Laozi's "Returning to the Origin" Translation and Annotations

Author: [Han] Yan Zun
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2004-12-01
Features: The Laozi Zhi Gui is a philosophical work that elucidates the essence of the Laozi. The author, Yan Junping, was a recluse in the late Western Han Dynasty, originally from Chengdu, Shu Prefecture. His original surname was Zhuang, and his given name was Zun, with the courtesy name Junping. Ban Gu, in his Book of Han, avoided the taboo name of Emperor Zhang of Han (Zhuang), changing "Zhuang" to "Yan" and referring to him as Yan Junping. Yan Junping believed that "divination was a lowly profession but could benefit the masses" (Book of Han, Biographies of Wang Gong, Liang Gong,). Therefore, he made divination his profession. He often set up stalls in Chengdu's markets, reading for several people each day. When he earned enough money to support himself, he closed his stall, lowered the curtain, and lectured on the Laozi. He was well-read and knowledgeable, and based on the principles of the Laozi and the Zhuangzi, he wrote The Laozi Zhi Gui.
Yan Junping cherished tranquility and revered nature, teaching people loyalty, filial piety, propriety, and righteousness, ultimately returning to wuwei (non-action). He advocated "trust, obedience, gentleness, and self-cultivation through farming, always content with what one has, and returning to namelessness" (Zhi Gui, Volume 4). He believed that "those who enrich me materially diminish my spirit, and those who bring me fame harm my body" (Biographies of the High Officials). Therefore, he declined invitations and never held official office, living to over 90 years old and completing his work. Yan Junping was deeply revered and beloved by the local people and scholars. The famous philosopher Yang Xiong studied under him in his youth. Later, holding high office in the capital, Yang Xiong often praised Yan Junping to the officials of the court and said in The Words of Law, Questioning Brightness: "The talent of Shu Zhuang (Yan Junping) is as precious as the Si Pearl and as pure as the He Jade. He did not seek superficial recognition or gain through deceit, nor did he change his principles despite long years of seclusion. Even during the reigns of Emperor Sui and Emperor He, who were renowned for their virtue, how could his achievements be surpassed? To cherish this man is not to cherish a treasure? I hold Zhuang in high esteem, for his worth is hard to match." He considered Yan Junping as talented and virtuous as Confucius, with extensive knowledge and a unique philosophical system.
During the Three Kingdoms period, Wang Shang of Shu established a shrine for Yan Junping. At that time, famous scholars in Shu often compared Yan Junping to Confucius. Li Quan said, "Confucius and Yan Ping gathered numerous books to complete the Spring and Autumn Annals and The Laozi Zhi Gui." Qin Mi said, "Books that are not the Records of the Historian or the Maps of Zhou or written by Confucius are not collected; the Dao that is not void and natural is not expounded by Yan Ping." They both believed that Yan Junping, like Confucius, possessed profound knowledge and established his own philosophical system.
The Biographies of the High Officials by (Huangfu Shi'an) and the Annals of Huayan by (Chang Qiu) both recorded anecdotes about Yan Junping. The Laozi Zhi Gui consists of 13 volumes, with the first 7 volumes annotating the Dao De Jing and the last 6 volumes annotating the Dao Jing. After the Song Dynasty, only the first 7 volumes remained. In the commentaries on the Laozi by scholars of the Tang and Song dynasties, over 100 passages from the Laozi Zhi Gui were cited, and when combined with the preserved fragments, the basic ideas of the work can still be discerned.
Today, there are two versions of the Laozi Zhi Gui: one is a 6-volume edition titled The Doctrine of Morality and the Laozi Zhi Gui, listed as "Volumes 1-6" and included in Secret Classics Collection, Jin Dai Zhi Shu, Xue Jin Tao Yuan, and Initial Edition of the Collected Series. The other is a 7-volume edition titled The Laozi Zhi Gui of the True Dao Jing, listed as "Volumes 7-13" and included in Dao Zang and Yilan Tang Series. The 6-volume edition does not quote the text of the Laozi, and each chapter is titled with the first few characters of the Laozi passage it annotates, such as The Upper Virtue is Not Virtue, The Acquisition of Virtue, and The Upper Man Who Hears the Dao. It lacks one volume compared to the 7-volume edition, specifically the annotations on chapters from "The People Are Hungry" to "Trustworthy Words Are Not Beautiful." The 7-volume edition quotes the text of the Laozi at the beginning of each chapter but does not list chapter titles.
