Lectures on the Daodejing (Huang Yuanji)道德经讲义（黄元吉）

Also known as

Commentary on the Daodejing, Essential Meaning of the Daodejing

Author / transmission

Huang Yuanji

Period

Qing · Delivered by Huang Yuanji during the Daoguang and Xianfeng reigns, and published around the tenth year of Guangxu (1884).

Canon division

Outside the Canon

Collected in

Outside the Canon (included in Daoist Texts outside the Canon)

Category

Daoist Philosophy

Fascicles

Lectures on the Eighty-One Chapters

Synopsis

Lectures on the Daodejing is Huang Yuanji's chapter-by-chapter exposition of the Daodejing according to the principles of internal-alchemical cultivation, forming a complementary pair with the Recorded Sayings from the Hall of Joyful Cultivation. Huang Yuanji held that there is "not a single chapter of Laozi's five thousand words that does not speak of the way of cultivation," and so explained every chapter using alchemical concepts such as the Mysterious Pass, true intent, the pre-celestial single qi, and the dual cultivation of nature and life — for instance, taking "the valley spirit never dies" as the single aperture of the mysterious female, and "attaining utmost emptiness and guarding stillness in earnest" as refining the self — and referred discourses on governing the state and pacifying the people back to the governance of the body. The lectures are written in plain language with apt examples, and have been regarded by alchemists since the late Qing as one of the most complete and accessible commentaries "explaining Laozi through alchemy." In modern times Chen Yingning said of the book that "not a single word is superfluous," and Xiao Tianshi likewise held it in high regard, including it in the Essence of the Daoist Canon.

Key Ideas

• The Daodejing in its entirety is a book of cultivation
• Explaining the valley spirit and mysterious female through the single aperture of the Mysterious Pass
• Governing the state is governing the body
• The convergence of alchemical practice and Laozi scholarship

Structure

Organized chapter by chapter through all eighty-one chapters, each chapter divided into the original text and the lecture.

Editions

• Guangxu-era block-printed edition
• Daoist Texts outside the Canon edition
• Essence of the Daoist Canon edition
• Jiang Menma (annot.) edition

Full Text & Online Resources

• Wikipedia: Huang Yuanji
• CTEXT: Daodejing

Related scriptures

Related figures