Page 74 - The Encyclopedia of Taoism v1_A-L

34 THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TAOISM VOL. I

reference to the Taoist Canon has never been applied to separate genres of
writing. It corresponds more readily to the Buddhist concept of sansheng .:=:
'* (Three Vehicles), denoting separate schools of teachings. There is as yet no
definitive study tracing the history of the concept of sandong as an organizing
principle behind the compilation of the Taoist Canon. The legacy of this term
remains problematic in part owing to variant, sometimes conflicting, accounts
contained in both the Taoist and the Buddhist Canon.
The term sandong is notably absent from the inventory of *Zheng Yin's
(ca. 215-ca. 302) library that his disciple *Ge Hong (283-343) provides in the
*Baopu zi (Book of the Master Who Embraces Simplicity). A passage from
the Sanhuangjing .-::::£~~ (Scripture of the Three Sovereigns) recorded in the
late sixth-century *Wushang biyao (Supreme Secret Essentials, 6.5a-b: Lagerwey
I98Ib, 82) identifies the sanhuang trinity as the zunshen ~;f$ (venerable dei-
ties) of sandong. The *qi, or life-force, of sandong is defined as the condensed
transformation of the *sanyuan (Three Primes): Tianbao jun J2W;g (Lord
of Celestial Treasure), Lingbao jun :!iWtt (Lord of Numinous Treasure) and
Shenbao jun t$ il' JJ (Lord of Divine Treasure). The three deities Tianhuang J2
£, Dihuang :Itl!, £, and Renhuang A.:'£. , in turn, are equated with the life-force
of Dadong "* {fPI (Great Cavern), Dongxuan, and Dongshen, respectively.
The * Shengshen jing (Scripture of the Life-Giving Spirits: CT 318, Ia-b) names
the three lords of the sanyuan trinity as the zunshen of Dadong, Dongxuan, and
Dongshen. No correspondence to sanhuang is acknowledged in this central
scripture of the Lingbao corpus codified by *Lu Xiujing (406-77). The designa-
tion Sandong dizi ~~ if"] % ( (Disciple of the Three Caverns) notably precedes
Lu's name, as the author of the Lingbao jingmu xu ~Wi.:~ § Pf (Preface to a
Catalogue of Lingbao Scriptures). It is recorded in the eleventh-century *Yunji
qiqian (Seven Lots from the Bookbag of the Clouds, 4-4a), with a date of Yuanjia
:Tt ~ 14 (437). An entry for this title in one juan registered in the inventory of
the Song imperial library would seem to indicate that a copy of the catalogue
intact with preface survived into the early twelfth century. The extant preface
itself makes no reference to sandong. Lu does allude to a collective conferral
of the sandong in the declaration preceding his guide to ordination (*Lingbao
shoudu yi, biao ~, 2a).
Lu Xiujing is widely credited with compiling a * Sandongjingshu mulu (Index
of Scriptures and Writings of the Three Caverns). It is remarkable that no Song
library catalogue lists this text. The catalogue of scriptures that Lu is said to
have submitted in 471, according to pre-Song Buddhist polemical treatises, is
generally assumed to have borne this title. The earliest apparent reference to
this title in the name of Master Lu ~7t1: occurs in the *Daojiao yishu (Pivot of
Meaning of the Taoist Teaching; 2.3b), compiled ca. 700 by Meng Anpai :tfu: '.!i:. flF.
This text echoes the Shengshen jing passage on guardians of the Three Caverns,