Emperor Xuanzong's Imperial Commentary on the Daodejing唐玄宗御注道德真经

Also known as

Imperial Commentary on the True Scripture of the Daodejing, Imperially Composed Subcommentary on the Daodejing, Imperial Commentary of the Kaiyuan Era

Author / transmission

Emperor Xuanzong of Tang

Period

Tang · The imperial commentary was promulgated around the 20th year of the Kaiyuan era (732), with the Imperial Subcommentary composed subsequently.

Canon division

Dongshen Section, Yujue Category

Collected in

Zhengtong Daozang, Dongshen Section, Yujue category.

Category

Daoist Philosophy

Fascicles

Imperial commentary in four scrolls, imperial subcommentary in ten scrolls

Synopsis

Emperor Xuanzong of Tang (Li Longji) revered Daoism and honored Laozi as the Mysterious Primordial Emperor. He personally composed a commentary on the Daodejing, promulgated it throughout the empire and had it inscribed on stone in every prefecture, ordering every household of officials and commoners to keep a copy; he also established the Chongxuan Academy and made the Laozi a subject of the imperial examinations. The imperial commentary synthesized Heshanggong's life-nourishing teaching, Wang Bi's Xuanxue, and the achievements of early Tang Chongxuan (Twofold Mystery) learning (Cheng Xuanying, Li Rong), advocating 'ordering the body and ordering the state,' unifying the art of governance with the way of inner cultivation under the doctrine of the 'wondrous root'; the accompanying Imperial Subcommentary elaborates further. Steles bearing Xuanzong's imperial commentary survive today at the Longxing Guan in Yixian, Hebei, and at Jingzhou, Hubei, among other sites, as physical evidence of Tang-dynasty state devotion to Daoism. Du Guangting's Daode zhenjing guangshengyi is itself a further elaboration of the imperial commentary and subcommentary. This work is representative of classical exegesis during the period of Daoism's establishment as a state religion.

Key Ideas

• Ordering the body and ordering the state as a single continuum
• The wondrous root; Chongxuan (Twofold Mystery)
• Discarding desire and returning to one's nature
• Using classical scholarship to assist governance

Structure

Divided into the Dao Classic and De Classic, with running commentary and subcommentary.

Editions

• Zhengtong Daozang edition
• The Daodejing Stele-Pillar at Longxing Guan, Yixian (inscribed in the 26th year of Kaiyuan)
• Dunhuang manuscripts

Commentaries

• Du Guangting, Daode zhenjing guangshengyi

Full Text & Online Resources

• Wikipedia: Emperor Xuanzong of Tang
• CTEXT: search

Related scriptures

Related figures