed Charge' chapter, survives in the Zhengtong Daozang; nearly a hundred Dunhuang manuscripts survive, collated in volume 5 of the Zhonghua Daozang)

Category

Early Daoist Scriptures

Fascicles

10 juan

Synopsis

The Benji jing (Scripture of the Original Bound) was one of the most widely circulated Daoist doctrinal scriptures of the Sui–Tang transition; nearly a hundred manuscript copies have been recovered from Dunhuang, attesting to its standing at the time. Cast in the form of a Buddhist sutra, the text presents the Celestial Worthy of Primordial Beginning and the Most High Lord of the Dao expounding the teaching, and systematically develops such concepts as 'Twofold Mystery' (Chongxuan), 'Dao-nature' (daoxing) and 'the Original Bound' (benji): dao-nature is the inherent pure nature possessed by all beings, and the Original Bound is the ultimate principle that is beginningless and endless, neither being nor non-being; the practitioner should awaken to the Original Bound and comprehend dao-nature, transcending the two extremes of being and non-being to enter the Twofold Mystery, while also expounding the Ten Precepts, the Three Vehicles, and the exhortation to good conduct. Its thought directly absorbs the Mahāyāna Buddhist doctrines of Buddha-nature and Madhyamaka, providing the scriptural basis for Tang-dynasty Chongxuan learning and the theory of dao-nature, and it is frequently cited by Cheng Xuanying, Li Rong and the Pivot of Meaning of the Daoist Teaching. Emperor Gaozong of Tang ordered Daoist priests throughout the empire to recite it; because it so closely imitated Buddhist scripture, it was exposed as a forgery by the Buddhist monk Xuanyi during the reign of Wu Zetian. In modern times scholars such as Wan Yi and Ye Guiliang have compiled and restored the text from the Dunhuang manuscripts.

Key Ideas

• Dao-nature: all beings possess pure dao-nature
• The Original Bound: the ultimate reality that is neither being nor non-being
• Twofold Mystery: the double negation transcending the two extremes
• The teaching of the Three Vehicles and the Ten Precepts
• Sui–Tang Daoism's absorption of Buddhist doctrinal learning

Structure

Ten juan: chapters on Protecting the State, the Bequeathed Charge, Sagely Conduct, Dao-nature, Verification of Reality, the Pure Land, Exposition, Supreme Victory, the Bequeathed Charge (again), and Penetrating the Subtlety of the Root of the Dao, among others (chapter titles reconstructed from the Dunhuang manuscripts).

Editions

• Dunhuang manuscripts (S.3135, P.2795, etc.)
• Collated edition in volume 5 of the Zhonghua Daozang
• Wan Yi, Transcription and Commentary on the Dunhuang Daoist Text Benji jing

Full Text & Online Resources

• Wikipedia: Benji jing
• CTEXT search

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