Scripture of the Yellow Court: Outer Effulgences黄庭外景经
- Also known as
- Taishang huangting waijing yujing (Jade Scripture of the Yellow Court: Outer Effulgences), Laozi's Scripture of the Yellow Court
- Author / transmission
- Anonymous
- Period
- Late Han to Western Jin · Composed sometime between the late Han and the Western Jin, earlier than the Inner Effulgences; the Huangting Jing listed in the "Xialan" chapter of the Baopuzi may refer to this text.
- Canon division
- Dongzhen Section, Original Texts (Benwen) category
- Collected in
- Zhengtong Daozang, Dongxuan Section, Original Texts Category (as the Commentary on the Jade Scripture of the Yellow Court's Outer Effulgences); also included in scroll 12 of the Yunji Qiqian
- Category
- Early Daoist Scriptures
- Fascicles
- One scroll (divided into upper, middle, and lower parts)
Synopsis
The Scripture of the Yellow Court: Outer Effulgences (Huangting waijing jing) is one of the two Huangting Jing texts, composed in seven-syllable rhymed verse and about half the length of the Inner Effulgences; it is attributed to Laozi, and so is also called the Laozi Huangting Jing. Its content overlaps with that of the Inner Effulgences but is simpler and more archaic: it takes the Yellow Court, the cinnabar field, the Pass Head, and the Hall of Light — palaces within the body — as objects of visualization, and speaks of breathing in primordial qi, sealing the essence and preserving the spirit, and swallowing jade fluid, so that "supporting and nourishing nature and life, one holds fast to the void" and thereby avoids death. Scholars generally hold that the Outer Effulgences appeared first and that the Inner Effulgences was an expansion built upon it, reflecting the transitional form between early nourishing-life techniques and Shangqing visualization practice. The Huangting Jing that Wang Xizhi copied out was the Outer Effulgences text. Both Wuchengzi and Liangqiuzi wrote commentaries on it.
Key Ideas
- Bodily cartography of the Yellow Court, cinnabar field, and Pass Head palaces
- Breathing primordial qi, sealing the essence and preserving the spirit
- The nourishing-life principle of void and tranquility
Structure
Divided into upper, middle, and lower parts, in seven-syllable rhymed verse.
Editions
- Zhengtong Daozang edition
- Yunji Qiqian edition
- Engraved rubbing of Wang Xizhi's small-regular-script Huangting Jing
Commentaries
- Wuchengzi, Commentary on the Jade Scripture of the Yellow Court's Outer Effulgences
- Liangqiuzi's commentary
Full Text & Online Resources
Related scriptures
Scripture of the Yellow Court: Inner Effulgences, Scripture of Great Peace (Taiping jing)Related figures
Wei Huacun, Wang Xizhi- Isabelle Robinet, Taoist Meditation, 1993
- 任继愈主编《道藏提要》
- 王明《黄庭经考》