| Abstract |
After the publication of the ‘Imperial annotation of Tao Te Ching’ written by Sung dynasty Emperor Hui-tsung, Chiang Cheng, based on his annotation on the Emperor’s masterpiece, also published a book of the same kind with the title ‘On the Meaning of Tao Te Ching’. Chiang Cheng’s ‘elucidation’, together with Hui-tsung’s ‘annotation’ on ‘Tao Te Ching’, can be portrayed as bringing the texts of ‘Lao Tzu’ to a new zenith in the history of the study of Lao Tzu in Sung dynasty. This paper is a reflection on both the ‘Imperial annotation of Tao Te Ching’ and ‘On the Meaning of Tao Te Ching’. I will argue that although Chiang Cheng praised the ‘Imperial annotation of Tao Te Ching’ as an ‘ingenious annotation’, his annotation on Hui-tsung’s work was not completely in line with the Emperor’s viewpoints, but turned out to be the one of its own right. Therefore, I select two tracks to begin our exploratory journey. On the first track, I elaborate on the firmly inherent Confucianism in Chiang Cheng’s works; while on the other track, we analyze Chiang Cheng’s interpretation on the concept of ‘non-doing’ (wu-wei) in the ‘Imperial annotation of Tao Te Ching’, and further illustrate on how he combined the two dialectical concepts of ‘non-doing’ and ‘doing’ in his ‘On the Meaning of Tao Te Ching’. Through such comprehensive observation, I expect to diversify the Study of LaoTzu in Sung dynasty, and hopefully to complement the research on the related subjects and fields.
|
