Qingjing Jing
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The Qingjing Jing (Chinese: 清靜經; pinyin: Qīngjìng jing; Wade-Giles: Ch'ing Ching Ching; literally "Scripture of Clarity and Quiescence") is an anonymous 9th century CE Daoist classic that combines philosophical themes from the Daode jing with Chinese Buddhist meditative practices from the Heart Sutra. It emphasizes using Daoist guan 觀 "observation; insight meditation" to cultivate spiritual qing 清 "clarity; purity" and jing 靜 "tranquility; quiescence; stillness".
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[edit] Texts
The Qingjing jing is a short, mostly-versified text comprising some 390 Chinese characters in 90 verses. It is widely read and has numerous commentaries.
Although the first Qingjing jing line quotes the legendary Laozi, with the honorific Taishang Laozhun 太上老君 "The Most High Lord Lao" (see Three Pure Ones), scholars believe the received text dates from around the middle Tang Dynasty (618-907 CE).
The oldest extant commentary is by Du Guangting 杜光庭 (850-933 CE), a prolific editor of Daoist texts during the late Tang and Five Dynasties period. Du says prior to being written down by Ge Xuan (164-244 CE), the Qingjing jing was orally transmitted for generations, supposedly going back to the mythical Queen Mother of the West.
The Daozang "Daoist Canon" includes eight editions of the Qingjing jing with variant titles. The Qingjing miaojing 清靜妙經 "Wondrous Scripture of Clarity and Quiescence", or Taishang Laojun shuo chang qingjing miaojing 太上老君說常清靜妙經 "Wondrous Scripture of Constant Clarity and Quiescence, as Spoken by the Most High Lord Lao", is the basic text (CT 620). Commentaries include those entitled Qingjing jingzhu 清靜經注 (CT 755-760) and Qingjing jing songzhu 清靜經頌注 (CT 974).
A slightly longer (and "possibly earlier", Kohn 2007:800) version of approximately 600 characters is the Qingjing xinjing 清靜心經 "Heart Scripture of Clarity and Quiescence", or Taishang Laojun qingjing xinjing 太上老君清靜心經 "Heart Scripture of Clarity and Quiescence, as Spoken by the Most High Lord Lao" (CT 1169).
During the Song Dynasty (960-1260 CE), the Qingjing jing became popular within the Southern Lineage "Complete Perfection" or Quanzhen School and was interpreted in context with neidan Chinese internal alchemy. Modern Quanzhen Daoists consider the Qingjing jing a central scripture and regularly chant it in songjing 誦經 "reciting scriptural passages; ritual recitation". Kohn explains.
The text serves to inspire the active practitioner and believer. It provides an easy handle on the realization of the Tao within the religious life. It is an exhortation to purity and meditation, a warning against bad thoughts and deviant desires. Pious Taoists know this short and rhythmic text by heart. (1993:25)
[edit] Contents
Although brief, the Qingjing jing is philosophically complex. It synthesizes Daoist and Buddhist theories of psychology, cosmology, ontology, and teleology.
The Qingjing jing is described by Komjathy.
An anonymous text probably dating from the 9th century, this is one of a group of Tang-dynasty (618-907) works that could be labeled "Clarity-and-Stillness" literature. Emerging under the influence of Buddhist insight meditation (vipaśyanā) and expressing a form of wisdom (zhi 智) based on the practice of observation (guan 觀), the text combines the worldview of the Daode jing 道德經 (Scripture on the Dao and Inner Power) with the practice of Daoist observation and the structure (as well as some content) of the Buddhist Panruo xinjing 般若心經 (Heart Sutra of Perfect Wisdom; T. 250-57). It emphasizes the dual cultivation of clarity/purity (qing 清) and "stillness/tranquility" (jing 靜). (2004:47-8)
These Daoist keywords are guan 觀 "scrutiny; careful observation; insight meditation; contemplation", qing 清 "clarity; purity; cleanliness", and jing 靜 "stillness; quiet; calm; tranquility". The Daodejing (45, tr. Mair 1990:13) is the locus classicus for qingjing: "Bustling about vanquishes cold, Standing still vanquishes heat. Pure and still, one can put things right everywhere under heaven."
Kohn summarizes the Qingjing jing.
