Daoist Canon of the Zhengtong Era正统道藏

Also known as

Ming Daoist Canon, Daozang (Daoist Canon)

Author / transmission

Yongle Emperor (Zhu Di), Zhang Yuchu, Shao Yizheng

Period

Ming · In the fourth year of the Yongle reign (1406), the forty-third-generation Celestial Master Zhang Yuchu was imperially charged with directing its compilation and revision, a task carried on successively by Zhang Yuqing, Shao Yizheng, and others, until it was completed and promulgated in the tenth year of the Zhengtong reign (1445); 5,305 scrolls in 480 cases, numbered with the Thousand Character Classic from 'Tian' to 'Ying.'

Canon division

Daoist Canon (the most complete surviving edition)

Collected in

The Daoist Canon of the Zhengtong Era (Ming-dynasty printed edition, extant today)

Category

Daozang Collections

Fascicles

5,305 juan, in 480 cases

Synopsis

The Daoist Canon of the Zhengtong Era (Zhengtong Daozang) is the only complete premodern Daoist canon still in existence, and is the fundamental body of literature for the study of Daoism. In the fourth year of the Yongle reign of the Ming (1406), Emperor Chengzu (the Yongle Emperor) charged the forty-third-generation Celestial Master Zhang Yuchu with directing its compilation and revision; Zhang Yuqing and Shao Yizheng successively continued the work, and it was completed and printed in the tenth year of the Zhengtong reign of Emperor Yingzong (1445), in 5,305 scrolls and 480 cases, arranged according to the Three Caverns (Dongzhen, Dongxuan, Dongshen), the Four Supplements (Taixuan, Taiping, Taiqing, Zhengyi), and Twelve Categories (root texts, divine talismans, jade instructions, numinous diagrams, genealogies and records, precepts, dignified observances, methods, various arts, records and biographies, hymns of praise, and memorials), with cases numbered by the Thousand Character Classic from 'Tian' to 'Ying.' Because of the Yuan-dynasty burning of scriptures, this canon contains fewer texts than the Song and Yuan canons and its classification is in places disordered, but it nonetheless includes more than 1,400 Daoist works, covering scriptures and precepts, ritual, alchemy, medicine, magical arts, biographies, mountain gazetteers, and the writings of various philosophers; a great many texts survive today only because of this canon. The photolithographic reprint produced by the Hanfenlou in Shanghai from 1923 to 1926 spread it far and wide, and it was followed by further photolithographic reprints from Taipei's Yiwen and Xinwenfeng presses and from the Cultural Relics Publishing House, and by the modern critical edition Zhonghua Daozang, which together have become the shared foundation of international Daoist studies.

Key Ideas

• The only complete premodern Daoist canon still in existence
• Arranged according to the Three Caverns, Four Supplements, and Twelve Categories
• 5,305 scrolls in 480 cases
• Includes more than 1,400 Daoist works
• Spread widely through the 1923–26 Hanfenlou photolithographic reprint

Structure

Three Caverns and Four Supplements, seven sections in all, each divided into Twelve Categories, with cases numbered by the Thousand Character Classic from 'Tian' to 'Ying.'

Editions

• Ming Zhengtong-era printed edition (held at the White Cloud Temple in Beijing and elsewhere)
• 1923–1926 Hanfenlou photolithographic reprint, Shanghai
• Photolithographic reprints by Yiwen Printing House and Xinwenfeng, Taipei
• 1988 joint photolithographic reprint by three publishers including the Cultural Relics Publishing House

Commentaries

• Chen Guofu's Studies on the Origins and Development of the Daoist Canon
• Ren Jiyu's edited Descriptive Notes on the Daoist Canon
• Schipper and Verellen's The Taoist Canon

Full Text & Online Resources

• Wikipedia: Daozang
• Internet Archive: search for Daozang

Related scriptures

Related figures