Scripture of Laozi's Conversion of the Barbarians老子化胡经

Also known as

Scripture of Conversion of the Barbarians (Huahu jing), Laozi xisheng huahu jing (Scripture of Laozi's Western Ascension and Conversion of the Barbarians)

Period

Western Jin · Written in one chapter by Wang Fu, a Libationer of the Celestial Masters, around the reign of Emperor Hui of the Western Jin (c. 300); it was subsequently expanded over time to ten chapters, was repeatedly banned and burned from the early Tang onward, and was entirely burned in the eighteenth year of Zhiyuan of the Yuan (1281); only fragmentary Dunhuang manuscripts survive today (such as S.1857 and P.2007).

Canon division

Dongshen section (outside the canon)

Collected in

Outside the Canon (the original was burned; Dunhuang fragments survive, compiled in Zhonghua Daozang, vol. 8)

Category

Early Daoist Scriptures

Fascicles

Originally one scroll, later expanded to ten; scrolls one, two, eight, ten, and others survive today among the Dunhuang manuscripts

Synopsis

The Scripture of Laozi's Conversion of the Barbarians is a scripture produced by Daoism in the course of its disputes with Buddhism, claiming that after Laozi passed west through Hangu Pass he went to India and transformed himself into the Buddha (or converted the barbarians and made them Buddhists), so that Buddhism was merely an offshoot created by Laozi — an argument meant to establish that the Dao preceded the Buddha and that Daoism was superior to Buddhism. The idea of "converting the barbarians" already appears at the end of the Han (in Xiang Kai, and in the Wei lue as quoted in the commentary to the Records of the Three Kingdoms); after the Western Jin Daoist priest Wang Fu lost a debate with the monk Bo Yuan, he composed this scripture. It was subsequently expanded over successive generations, adding material such as Laozi's eighty-one transformations and his transformation into Mani, becoming an important weapon for Daoism in its contest with Buddhism for orthodoxy, and also repeatedly becoming a target of Buddhist attack: Emperor Gaozong and Emperor Zhongzong of Tang both issued orders banning it, and after two Buddhist–Daoist debates under Möngke Khan and Kublai Khan of Yuan the Daoists were defeated, whereupon this scripture was judged spurious and burned, so that only fragmentary Dunhuang manuscripts survive. Although a polemical apocryphal scripture, this work is a key document for studying the relationship between Buddhism and Daoism in medieval China and Daoism's view of its own history.

Key Ideas

• Laozi traveled west and converted the barbarians, becoming the Buddha; the Dao preceded the Buddha
• The hagiographic system of Laozi's eighty-one transformations
• A scriptural weapon in the Buddhist–Daoist disputes
• A history of repeated official prohibition and burning

Structure

The content of the ten chapters of the full edition varies, including an introductory account, the process of converting the barbarians, mystic songs, and the receiving of Daoist precepts; the Dunhuang fragments preserve chapter one, the Introductory Account, and chapter ten, the Mystic Songs, among others.

Editions

• Dunhuang manuscripts such as S.1857, S.6963, P.2007 and P.3404
• Compilation in Zhonghua Daozang, vol. 8
• Related texts such as the Scripture of the Most High Lord Lao's Opening of Heaven and the Illustrations of Laozi's Eighty-one Transformations

Translations

• Related studies by Anna Seidel and Livia Kohn (partly in Laughing at the Tao, 1995)

Full Text & Online Resources

• Wikipedia: Scripture of Laozi's Conversion of the Barbarians
• CTEXT search

Related scriptures

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