Yunji Qiqian
| Yunji Qiqian | |||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 雲笈七籤 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simplified Chinese | 云笈七签 | ||||||||
| Literal meaning | Cloudy Bookbag Seven Slips | ||||||||
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| Transcriptions | |
|---|---|
| Standard Mandarin | |
| Hanyu Pinyin | Yúnjí qīqiān |
| Wade–Giles | Yun-chi ch'i-ch'ien |
The Yunji qiqian is a (c. 1029) anthology of the (1016) Daoist Canon, which the scholar-official Zhang Junfang compiled for Emperor Zhenzong of Song. The Yunji qiqian records many early Daoist texts that have been lost since the 11th century, and is an important resource for understanding medieval Daoism.
The Yunji qiqian compendium was a "byproduct" (Lin 1995:97) of editing the 1016 edition Daozang "Daoist Canon" – the Da Song tiangong baozang 大宋天宮寳藏 "Great Song Celestial Palace Precious Canon". In 1012, the Northern Song Emperor Zhenzong (r. 997-1022) ordered the compilation of a revised and enlarged Canon. He put Chancellor Wang Qinruo in charge of the project, selected ten Daoist masters, and ordered Prefect Qi Guan 戚綸 to oversee compilation of the Daozang. In 1016, the scholar-official Zhang Junfang (961?-1042?), who had replaced Qi Guan, completed the revised Da Song tiangong baozang edition, which comprised 4,565 juan 卷 "scrolls; volumes". In 1019, Zhang presented emperor Zhenzong with seven manuscript sets of the new Daoist Canon.
Zhang Junfang subsequently selected Canonical texts for the Yunji qiqian anthology, which he dedicated to Zhenzong, and presented to Emperor Renzong of Song (r. 1022-1063). Zhang's preface, dated circa 1028-1029, explains (tr. Lin 1995:99), "[After having completed the Canon, I hence] selected the essentials of the seven sections of Taoist literature, in order to provide an imperfect treasury of the profound writings of various Taoist masters." Zhang submits the book to Zhenzong as a "bedside companion" (tr. Schipper 1986:968; literally yiye zhi lan 乙夜之覽 "[for] perusal during the second watch [around 10 PM]").
The title uses the common Chinese words yun "cloud" and qi "seven" with the Classical Chinese terms ji "bamboo box used for travelling (esp. to carry books); book box; satchel" and qian "bamboo slip; book marker; lot (used for divination); oracle" (both made from bamboo and written with the "bamboo radical" ⺮).
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