Reprinted Essentials of the Daoist Canon重刊道藏辑要

Also known as

Erxian Nunnery edition of the Essentials of the Daoist Canon, He edition of the Essentials of the Daoist Canon

Author / transmission

He Longxiang (collator), Yan Yonghe and Peng Hanran (directed the reprinting)

Period

Qing · Reprinted in the thirty-second year of the Guangxu era of the Qing (1906) by Yan Yonghe and Peng Hanran, abbots of the Erxian Nunnery at Qingyang Palace, Chengdu, collated by He Longxiang; expanded from the Jiang edition, the complete work contains around 290 Daoist texts (some accounts give over 300 in total).

Canon division

Qing-dynasty Daoist text collectanea

Collected in

Qing-dynasty compendium (outside the Canon)

Category

Daozang Collections

Fascicles

About 290-odd titles (accounts vary slightly)

Synopsis

The Reprinted Essentials of the Daoist Canon is an expanded reprint of the Essentials of the Daoist Canon, published in the thirty-second year of the Guangxu era (1906) under the direction of the Erxian Nunnery in Chengdu, collated by He Longxiang, and appended with his compilations, the Preliminary Compilation of the Subject Index to the Essentials of the Daoist Canon and the Collected Texts on Female Alchemy. Building on the Jiang Yuanting edition, this edition adds several dozen further Qing-dynasty Daoist texts, with particular emphasis on works of the Longmen Lineage of Quanzhen and on Daoism in western Sichuan, bringing the total to over 290 titles, of which more than a hundred were not included in the Ming Daoist Canon; it is the most important compendium of Qing-dynasty Daoist texts. The scripture-carving workshop of the Erxian Nunnery held an enormous stock of printing blocks, and was one of the most important centers for the carving of Daoist scriptures in modern China. This edition has had the widest circulation; it was reproduced in facsimile by Bashu Books in 1986 and became the standard edition used by scholars. In recent years, the Daoist Studies Digital Archive at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the international research project on the Daozang Jiyao (led by Monica Esposito and others) have systematically studied its editions, compilation process, and textual sources, restoring renewed scholarly attention to its place in Daoist textual studies.

Key Ideas

• An expanded reprint of the Essentials of the Daoist Canon
• Published by the scripture-carving workshop of the Erxian Nunnery, Chengdu
• Collated by He Longxiang, with an appended preliminary subject index
• Added Qing-dynasty Daoist texts, over a hundred not in the Ming Canon
• Reproduced in facsimile by Bashu Books in 1986 as the standard edition

Structure

Divided into collections by the Twenty-eight Lunar Mansions, with an appended subject index and further supplementary texts.

Editions

• Guangxu 32nd-year edition of the Erxian Nunnery, Chengdu
• 1986 facsimile edition by Bashu Books
• Digital archive of the Chinese University of Hong Kong

Commentaries

• Findings of the Daozang Jiyao research project led by Monica Esposito

Full Text & Online Resources

• Chinese University of Hong Kong: Reprinted Essentials of the Daoist Canon
• Wikipedia: Essentials of the Daoist Canon

Related scriptures

Related figures