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Xishengjing ( Chinese ex. 西 經 經 , pinyin : xishengjing , pall .: Xishengjing , Canon of the Western Ascension) is a Taoist text written at the end of the 5th century in the Luguan Temple Center (樓 觀), owned by the Northern Heavenly Mentors School.
Loughuan is located west of the capital city of Chang'an , from which the Great Silk Road begins. According to tradition, there was a border outpost nearby, on which Lao Tzu , heading west, handed over the sacred text “ Daodezin ” to the head of the outpost Yin Xi . Xishenjing contains teachings that Lao Tzu conveyed to Yin Xi . At the same time, Xishenjing says that Lao Tzu was heading to India to educate the barbarians.
Content
Text Options
In the Taoist canon ( Daojian ), two versions of Xishenjing from the Song Dynasty were preserved - Xishenjing Jizhu西 昇 經 集注 with comments by Chen Jingyuan 陳景 元 (d. 1094 ), and Xishenjing of Emperor Huizong徽宗 (1100-112).
At the same time, the date of writing Xishenjing remains unclear. According to the assumption of Livia Cohn, this is the end of the 5th century (Kohn 2007: 1114), and according to another hypothesis this is the 6th century (Komjathy 2004: 52).
Xishenjing is also called Laojun Xishenjing 老君 西 昇 經 (emphasizing that the text comes from Mr. Lao ( Lao Tzu ). Another text sometimes appears under the name Xishenji西 升 記 (Notes of the Western Ascent), while the second character is written without a graphic element " The Sun ”, which is why the meaning of“ ascent ”changes to“ rise ”.
Contents
Xishenjing echoes the Huahujing treatise (Canon of the Conversion of the Barbarians), which describes Lao Tzu's journey to India, where he founded Buddhism . Chinese Buddhists categorically deny the hypothesis that Lao Tzu was also a Buddha; they consider both texts to be falsifications.
The story of Lao Tzu's journey, however, is only used as an introduction in order to go on to describe the essence of Tao . The author describes the Way from a practical point of view, explaining the necessary meditations and actions. At the same time, emphasis is not on solitude, but on staying in peace. The last chapter explains the need for a “return” (反) to the original beginning, the death of the physical body from this point of view means the transition to a more subtle deep form of Tao (Livia Cohn, 2007: 1114).
The text contains direct sayings of Lao Tzu. The understanding of Tao is compared with the perception of music - when the music is understandable, but not described by words. (Livia Cohn, 1991: 223 - 224)
Structure
Xishenjing consists of 39 chapters of 5 sections.
Sources
- 老君 西 昇 經 , Laojun xishengjing text in traditional characters
- 西 昇 經 , Xishenjing text in simplified characters
- The Book of Western Ascension , Taoist Culture & Information Center
Literature
- The myth of going west
- Kohn, Livia. 1991. Taoist Mystical Philosophy: The Scripture of Western Ascension . State University of New York Press.
- Kohn, Livia. 2007. " Xisheng jing西 昇 經 Scripture of Western Ascension," in The Encyclopedia of Taoism , ed. Fabrizio Pregadio, Routledge, 1114-1115.
- Komjathy, Louis. 2004. Daoist Texts in Translation (inaccessible link from 05/23/2013 [2298 days] - history , copy ) .
- (Japanese) Maeda Shigeki 前 田 繁 樹. 1991. 『老子 西 昇 經』 語彙 索引 稿 (inaccessible link) [Concordance of the Laozi Xishengjing ], 山村 女子 短期 大学 紀要 [ The Bulletin of Yamamura Women's Junior College ], 3: 194-244.