Profound Meanings of Dao and De 道德义渊
Paul PengProfound Meanings of Dao and De
Compiled by Taoist Priest Song Wenming during the Liang Dynasty of the The Northern and Southern Dynasties of Ancient China.
This work is quoted in Sandong Zhunang (Pearl Satchel of the Three Caverns).
Originally consisting of two volumes (Upper and Lower), it is not included in the Zhengtong Daozang (Orthodox Daoist Canon).
Profound Meanings of Dao and De
Two Dunhuang manuscripts—S1438 and Jiezi No. 97—are incomplete at both the beginning and end, preserving a total of approximately 217 lines. The original manuscripts had no title; Onoda Shunji proposed the title Daojiao Yi (Meanings of Taoism) based on their content in Dunhuang Daojing Tulubian (Catalog of Taoist Manuscripts from Dunhuang). Lu Guolong’s Zhongguo Chongxuanxue (Chinese Twofold Mystery Philosophy) confirms that this manuscript is the Upper Volume of Daode Yiyuan compiled by Song Wenming.
As an important theoretical work of Taoism during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, its structure resembles that of Sui-Tang Taoist texts such as Xuanmen Dayi (Great Meanings of the Mysterious Gate) and Daojiao Yishu (Pivot of the Meanings of Taoism). It first lists key Taoist doctrinal terms, then quotes scriptures and classics to analyze and interpret their meanings systematically. The exact number of chapters in the original text is difficult to verify; the surviving sections include: 1. The Meaning of Non-Action, 2. The Meaning of Decline from Purity to Vulgarity, 3. Missing, 4. The Meaning of Innate Dao-Nature, 5. The Meaning of Accumulating Virtue and Merit Fields, 6. The Meaning of Karmic Retribution for Merits, etc.
Ideologically, the book is largely based on Laozi’s The Dao De Jing (Tao Te Ching), while absorbing Confucian and Buddhist ideas to elaborate on the philosophical charm of Chongxuan (Twofold Mystery). Its theories—that Dao-nature is innate, cultivating the Dao means cultivating the mind, and returning to one’s innate Dao-nature—also exerted an influence on Taoism during the Sui and Tang dynasties.
