Daoist Classics Selection: A Collated Edition of the Taiping Jing (Set of Two Volumes)

Author: Zhonghua Book Company
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 1997-10-01
Features:
Fragment: Insects act for their own benefit, while co-insects act for their superiors. Their intentions are diverse, hence the insects. Daily changes correspond to this. Taiping Dejun received letters from the people about disasters, all stemming from the intent of disasters to report them. It is truly like the gods! "Excellent! The disaster has been investigated and treated." "How do you know?" "Seeing the righteousness of the Celestial Master, I know that there is no escape from the insects devouring people, so it is resolved." "You can be said to understand the meaning of the Dao!" "May I ask about the repeated characters and what they govern? Leading to righteousness, opening the divine to think. Entering the room, taking it as a guarantee—how can this be heard?" "Indeed, it is easy to understand yet profound. These words are light yet heavy, and cannot be transmitted carelessly. The refined swallow it and call it divine; the unrefined swallow it and call it undivine. The unrefined swallow it and call it idle talk. Thus, the Dao is transmitted through the worthy. In all matters, understanding comes through the worthy. Without the worthy, it is called reckless action. Excess returns to the person, and the True Person knows this?" "Yes, yes. I dare not act recklessly. I sincerely entrust it to the worthy. This is what I tell you: take '' as the character, above , followed by the lower part to inform others. It must be that they bathe and purify themselves, face north, then west, then south, then east, and inform them, making them strict and drink clear wine, as if they have drunk clear water. Follow the character in thought, forever as an act of the body. And say [2] that the good Qi of Zhengping has arrived, removing illness, making the face more radiant. Or seeing the character, think of it wherever the illness resides, called returning essence to nourish the body. Or for the healthy, it brings increasing tranquility. Or if there is a harmful spirit, it will even fight, though they remain calm, strive not to be confused. Over time, it will subside. From then on, the heavens rejoice in the upright, and other texts support this. The gods also aid according to human intent. The superior person sees others swallow the character and thinks the same, and one swallow can teach all. Thus, the Dao operates once. My Dao does not rely on words but on resonance with the Dao. Be wary, True Person. Having opened the gods, the Dao returns to Dejun, entrusted to the virtuous. People stand upright, clearly benefiting the governance. The wise teacher informs them with authority, what is told is all true. What is seen of spirits should not be spoken of. The superior person reaches transcendence through this, the middle person to non-action, the inferior to simplicity. What each person gains is thick or thin. The gods govern according to the talismans, hence the warning not to transmit, as what is thought cannot be the same. Different, so it cannot be spoken of. Believe it! It is easy! Its Dao is concise! Its aspiration for longevity is profound! Thus, learning it, the person will naturally align. Will naturally be good, with divine wisdom, turning their mind to joy. Or today they swallow my character, tomorrow they can teach with other texts, teaching tens and hundreds in response. The Dao flows in an instant, throughout the eight directions and the six realms, with the spirit following to heal. From then on, all people will early correct their actions, all delight in the true text, no longer in. The True Person desires to delight in the heavens and the Dao, making illness correct, using the three Dao scripts as the foundation." "I wish to hear the foreword." "Excellent! Your question. The ignorant find it hard to be correct, troubling the Dejun. Thus, I place the scripts before you, letting the high and low correct themselves, so that the common people are not harmed by isolated words or." "Excellent, excellent! I wish to hear the three Dao scripts. Why must they not only be a single collection but also have many preceding and following texts?" "Excellent, excellent! Your words align with the heavens' intent. The reason for the difficulty in asking is to make the common people deeply aware of their faults. Speaking alone is a great illness; without seeing the evil of isolated words, there is no way to see the good of collected scripts. Not transmitting the errors, distinguishing the great losses—all this opens the heart, and then rescue is possible. Postscript: This reprinted edition of the Taiping Jing with collation has only revised a few titles of chapters, minor notes, and some punctuation marks. In the foreword, some sentences have been improved; in the appendix, two references have been added. The Taiping Jing