Lu Xiujing’s Lingbao Catalog: Restoring a Lost Daoist Canon

Preface to the Catalogue of Lingbao Scriptures

Composed by Lu Xiujing of the Southern Dynasties in the 14th year of Yuanjia during the reign of Emperor Wen of the Liu Song Dynasty (437 CE).

Both the Secret Catalogue (Mimu) of the Southern Song Dynasty and the Comprehensive Records of Literature (Tongzhi·Yiwen Lue) recorded it as a one-scroll work.

The original text has been lost, but one preface is still preserved in the Yunji Qiqian (Seven Lots of the Cloud Satchel).

This preface outlines the origin and transmission of the Lingbao Scriptures (Lingbao Jing), stating that the "Genuine Text of the Numinous Treasure" (Lingbao Zhenwen) emerged during the Dragon Han Kalpa of remote antiquity. Passed down through the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, it was not publicly disseminated until the late Eastern Jin Dynasty.

However, the Lingbao Scriptures circulating in Lu Xiujing’s time were a mixture of authentic and spurious texts, with corrupted characters, inverted passages, and disorganized content.

Distressed by this situation, Lu Xiujing researched, verified, and rearranged their titles and scroll sequences, compiling the Catalogue of Lingbao Scriptures (Lingbao Jingmu).

The catalogue compiled by Lu was lost after the Southern Song Dynasty, but some of its contents can still be found in other Taoist texts.

In modern times, the Japanese scholar Onoda Shunji collated and compiled a version of the Catalogue of Lingbao Scriptures based on Dunhuang manuscripts and related materials, which was included in his Compilation of Dunhuang Taoist Scripture Catalogues (Dunhuang Daojing Mulu Bian). This effort allowed Lu’s original catalogue to be rediscovered.

The dozens of Taoist texts recorded in this catalogue are mostly ancient Lingbao Scriptures that circulated from the late Eastern Jin to the early Southern Dynasties, serving as valuable references for researchers.