Commentary on the Inner Chapters of the Baopuzi

Author: Wang Ming
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-03-01
Features: The Inner Canon of the Emerald Immortal is undoubtedly an important source for the study of the history of Taoism and the history of science and technology. Previous and contemporary scholars have done a lot of collation work. This time, I have compiled them together, adding some of my own annotations and corrections, which can be considered the first comprehensive collation. As for annotations, there has never been a published annotated edition. According to records, Tao Hongjing's nephew, Tao Yi, mentioned in the "Record of the Hidden Abode in Huayang" that Tao Hongjing's annotated works included the "Twenty Volumes of Annotations to the Emerald Immortal" (see Chapter 107 of the "Cloud Chamber Seven Bins" compiled by Zhang Junfang in the Song Dynasty, and "Biography of Tao Hongjing" by Jia Song in the Song Dynasty). Tao Hongjing's "Twenty Volumes of Annotations to the Emerald Immortal" should be the annotations for the Inner Canon, but this annotated edition has long been lost, leaving no trace. Now, I have made a rough annotation to provide some assistance to readers. Since the Inner Canon of the Emerald Immortal is not a popular reading material, the annotated edition, with both collated and annotated content, is already quite extensive. Therefore, except for a few places where I take the opportunity to express some critical remarks (such as the mistaken claim in the "Subtle Meaning" chapter that Guo Ju buried his child and found gold), I generally do not add separate comments on religious superstitions or feudal ethical teachings. The Inner Canon of the Emerald Immortal was originally a standalone book, separate from the Outer Canon. In the preface to the Inner Canon of the Emerald Immortal by Ge Hong, it is said: "Among the books I wrote, I separately compiled this one, called the Inner Canon, consisting of twenty volumes, in the same order as the Outer Canon." Ge Hong wrote the Outer Canon first and then the Inner Canon (see Huang Bai). The preface to the Outer Canon of the Emerald Immortal states: "I wrote twenty volumes of the Inner Canon and fifty volumes of the Outer Canon." Thus, the Inner Canon was twenty volumes, which is beyond doubt. However, the "Catalog of Classics" in the Sui Dynasty recorded the Inner Canon as twenty-one volumes, while the "Bibliography" in the New Tang Dynasty recorded it as ten volumes, which is inconsistent. The currently circulating Inner Canon of the Emerald Immortal is in twenty volumes, with each volume being a separate chapter. Therefore, the ten-volume version in the New Tang Dynasty may have combined two chapters into one volume. I believe the Inner Canon of the Emerald Immortal was originally twenty volumes, with each volume being a separate chapter, but it may not be in its original form. Because the "Biography of Ge Hong" in the "Book of Jin" mentions one hundred and sixteen chapters in the Inner and Outer Canons. The current version has twenty chapters in the Inner Canon and fifty-two in the Outer Canon, totaling only seventy-two chapters, which is forty-four chapters short of the one hundred and sixteen mentioned. These forty-four chapters have clearly been lost. Therefore, Yan Kejun in his "Iron Bridge Random Drafts" wrote in the preface to the Emerald Immortal: "The current edition only contains the middle and later parts of the Inner Canon and the middle and later parts of the Outer Canon." Later, here is a statement that needs to be made.