The Ming Imperial Commentary on Dao De Jing 大明太祖高皇帝御注道德真经

Annotated by Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and completed in the seventh year of the Hongwu reign period (1374).

It consists of two volumes with sixty-seven chapters, and is included in the Yujue (Jade Commentary) category of the Dongshen Section of the Daozang (Daoist Canon).

Prefaced by Zhu Yuanzhang himself, it states that the Classic of the Dao and Virtue is "the ultimate root of all things, the supreme teacher of kings, and the essential treasure of subjects—not a technique of golden elixir alchemy".

The Ming Imperial Commentary on Dao De Jing

His annotations also expound on the ideas of self-cultivation, family harmony, state governance and world peace, integrating Laozi’s philosophy with statecraft. He further mentions that since unifying the realm, he has sought to draw lessons from the ways of wise kings of previous dynasties by perusing the Classic of the Dao and Virtue and commentaries by various scholars. As "the annotations made by others vary widely in perspectives", he established his own theories based on personal insights instead of adopting ancient annotations. The Annotated Bibliography of the Revised Complete Library of the Four Treasuries comments that his annotations are "illogical in rhetoric and obscure in wording".