Cheng Xuanying成玄英

Style & Daoist names

Zishi, Xihua Fashi (Dharma Master Xihua)

Period

Tang

Dates

c. 608 — c. 669

School

Chongxuan (Twofold Mystery) School

Role

Daoist ScholarsRepresentative of the Chongxuan School

Birthplace

Shanzhou (present-day Sanmenxia, Henan)

Life

Cheng Xuanying, style name Zishi, was an early Tang Daoist priest and a leading representative of Chongxuan (Twofold Mystery) learning. His dates of birth and death are not recorded in the histories and are generally estimated at around 608–669. In the fifth year of the Zhenguan era (631), Emperor Taizong summoned him to the capital and granted him the title “Dharma Master of Xihua”; during the Yonghui era he was exiled, owing to some incident, to Yuzhou (present-day Lianyungang, Jiangsu), where he continued writing without interruption. His works include the Laozi Daodejing Kaiti Xujue Yishu (老子道德经开题序诀义疏, Opening Topics, Prefatory Instructions, and Subcommentary on the Meaning of the Daodejing) and Cheng Xuanying's Subcommentary on the Zhuangzi (appended after Guo Xiang's commentary, and the most important surviving subcommentary on the Zhuangzi). Taking as its guiding principle “Twofold Mystery” — mystery upon mystery, dispelling both being and non-being, negating both together — his work absorbed Buddhist Madhyamaka thought and established a system of Lao–Zhuang doctrine with the Dao as substance and Twofold Mystery as method. It represents one of the highest achievements of Tang Daoist philosophy and profoundly influenced Song Neo-Confucianism and the interchange between Buddhism and Daoism. He also composed the Duren jing Shu (度人经疏, Subcommentary on the Scripture of Salvation), among other works.

Contributions & Influence

• His Subcommentary on the Zhuangzi is one of the most important commentaries on the Zhuangzi from the Tang dynasty onward
• Interpreted Lao–Zhuang thought through the twofold-negation method of Chongxuan, becoming the great synthesizer of Chongxuan learning
• Incorporated Buddhist Madhyamaka thought into Daoist doctrine

Works

• Nanhua Zhenjing Zhushu (Commentary and Subcommentary on the Zhuangzi)
• Laozi Daodejing Kaiti Xujue Yishu (Prefatory Instructions and Subcommentary on the Daodejing; Dunhuang fragment)
• Commentary on the Duren jing (lost)