Page 502 - The Encyclopedia of Taoism v1_A-L

TH E ENCY C LOPEDIA O F TAOI SM A- L

*Durenjing (Scripture on Salvation) are included in the Duren shangpin miaojing
zhu llAL &b :M>~tt (Commentary to the Wondrous Scripture of the Upper
Chapters on Salvation; CT 88) together with comments attributed to a Real Man
of the Green Origin from Donghai (Donghai Qingyuan zhenren * #fJw ft~
A). At the end of this work, an appendix by Guo entitled "The Efficacy of Recit-
ing the Durenjing" ("Song Durenjingyingyan" ~mllA~~J!~) records stories
from the Shunxi, Shaoxi, Qingyuan, andJiatai reign periods of the Southern
Song. As the stories span the a period from II74 to 1204, Guo Gangfeng probably
lived between the twelfth and the thirteenth century. His notes, which are ap-
pended at the end of each paragraph or sentence of the Duren jing, explain its
essential points to help readers grasp the general meaning of the scripture.

CHEN Yaoting
III BoltzJ. M. 1987a, 206- 8

Guo Xiang

252?- 312; zi: Zixuan T K

Guo Xiang was fond of the Daode jing and the *Zhuangzi from an early age,
and excelled in the "pure conversations" (*qingtan) on philosophical matters
popular in the *Xuanxue (Arcane Learning) milieu. He held offices under
Sima Yue PJ ~ ~, the Prince of Donghai * #fJ (Shandong). Claims that he
plagiarized Xiang Xiu's rPJ ~ (227- 72) commentary to the Zhuangzi have been
proved untrue on the basis of quotations of Xiang Xiu's commentary in Lu
Deming's ~ 1j l'Jf.I (556-627) Jingdian shiwen ~~ #!! f!)( (Exegesis of Classical
Texts). Gao's commentary to the Zhuangzi is the oldest extant and admittedly
the best of all, but not necessarily the most faithful: he not only commented
on the text, but also abridged it and rearranged its chapters.
Non-being and Being. For Guo Xiang, Non-being (*wu) means nothingness; and
as it is nothing, it cannot be the source of Being as *Wang Bi had maintained.
In fact, Guo is one of the few Chinese thinkers who give wu the meaning
of nothingness. He emphatically rejects the concept of wu as a permanent
substrate: Being exists eternally, and the word wu merely expresses the fact
that beings do not issue from anything else but themselves. In other words,
each being is self-produced in a spontaneous, abrupt, and mysterious way.
without any cause and without depending on anything else. Hence the word
dao Jl! does not designate anything but the supreme Non-being; the Dao is