The Introductory Formula to Dao De Jing 老子道德经序诀

Referred to as Preface to the Laozi or Preface to the Five-Thousand-Word Text for short, this work was originally attributed to "Ge Xuan, the Left Immortal Lord of Taiji". However, it is suspected to be a pseudepigraph by Taoists of the Eastern Jin and Southern Dynasties. The Book of Sui·Treatise on Classics and Records records that during the Liang Dynasty, there was a one-volume Preface and Instructions to the Laozi credited to Immortal Lord Ge, but the text was not included in the Zhengtong Daozang (Orthodox Daoist Canon).

According to Catalog of Daoist Texts from Dunhuang compiled by Onishi Jinsaburo, twelve fragmentary manuscripts of the Preface and Instructions (including S73, P2370, etc.) are preserved among the Dunhuang relics. Each manuscript is incomplete, but the full text—approximately over 90 lines—can be reconstructed through cross-collation. Serving as a preface to the Laozi Five-Thousand-Word Text (or alternatively to the Commentary on the Laozi by He Shang Gong), the text consists of five sections:

The first section outlines the myth of Laozi’s incarnation and his transmission of the 5,000-character Daodejing to Yin Xi. The second section tells the myth of He Shang Gong imparting the Commentary on the Chapters and Sentences of the Laozi Daodejing to Emperor Wen of Han. The third section, titled "Words of the Left Immortal Lord of Taiji", restates the content of the previous two sections and further deifies the Laozi Five-Thousand-Word Text and the Commentary by He Shang Gong as divine scriptures. The fourth section, "Words of Zheng Siyuan, the Daoist Master", mainly recounts the transmission of the Daodejing among The Lingbao Sect Taoists such as Xu Lailu, Ge Xuan, and Zheng Siyuan. The fifth section, Secret Instructions of Taiji, contains esoteric teachings for Taoists on transmitting and reciting the Daodejing. Throughout the text, Laozi and his work are vigorously deified, reflecting the tendency of early Taoists to adapt the Daodejing into a core Taoist scripture centered on The Dao.

This text exerted significant influence on Taoism during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the Sui, and Tang Dynasties. It was excerpted or quoted in dozens of Buddhist and Taoist classics, becoming an important link in the transmission of early Taoist thought.