Page 662 - The Encyclopedia of Taoism v1_A-L

620 THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TAOISM A-L

In fact all the concepts present in the Heshang gong commentary may
be seen as part of a Han legacy of ideas, though unfortunately a legacy that
remained a matter for concern and hence for restatement for many centuries
after the fall of the dynasty. The urge to see a (late) Han date as the most
reasonable one for Heshang gong has therefore appealed to a number of
scholars, though others have found definitive evidence for this lacking. Possible
references to the text in the third century CE unfortunately cannot be taken
as reliable; there is, however, one quotation apparently from the late fourth
century which may prove trustworthy, and which includes a portion of the
commentary deemed a later addition by Kusuyama. This is to be found on p.
I.Ib-2a of the *Yangxing yanming lu (On Nourishing Inner Nature and Extend-
ing Life), a work none of whose other quotations falsify the statement in the
preface that it was excerpted from the *Yangsheng yaoji (Essentials of Nourishing
Life) of Zhang Zhan ,*1~r: (early fourth century). Zhang came from a family
of bibliophiles who claimed to have preserved many works of Han times and
earlier, but this still does not prove that the Heshang gong commentary is any
earlier than the century in which it is first cited. Other early commentaries,
too, which are said to betray its influence remain for their part controversial
with regard to their origins.
Whatever its date, the Laozi Heshang gong zhangju remained a firm favorite
among professional Taoists from the time of its emergence onward, and for
example is listed in Tang times as basic to an initiation into Taoist disciple-
ship, even if a controversy over its merits versus those of Wang Bi resulted
in the production of imperial commentary to resolve the dispute. Indeed
when Eduard Erkes contemplated producing the first English translation of
the text in the 1930S he was able to take the unusual step of going to Beijing
to seek instruction from Taoist priests in their understanding of its meaning.
Unfortunately, his work, first published in serial form, is not widely available:
a plan to republish it in the 1990S, though widely advertised by the company
concerned, was eventually cancelled on the grounds that it did not read
smoothly enough in English; a Daode jing translation of no historical value
was substituted instead.

T. H. BARRETT
ID Campany 2002, 305-7; Chan A. K. L. 1991a; Chan A. K. L. 1991b; Chan A.
K. L. 1998; Erkes 1950 (trans.); Kobayashi Masayoshi 1990, 241-68; Kohn 1992a,
62-69; Kusuyama Haruki 1979, 3-269; Masuo Shin'ichiro 1991; Ofuchi Ninji
1978-79, I: 209-35 (crit. notes on the Dunhuang mss.) and 2: 434-56 (reprod. of
the Dunhuang mss.); Qing Xitai 1988-95, I: 75-84; Wang Ka 1993a (crit. ed.);
Zheng Chenghai 1971 (crit. ed.)

* Daodejing