The text first describes the nature of the Dao as divided into Yin and Yang, clear and turbid (qing 清 and zhuo 濁), moving and quiescent (dong 動 and jing 靜), and stresses the importance of the mind in the creation of desires and worldly entanglements. It recommends the practice of observation to counteract this, i.e., the observation of other beings, the self, and the mind, which results in the realization that none of these really exists. The practitioner has reached the observation of emptiness (kongguan 空觀). The latter part of the work reverses direction and outlines the decline from pure spirit to falling into hell: spirit (shen 神) develops consciousness or mind (xin 心), and mind develops greed and attachment toward the myriad beings. Greed then leads to involvement, illusory imagining, and erroneous ways, which trap beings in the chain of rebirth and, and they sink deeper into the quagmire of desire, causes them to fall into hell. (2007:801)
[edit] Translations
The Qingjing jing has been translated into English by Balfour (1894:70-73), Legge (1891 2:247-54), and Kohn (1993:24-29). Wong (1992) translated the Shuijingzi 水精子 commentary.
Comparing translations of the first two sections (verses 1-8 and 9-13, reformatted for consistency) illustrates how Daoist studies have advanced in a century.
The Words of Lao Chün. Although the Great Principle of Nature – TAO – has no form, it brought forth and nourishes Heaven and Earth; though it has no passions, it causes the Sun and Moon to revolve; though it has no name, it produces the growth and nurture of all things. As I do not know its name, I am compelled to call it simply TAO.
Now this Principle includes the pure and the turbid, the active and the motionless. For instance, Heaven is pure and Earth turbid; Heaven moves and the Earth is still. The Masculine is pure, the feminine turbid; the Masculine is active and the Feminine at rest. Emerging from its source and flowing on to all its developments, it produced the visible creation. The pure is the origin of the turbid, and the active of the motionless. If a man is able to remain permanently pure and motionless, Heaven and Earth will both at once come and dwell in him. (tr. Balfour 1894:71)
Ch. 1. 1. Lâo the Master 1 said, The Great Tâo has no bodily form, but It produced and nourishes heaven and earth. The Great Tâo has no passions, but It causes the sun and moon to revolve as they do. The Great Tâo has no name, but It effects the growth and maintenance of all things. I do not know its name, but I make an effort, and call It the Tâo.
2. Now, the Tâo (shows itself in two forms); the Pure and the Turbid, and has (the two conditions of) Motion and Rest. Heaven is pure and earth is turbid; heaven moves and earth is at rest. The masculine is pure and the feminine is turbid; the masculine moves and the feminine is still. The radical (Purity) descended, and the (turbid) issue flowed abroad; and thus all things were produced. The pure is the source of the turbid, and motion is the foundation of rest. If man could always be pure and still, heaven and earth would both revert (to non-existence). (tr. Legge 1891:249-250)
The Great Tao has no form; It brings forth and raises heaven and earth. The Great Tao has no feelings; It regulates the course of the sun and the moon. The Great Tao has no name; It raises and nourishes the myriad beings. I do not know its name – So I call it Tao.
The Tao can be pure or turbid; moving or tranquil. Heaven is pure, earth is turbid; Heaven is moving, earth is tranquil. The male is moving, the female is tranquil. Descending from the origin, Flowing toward the end, The myriad beings are being born. Purity – the source of turbidity, Movement – the root of tranquility. Always be pure and tranquil; Heaven and earth Return to the primordial. (tr. Kohn 1993:25)
[edit] References
- Balfour, Frederic, tr. 1894 "The Ch'ing Ching Ching", in Taoist Texts: Ethical, Political and Speculative, 70-73. Trübner and Co.
- Kohn, Livia. 1993. The Taoist Experience. State University of New York Press.
- Kohn, Livia. 2007. "Qingjing jing 清靜經 Scripture of Clarity and Quiescence," in The Encyclopedia of Taoism, Fabrizio Pregadio, ed., Routledge, 800-801.
- Komjathy, Louis. 2002. Developing Clarity and Stillness: The Scripture for Daily Internal Practice, The Dragon's Mouth Winter 2002/2003:9-13.
- Komjathy, Louis. 2004. Daoist Texts in Translation.
- Legge, James, tr. 1891. "Khing Käng King, or 'The Classic of Purity'", in The Texts of Taoism, 2:247-54. Dover reprint 1962.
- Mair, Victor H. 1990. Tao Te Ching: The Classic Book of Integrity and the Way, by Lao Tzu; an entirely new translation based on the recently discovered Ma-wang-tui manuscripts. Bantam Books.
- Wong, Eva. 1992. Cultivating Stillness: A Taoist Manual for Transforming Body and Mind. Shambhala.