originally lacked volumes 56 to 64, which were supplemented from the Ding section of the Taiping Jing, but the lacks titles. According to the Dunhuang Taiping Jing (hereinafter referred to as the Dunhuang Catalog, see my "Examination of the Taiping Jing Catalog" published in the fourth issue of Wenshi in 1965), the following chapters roughly appear in the: "Resolution with the Gods," "Calendrical Separation of ," "Prohibition of Alcohol," "Upper and Lower Disorder," "Yin and Yang Methods," "Observing Things to Know the Dao and Virtue," "Book Use of ," "Emperor and Empress Governance," "Resolution of Heaven's ," "Seeking Longevity and Removing Disasters." This reprinted edition, considering minimal impact on the original layout, with the original text unchanged, would require adding titles to each section, expanding lines, and affecting the entire layout. Moreover, the is concise, with some chapters recording only a few sentences, and some text not fully matching the original titles. Therefore, no changes have been made. The missing volumes 73 to 85 were also supplemented from the. According to the Dunhuang Catalog, chapters such as "Resolution of Good and Evil in the Neighborhood," "Resolution of the True Root of Books," "Resolution of Whether One is Right or Wrong," "Chapter of Longevity Through the Dao," "Resolution of the Origin of Studies," "Chart of Self-Reflection Upon Entering the Room," and "Resolution of Knowing Gains and Losses" could be added. However, the order of the upper and lower chapters is mixed and does not align. For the same reasons, the original layout remains unchanged. The missing volumes 120 to 1216 are entirely lost, supplemented from the Xin section of the, which is not divided into volumes and lacks titles. According to the Dunhuang Catalog, the following chapters roughly appear in the: "Method of Not Eating for Longevity," "Resolution That Divination Cannot Save," "Resolution of Concealment and Use," "Resolution of the Three Dao Collection Without Exiting for Men and Women to Recite and Perform," "Resolution of the in Each Person's Abdomen Returning to Red Han," "Resolution of Books with Many Barbarian Names Rejecting Divine Names," "Resolution of Nine Matters Concerning Relatives and Brothers," "Resolution of Ineffective Words Leading to Success for the Superior Person Teaching Others," "Resolution of Following Customs," "Resolution of Increasing the Oboe with Image Text," "Resolution of Excess Yang and Sword and Arrows Dissolving," "Resolution of Giving and Receiving," "Resolution of the Great Effect of ," "Resolution of Election and Calendrical Text," "Resolution of Official Residences and Food and Clothing for a Thousand," "Resolution of Thinking Like Echoes of Others," "Resolution of Life and Death Before and After Fighting According to the Six Energies," "Resolution of Counteracting Nature Through Learning," etc. The missing volumes 137 to 153 are entirely missing, supplemented from the Ren section of the, which lacks titles. According to the Dunhuang Catalog, the following chapters roughly appear: "Resolution of Not Blaming Each Other for Adultery," "Resolution of Thinking of Goodness as Good and Evil as Evil," "Resolution of Requesting and Stopping Rain," "Resolution of the Three Unities Not Having Punishment," "Resolution of Learning and Obtaining Seals Without Losing the Three Matters," "Resolution of Great Holy Spirit and Superior Ming Tang Writings," "Resolution of Attending the Heavens and Paying Tribute," "Resolution of the Correct Ceremony for Officials," "Resolution of the Duty of Ming Tang to Be Peaceful and Not Fear Confusion," "Resolution of Ancient and Modern Texts," "Resolution of Ancient Heaven's Text Not Yet Emerging," "Resolution of Great Absence of in ," "Resolution of Governing Heaven in Three Times and Thinking of the Dao," "Resolution of the King and the Celestial Person Not Being Angry on the Day of the Sun," "Resolution of the Dao Person as Teacher of Heaven," "Resolution of Two Halves Becoming One," "Resolution of Kindness Extending to Plants and Not Using Other Evil Methods," "Resolution of Guarding One to Achieve Longevity," etc. The above texts from the Xin and Ren sections, for the same reasons, will not add titles. This needs to be explained. Recently, Comrade Jin Sheng informed me: Volume 119 of the is titled "Five Methods of the Yang Fire," which says: "Thus, the spirit of fire is the human heart. The human heart is sacred" (see page 678 of this book). The sentence "The human heart is" in the second note of Mr. Tang Yongtong's "Notes on Reading the Taiping Jing" suggests that the three characters "" may be missing "," citing the phrase "" from the of the by Fu Sheng. This is noted here, and gratitude is expressed. In this book, any errors in collation, punctuation, or references should be corrected by the readers at any time. Wang Ming March 1978, Institute of Philosophy, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences