Page 70 - The Encyclopedia of Taoism v1_A-L

30 THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TAOISM VOL. I

daozang r#J ft: J1'! iX: (Taoist Canon of the Kaiyuan Reign Period), in reference
to the reign period (713-41) during which it was compiled. Entitled *Sandong
qionggang (Exquisite Compendium of the Three Caverns), this catalogue is
ascribed to a Taoist Master named Zhang Xianting l}R fLll H!. Neither catalogue
nor Canon is thought to have survived the An Lushan '/;: l~ [[ J and Shi Siming
51: ,ri!!, SjJ uprisings of 755-63. Later efforts to re compile a Canon apparently met
a similar fate following the Huang Chao it * rebellion of 874-84.
Three canonic compilations of significance arose during the Song. A com-
prehensive search and collation of texts began in the year 990, at the command
of Song Taizong (r. 976-97). The catalogue to this initial Canon of the Song
bore the title Sandong sifu jingmu -~ ?fr~ [9 'Ml ~~ R (Catalogue of the Scriptures
of the Three Caverns and Four Supplements). By 1009, Song Zhenzong (r.
997-1022) had authorized a new recension of the Canon. Seven years later
the Minister of Rites *Wang Qinruo (962-1025) presented the emperor with
a catalogue entitled Baowen tonglu W J::mi~ (Comprehensive Register of
Precious Literature). The Canon of 1016 came to be known as the *Da Song
Tiangong baozang (Precious Canon of the Celestial Palace of the Great Song).
The successor to this Canon is the *Zhenghe Wanshou daozang (Taoist Canon
of the Ten-Thousand-Fold Longevity of the Zhenghe Reign Period). Compiled
under the aegis of Song Huizong (r. 1100-1125), it is the first Taoist Canon to
have been produced in print. Approximately 70,000 blocks were cut for this
Canon, a task apparently not completed until III9 in Fuzhou (Fujian), a major
publication center at that time.
The Canon of 1119 served as the foundation for a new compilation under-
taken in 1190 by the authority of the Jurchen ruler Zhangzong (r. II90-1208).
Completed in 1192, the *Dajin Xuandu baozang (Precious Canon of the Mys-
terious Metropolis of the Great Jin) provided in turn the backbone for a
Canon edited under the direction of the *Quanzhen patriarch *Song Defang
(1183-1247). It was replaced in 1244 by the [Da YuanJ *Xuandu baozang (Precious
Canon of the Mysterious Metropolis). Although Khubilai khan (r. 1260-94)
later ordered the destruction of both texts and printing blocks of this Canon,
small components of it have rather miraculously survived.
The so-called Zhengtong daozang, or Da Ming daozang jing "* BjJ ill iX:*~
(Scriptures of the Taoist Canon of the Great Ming), may be regarded as the
culmination of Taoist canonic compilations undertaken within the imperial age
of China. The forty-third Celestial Master *Zhang Yuchu (1361-1410) served as
the initial editor, by the command of the Yongle Emperor (r. 1403-24). It was
only by the grace of his great-grandson the Zhengtong Emperor (r. 1436-49)
that publication of the Ming Canon was finally accomplished in 1445. An ad-
dendum to the some 1400 titles in this Canon was completed in 1607. This
supplemental collection of some fifty titles is given the title Da Ming xu daozang