The New Exegesis of Laozi 玄言新记明老部

Originally attributed to "Commentary by Supervisor Yan" or alternatively credited to "Yan Xian, courtesy name Shigu—Secretary Supervisor, Upper Protector of the Palace, and Founding Lord of Langya County", the author is identified as Yan Shigu, a renowned scholar of the early Tang Dynasty who served as Secretary Supervisor and Academician of the Hongwen Academy. This work was not included in the Zhengtong Daozang (Orthodox Daoist Canon). Currently, one fragmentary Dunhuang manuscript (P2462) survives, containing 210 lines of text: the first 37 lines are excerpts from Ge Xuan’s Preface and Instructions to the Laozi Daodejing, closely associated with the core Taoist concept of Taiji.

Based on the subheadings in the manuscript, the original text was presumably divided into six volumes, but less than five volumes remain intact, with each volume being relatively brief. As an introductory treatise (kaiti shu) on the Laozi, the work provides detailed explanations for the title, chapter headings, and chapter sequence of all eighty-one chapters of the Daodejing, centered on the Taoist core of The Dao. Its doctrines are based on Wang Bi’s Commentary on the Laozi. The Old Book of Tang·Bibliography records "Wang Bi’s Xuan Yan Xin Ji Dao De (New Notes on Metaphysical Discourses: Dao and De), two volumes", which may be related to this work.