Journal directory listing - Volume 65 (2020) - Journal of NTNU【65(2)】September (Special Issue: Studies on Taoist Dantao)

Why and How to Read the Zhuangzi? Late Ming Neidan Master Cheng Yining's Answer Author: Jean Angles (Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes - Paris Sciences et Lettres, Religious Sciences Section, Doctoral Student)

Vol.&No.:Vol. 65, No. 2
Date:September 2020
Pages:147-169
DOI:10.6210/JNTNU.202009_65(2).0007

Abstract:
The Commentary and Sub-commentary to the True Classic of Southern Splendor is a late Ming commentary on the Zhuangzi, which interprets it from a Neidan perspective. The author Cheng Yining develops an original hermeneutical strategy, seldom seen in the history of Zhuangzi exegesis: he reads the Zhuangzi as an inner alchemy classic, and his commentary aims to uncover its alchemical meaning. To support his reading, Cheng Yining creates a new figure for the author Zhuangzi, who becomes a transformation body of the Most High Lord Lao, and writes the Southern Splendor to reveal to the world the road to immortality using “symbolic words.” Cheng Yining’s goal is to decipher those symbols, thus offering what he sees as the sole way of reading the Zhuangzi that remains true to its original intent. His commentary stands as a meritorious deed, accomplished by Cheng Yining to provide the real meaning of the Zhuangzi, and to gain the Most High Lord Lao’s help to complete his own inner alchemical practice.

Keywords:Cheng Yining, hermeneutics, inner alchemy, Late Ming thought, Zhuangzi

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References:
  1. Ming‧Cheng Yining. 《南華真經注疏》 (Nanhua zhenjing zhushu). Vol. 9,《道藏輯要──牛集》 (Daozang jiyao: Ox Lodge, sections 9-12), (Taipei, Taiwan: Kaozheng Publishing Co., reprint, 1971), 3991-4032.
  2. Ming‧Cheng Yining.《南華真經注疏》 (Nanhua zhenjing zhushu). Vol. 10,《道藏輯要──牛集》 (Daozang jiyao: Ox Lodge, sections 9-12), (Taipei, Taiwan: Kaozheng Publishing Co., reprint, 1971), 4035-4188.
  3. Ming‧Lu Xixing. 《南華真經副墨》 (Nanhua zhenjing fumo), notes and punctuation by Jiang Menma (Beijing, China: Chung Hwa Book Co., Lt., 2010).
  4. Chen Yinghui.〈陰陽丹旨的全身全真:程以寧《南華真經注疏》淺析〉 (The Cultivation and Purification of Body and Mind in the Theory of Yindan and Yangdan-An Analysis of Cheng Yining’s Annotation and Explanation of True Scripture of Southern Florescence), 《鵝湖月刊》 (Legein Monthly), 499 (2017): 26-36.
  5. Eichman, Jennifer. A Late Sixteenth-Century Chinese Buddhist Fellowship: Spiritual Ambitions, Intellectual Debates, and Epistolary Connections (Leiden, the Netherlands: Brill, 2016).
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APA FormatJean Angles (2020). Why and How to Read the Zhuangzi? Late Ming Neidan Master Cheng Yining's Answer. Journal of National Taiwan Normal University, 65(2), 147-169. https://doi.org/10.6210/JNTNU.202009_65(2).0007
Chicago FormatJean Angles. “Why and How to Read the Zhuangzi? Late Ming Neidan Master Cheng Yining's Answer.” Journal of National Taiwan Normal University 65, no. 2 (2020): 147-169. https://doi.org/10.6210/JNTNU.202009_65(2).0007