The Laozi Zhi Gui is based on a different version of the Laozi than other editions, with 40 chapters in the Dao De Jing and 32 in the Dao Jing, totaling 72 chapters. It was highly influential before the Tang and Song dynasties. The Biographies of Wang Gong, Liang Gong, and others in Ban Gu's Book of Han states that Yan Junping "wrote over 100,000 words in accordance with the principles of the Laozi and the Zhuangzi." Chang Qiu's Annals of Huayan records, "Yan Junping wrote The Laozi Zhi Gui, which is the cornerstone of Daoist texts." The Catalog of the Sui Dynasty, the Old and New Catalogs of the Tang Dynasty, the Catalog of the Song Dynasty, Lu Deming's Annotations on the Classics, Emperor Xuanzong's Commentary on the True Dao Jing, and Du Guangting's Extensive on the True Dao Jing all list the Laozi Zhi Gui. From the Three Kingdoms to the Northern and Southern Dynasties, Tang, Song, and Yuan dynasties, scholars continuously discussed and cited this work. Since the Ming Dynasty, some have suspected that the existing Laozi Zhi Gui was a forgery. Later, with the rise of skepticism during the Qing Dynasty, further doubts emerged.
To edit this book, I examined over 50 commentaries on the Laozi from past dynasties and found over 200 citations from the Laozi Zhi Gui, nearly 100 of which correspond closely to the preserved first 7 volumes. These commentaries were written during the Tang and Song dynasties, proving that the later version of the Laozi Zhi Gui was not a forgery. The philosophical ideas of the Laozi Zhi Gui are unique and played a transitional role in the history of Chinese philosophy, embodying a turning point. The Laozi Zhi Gui is an interpretation of the Daoist classic Laozi by Han Dynasty scholars, aimed at elucidating its essence and establishing a cosmological theory of evolution from nothingness to being, an epistemology based on non-being, and a system of self-generation of all things. The translator and annotator of this work has extensively absorbed various versions of the Laozi Zhi Gui published since its inception and subsequent research on Daoist thought, translating and annotating it into vernacular Chinese.
The Biographies of Wang Gong, Liang Gong, and others in the Book of Han records: "In Chengdu, Shu, Yan Junping practiced divination, reading for several people a day and earning enough to support himself. When he had enough money, he closed his stall, lowered the curtain, and lectured on the Laozi. He was well-read and knowledgeable, and based on the principles of the Laozi and the Zhuangzi, he wrote over 100,000 words."
Yan Junping's works were not listed in the Treatise on the Arts of the Book of Han, but the Biographies of Wang Gong, Liang Gong, and others indicate that Ban Gu recognized his authorship. The Catalog of the Sui Dynasty lists the Laozi Zhi Gui as 11 volumes, annotated by Yan Zun. The Old and New Catalogs of the Tang Dynasty both include it. The existing Dao Zang edition is incomplete, but the Tang Dynasty commentaries on the Laozi cite many passages not found in the Dao Zang version, suggesting that complete copies still existed during the Tang and early Song dynasties.
The General Catalog of the Four Treasuries doubts the authenticity of the work, but the content of the book criticizes Qin and Chu and praises the divine Han Dynasty, reflecting certain characteristics of its time. Additionally, the book frequently quotes from the Book of Changes in its explanations of the Laozi, which aligns with Yan Junping's profession as a diviner. These internal evidence strongly supports the claim that the Laozi Zhi Gui is indeed the work of Yan Junping.
The philosophical features of the book include a unique cosmogony, asserting: "The origins of heaven and earth, the reasons for all things, are rooted in the Dao, which is the beginning of virtue, the source of the divine, and the ancestor of great harmony. The Dao is profound and subtle, virtue is thick or thin, the divine is clear or turbid, and harmony is high or low. Clarity becomes heaven, turbidity becomes earth." The Dao is fundamental, giving rise to virtue, which in turn gives rise to the divine, followed by great harmony, and then the separation of heaven and earth. The Dao, virtue, the divine, and great harmony represent four stages from non-being to being. This theory is relatively unique in ancient Chinese philosophical texts, essentially elaborating on the Laozi's idea of "being arising from non-being" and transforming the cosmogony of the Huainanzi. It can be classified as objective idealism and may have influenced Wei-Jin Xuanxue.
Regardless, The Laozi Zhi Gui is an important work in Chinese Daoism, holding certain theoretical value. Since the early Qing Dynasty, many scholars have dismissed it as a forgery, leading to its neglect. Recent publications in the history of Chinese philosophy have also failed to mention it. In reality, the book possesses distinctive ideas and is worthy of study. Comrade Wang Deyou has meticulously collated and edited this work based on the Dao Zang, Jin Dai Zhi Shu, and Yilan Tang Series, and has collected its lost fragments from Tang and Song commentaries on the Laozi. This is a significant contribution to the recent preservation of ancient texts. Comrade Wang Deyou sought my opinion on this manuscript, and I was delighted to read it and offer these remarks to highlight the academic value of The Laozi Zhi Gui.