The Daozang 道藏

The Daozang is a large-scale collection of books that compiles and preserves all Taoist classics and related works.

Compilation began in the early years of the Tang Dynasty, with a history of nearly 1,300 years to date. Taoism was founded in the Han Dynasty, with very few classics initially. During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, as Taoism developed, the number of classics written by Taoists of various schools increased day by day.

Some famous Taoists began to collect and sort out Taoist books. For example, during the Liu Song period of the Southern Dynasties, the Taoist Lu Xiujing collected a wide range of Taoist books and compiled Catalogue of Dongjing Books (Catalogue of Grotto Scriptures), which recorded various Taoist scriptures, talismans, medical prescriptions and technical works, totaling 1,228 volumes. By the early Tang Dynasty, Taoist books began to be compiled into a "zang" (canon).

During the Kaiyuan reign of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, the government ordered the search for Taoist scriptures across the country and compiled them into Quan Dao Jing (Complete Taoist Scriptures), which was also called the "Kaiyuan Daozang" in later generations, containing a total of 3,744 volumes of Taoist books. During the Zhenzong reign of the Northern Song Dynasty, the Taoist Zhang Junfang was ordered to preside over the compilation of Dazong Tiangong Baocang (Treasure of the Heavenly Palace of the Great Song Dynasty), totaling 4,565 volumes.

During the Huizong reign of the Northern Song Dynasty, Tiangong Baocang was expanded to 5,481 volumes and engraved and printed in Min County, Fuzhou for the first time, known as the Wanshou Daozang (Longevity Taoist Canon).

During the Zhangzong reign of the Jin Dynasty, the Dajin Xuandu Baocang (Treasure of the Mysterious Capital of the Great Jin Dynasty) was compiled and engraved, totaling 6,455 volumes.

In the early years of the Yuan Dynasty, the Dayuan Xuandu Baocang (Treasure of the Mysterious Capital of the Great Yuan Dynasty) compiled and engraved under the auspices of the Quanzhen School Taoist Song Defang had increased to more than 7,800 volumes. However, all the Daozang compiled during the Tang, Song, Jin and Yuan dynasties mentioned above have been lost.

The surviving Daozang was compiled under the imperial order by Zhang Yuchu, the 43rd Heavenly Master of the Ming Dynasty, and his younger brother Zhang Yuqing, and was printed in the tenth year of the Zhengtong reign of the Ming Dynasty (1445), known as the Zhengtong Daozang (Zhengtong Taoist Canon).

In the 35th year of the Wanli reign of Emperor Shenzong of the Ming Dynasty (1607), Zhang Guoxiang, the 50th Heavenly Master, was ordered to preside over the compilation of the Xu Daozang (Supplementary Taoist Canon). The official and supplementary Daozang of the Ming Dynasty included a total of 1,476 types of Taoist books, 5,485 volumes, packed into 512 cases, each case numbered in the order of Thousand-Character Classic. The engravings of the Ming Daozang were all burned down when the Eight-Nation Alliance invaded Beijing in 1900, and only one copy printed before that, collected by Baiyun Guan in Beijing, remained basically intact.

In 1926, Commercial Press in Shanghai photocopied the Zhengtong Daozang collected by Baiyun Guan and changed it into a thread-bound album version.

In recent years, new editions of the Daozang printed by some publishing houses in the mainland and Taiwan are all photocopied from the Commercial Press version. The Zhengtong Daozang is voluminous and complex in content.

It includes a large number of Taoist classics, treatises, discipline precepts, talismans, spells, rituals, eulogies, temple and mountain records, immortal genealogies and biographies of Taoist figures, all of which are important documents for studying and understanding Taoist doctrines and their history. The Daozang also includes many works of various schools of thought, some of which are ancient books lost outside the Daozang, providing references for researchers of ancient academic thoughts.

In addition, there are a large number of works on ancient Chinese science and technology, such as books on medicine and health preservation, internal and external alchemy works, astronomical and calendar works, etc.

These are extremely precious historical materials for the study of ancient Chinese medicine, chemistry, qigong and human body science, astronomy and calendar science, etc.

Various classics in the Daozang are arranged according to the classification method of "Three Caves, Four Assistants and Twelve Categories", that is, all Taoist books are divided into seven major categories: "Three Caves" and "Four Assistants", among which each part of the Three Caves is further divided into twelve subcategories.

The Three Caves are Dongzhen Bu (Grotto of Truth Section), Dongxuan Bu (Grotto of Mystery Section) and Dongshen Bu (Grotto of Spirits Section). The Four Assistants are Taixuan Bu (Great Mystery Section), Taiping Bu (Great Peace Section), Taiqing Bu (Great Clarity Section) and Zhengyi Bu (Orthodox Unity Section). The Twelve Categories are Benwen Lei (Original Text Category), Shenfu Lei (Spiritual Talisman Category), Yujue Lei (Jade Commentary Category), Lingtu Lei (Spiritual Diagram Category), Pulu Lei (Genealogy and Record Category), Jielü Lei (Precepts Category), Weiyi Lei (Ceremony Category), Fangfa Lei (Method Category), Zhongshu Lei (Various Arts Category), Jizhuan Lei (Record and Biography Category), Zansong Lei (Eulogy Category) and Zhangbiao Lei (Memorial Category).

This classification system was gradually formed during the compilation of Taoist book catalogues by Taoists in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, reflecting the circulation of Taoist books at that time.

Since the Tang Dynasty, all dynasties have followed this classification system when compiling the Daozang. However, with the emergence of new Taoist schools and their books, this system has long been impractical, but it is still used today due to tradition.

Many modern and contemporary scholars have conducted new research and put forward ideas on the classification system of Taoist books, but no recognized new system has been formed so far.

In short, the Daozang, as a large-scale collection of books, is not only an important treasure in the history of Taoism, but also in the history of Chinese academic culture, which awaits further excavation, sorting out and research.