Page 552 - The Encyclopedia of Taoism v1_A-L

512 THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TAOISM A-L

Fig. 40. The Yellow Court (huangting
jij')g). The phrase in the inner circle
reads "Spirit of the Center." The other
phrases read (clockwise from the top):
"Yellow Court," "Gate of the Meaning
of the Dao," "Empty Non-being," "Gate
of All Wonders," "Great Ultimate,"
"Gate of the Mysterious Female,"
"Real Emptiness," "Gate of the Non-
dual Doctrine." Liu Yiming ;;g~ -- -DJl ,
Huangtingjingjie II£!lH'ii fflii' (Explication
of the Scripture of the Yellow Court).

which refers to the luminous corporeal spirits (see *bajing): Huangting neijing
jing Jt M pg ~ #Ji\ (Scripture of the Inner Effulgences of the Yellow Court) and
Huangting waijingjing :;:)g .y~ g M~ (Scripture of the Outer Effulgences of the
Yellow Court). The chronological priority of the two versions is still debated.
Kristofer Schipper (1975a, 2-rr) suggests that the Outer version is earlier on the
basis of its brevity, and that the Inner version is a later development. There
are, however, instances of Taoist texts whose shorter versions are later than
their longer ones. Wang Ming (I984b) supposes rather that the Inner version
is older because *Wei Huacun's biography states that she used to recite it.
Yoshioka Yoshitoyo (1955, 225) and Max Kaltenmark (I967-68) share the same
opinion.
The relation of the Huangtingjing to the *Shangqing school of Taoism has
been variously interpreted. Shangqing certainly adopted the Huangtingjing,
as attested by the biography of Wei Huacun to whom the text was transmit-
ted, and by quotations or mentions of both the Inner and the Outer version
in Shangqing texts such as the Xiaomo jing m Jt:#Ji\ (Scripture on Dispelling
Demons; CT 1344) and the *Zhengao (Authentic Declarations). The text,
however, is not associated with the *Dadong zhenjing (Authentic Scripture of
the Great Cavern) as has been asserted, because it gives different names to
the gods of the human body. Moreover, the practices mentioned in the Inner
version pertain to the Shangqing tradition but existed prior to it. In fact, both
versions seem to have been recorded before the Shangqing revelations of