Taishang Laojun Taisu Jing 太上妙始经
Paul PengTaishang Laojun Taisu Jing
The author is unknown. It was probably compiled between the late Han Dynasty and the Wei-Jin period. Baopuzi·Xialan Pian (Extensive Reading Chapter of the Master Who Embraces Simplicity) records a one-volume Taisu Jing, which refers to this very scripture. The existing version is included in the Zhengyi (Orthodox Unity) Section of the Daozang (Taoist Canon).
With only over five hundred characters, the scripture outlines the cosmological view that the Dao generates heaven, earth and all things, as well as the outlook on life that advocates enduring humiliation, maintaining the feminine principle and governing the mind like water. Its doctrines are largely consistent with the core tenets of Daodejing (Classic of the Way and Virtue) and Yizhuan (Commentaries on the I Ching), and are also influenced by Zhouyi Qian Zaodu (Chiseling Open the Mystery of the Qian Trigram of the I Ching), a divinatory apocryphal text of the Han Dynasty.
Taishang Laojun Taisu Jing
