The Discourse on Dao De Jing 道德真经论

Originally attributed to a scholar surnamed Sima as commentator.

According to the records in Junzhai Dushu Zhi (Bibliography of the Junzhai Study), this work was actually composed by Sima Guang, a scholar of the Northern Song Dynasty.

It had already been cited in works such as Daodejing Guben Jizhu (Collected Commentaries on the Ancient Version of the Classic of the Dao and Virtue) by Fan Yingyuan and Daode Zhenjing Jizhu (Collected Commentaries on the Classic of the Dao and Virtue) by Peng Si of the Song Dynasty.

The original text consisted of two volumes, while the version preserved in the Daozang (Daoist Canon) was later rearranged into four volumes and included in the Yujue (Jade Commentary) category of the Dongshen Section.

The author argued that in Laozi’s work, "Dao and De are an integrated whole and cannot be separated and discussed independently". Thus, he did not divide the text into the Dao Jing (Classic of the Dao) and De Jing (Classic of Virtue) as two parts, nor did he label the chapters with titles. His annotations interpret the Laozi by citing Confucian classics. For example, he quoted "What is alternated between yin and yang is called the Dao" from the Xici (Appended Remarks) of the I Ching to explain Laozi’s line "Reversal is the movement of the Dao"; he also cited "A benevolent person is necessarily courageous" to interpret the phrase "Compassion enables courage"—these are typical examples of his exegetical approach. In addition, his punctuation and sentence division of the scriptural text differ from those of previous scholars.