Peng Dingqiu彭定求

Style & Daoist names

courtesy names Qinzhi and Nanyun, sobriquet Fanglian

Period

Qing

Dates

1645 — 1719

Role

Lay PractitionerScholarcompiler of Daoist texts

Birthplace

Changzhou (present-day Suzhou, Jiangsu)

Life

Peng Dingqiu, a native of Suzhou, Jiangsu, was the top graduate (zhuangyuan) of the metropolitan examination in the fifteenth year of the Kangxi era (1676), rising to the office of Reader-in-Waiting, and was a renowned Neo-Confucian scholar of the early Qing and one of the compiling officials of the Quan Tang shi (Complete Tang Poems). He was a devoted follower of Daoism, holding Patriarch Lü in special reverence, and compiled the original edition of the Daozang jiyao (Essentials of the Daoist Canon), selecting some two hundred-odd scriptures, alchemical texts, and morality books from the Daozang and from Daoist texts outside the canon; it became the most important Daoist compendium of the Qing dynasty, later supplemented by Jiang Yupu, expanded during the Jiaqing era into a twenty-eight-part edition, and reprinted at the Erxian Nunnery in Chengdu during the Guangxu era — the edition still in common circulation today. He also compiled the Lüzu quanshu (Complete Works of Patriarch Lü), among other works. Peng Dingqiu's involvement in compiling Daoist texts, as a top examination graduate and Neo-Confucian scholar, exemplifies the devotion to Daoism among Qing-dynasty scholar-officials. Because the Daozang jiyao ("Essentials" of the Canon) was compact and convenient to circulate, it was widely collected in Daoist temples and by lay households from the Qing dynasty onward, and its practical influence even exceeded that of the voluminous Ming Daozang.

Contributions & Influence

• First compiled the Daozang jiyao, the most important Daoist compendium of the Qing dynasty
• Compiled the Lüzu quanshu, advancing the textualization of devotion to Patriarch Lü
• As a top examination graduate and Neo-Confucian scholar devoted to Daoism, he represents the Daoist faith of Qing-dynasty scholar-officials

Works

• Essentials of the Daoist Canon (first compilation)
• Complete Works of Patriarch Lü (compiler)
• Nanyun Wenji (Collected Writings of Nanyun)