6. The Tao-tê-chên-ching-chu (道德眞經註) by Wu-Chʽêng (吳澄). This man was a native of Lin-chiean-hsien (臨川縣) in Kiangsi, and lived under the Yuan or Mongol dynasty. He divided the Tao-tê Ching into sixty-eight chapters by putting, in several instances, two or more of the ordinary chapters into one. His commentary is one of the best and of the most popular among the Chinese literati. This is partly owing to the fact that Wu-Chʽêng was also a well-known Confucianist and a commentator on the classics. His style was Yu-chʽing (幼清), and it is under the name Oi-yeou-thsing that Julien makes mention of him. In Chinese books he is also frequently quoted as Tsʽao-lu (草廬). A new edition of Wu-Chʽêng’s excellent work appeared in the eighth year of Chia-chʽing (1803,) with a preface by Chang-Wên-ping, and another edition with a short supplement appeared in the reign of the late emperor.
7. Under the Ming dynasty there were several good, editions of this work published, but I have been able to obtain only two of them. The Tao-tê-hsing-ming-chʽien-chi (道德性命前集) was published during the reign of Yung-lo in the first quarter of the 15th century. The editor does not reveal his name but uses a nom de guerre, and I have not succeeded in ascertaining anything about his history. The commentary which he has written is very useful, and evinces a careful study of his author and a familiar acquaintance with Chinese literature. The text and the headings of the Chapters are said to be after Ho-shang-kung, and the number of the chapters is eighty-one.
8. The Tao-tê-hsing-ming-hou-chi (道德性命後集) appeared in the reign of Chia-ching (嘉靖) of the same dynasty, and nearly a century after the above edition. The author of this commentary was Chu-Chʽen-hung (朱宸洪), a relative of the royal family, and a military viceroy with full powers for some time. His notes are short and not of great utility, but he occasionally introduces quotations from early writers illustrative of passages in Lao-tzŭ’s teachings, and he seems to have been a man of no mean literary attainments.
9. The Tao-tê Ching, with Prolegomena and Commentary by Hsu-Ta-chʽun (徐大椿), was published in 1760. Ta-chʽun’s style was Ling-tʽai (靈胎), and he was born in Wu-chiang-hsien (吳江縣) in the department of Soochow, in the reign of Yung-chêng. He was well-known during his life as an accomplished scholar, and a writer on medicine and other subjects. His commentary on the Tao-tê Ching is to be reckoned among the most useful of all the commentaries that have hitherto appeared. He speaks very slightingly of previous editors, more especially of Ho-shang-kung, and he advertises his readers that he has not stolen anything from his predecessors, but has studied his author. Mr. Wylie says that Ta-chʽun in this commentary, “in a concise and lucid style, develops his ideas on the work of Laòu-tze, extolling it above the Confucian Classics.”[18]
10. The Tao-tê-ching-kʽao-yi (道德經攷異) by Pi-Yuan (畢沅), a high officer under Chien-lung. He published this work in the forty-sixth year of this reign (1781) in two volumes, and with the chapters divided in the usual manner. The text which he gives is that settled by Fu-yi (傅奕), an imperial annalist during the Tʽang dynasty, and his notes consist almost exclusively of an enumeration of the variations presented by previous editions. Mr. Wylie speaks of it as “a very excellent examination of the purity of the text,”[19] but it is scarcely so much as a statement of the various readings, with an occasional attempt at explanation or reconciliation.
11. The Lao-tzŭ-tsʽan-chu (老子參註). Of this Mr. Wylie writes:—“A critical exposition of the work (that is, of the Tao-tê Ching) was written by 倪元垣 E Yuên-tʽàn in 1816, entitled the 老子參註 Laòu-tszè-tsʽan-choó.”[20]
Appended to several editions of the Tao-tê Ching is a small tract bearing the name Yin-fu Ching (陰符經), that is, as explained by one author, the Classic of the Secret Tally. It contains only a few sentences, generally obscure and enigmatical, bearing on subjects similar to those treated of by Lao-tzŭ. The author of the work is unknown, and some refer it to the ancient Hwang-Ti (about B.C. 2630), while others bring it down so late as Li-Chʽuan (李筌) of the Tʽang dynasty.[21] It seems more probable, however, that it was written by Tʽai-kung (太公), who is also known as as Lü-wang (呂望) and Chiàng-shang (姜尙). He was feudal chief of the principality of Chʽi (齊), and lived under kings Wên and Wu of the Chou dynasty (about B.C. 1150 to 1120). Szŭ-ma-chʽien[22] mentions the book under the title Chou-shu-yin-fu (周書陰符), as having been studied by Su-Chʽin (蘇秦), a famous general about the time of Mencius, who attained to the high position of chief minister for six of the seven states then contending; hence he is frequently spoken of as Liu-kuo-hsiang (劉國相). The Yin-fu-Ching forms part of the curious book called the Magnetic Needle (指南針), where the text is accompanied with very interesting notes.
[1] Le Livre des Récompenses et des Peines &c., par S. Julien Avertissement, p. 6.
[2] Wên-hsien &c., ch., 211.
[3] See Lie-tzŭ’s Chung-hsü-chen-ching (冲虛眞經) Tien-sui (天瑞) ch. where it forms part of a quotation from Hwang-Ti’s writings.