Wenzi

The ''Wenzi'' () is a Taoist classic allegedly written by a disciple of Laozi. The text was widely read and highly revered in the centuries following its creation, and even canonized as ''Tongxuan zhenjing'' () in the year 742 CE. However, soon afterwards scholars started questioning its authenticity and dismissing it as a forgery that was created between the Han dynasty and the Tang dynasty. The text's fate changed in 1973, when archeologists excavated a 55 BCE tomb and discovered remnants of a ''Wenzi'' copied on bamboo strips, which offer us a glimpse of what the text looked like prior to its drastic revision into the current text.

Author

The title ''Wenzi'' 文子 "Master Wen", suffixed with ''-zi'' 子 "child; person; master (title of respect)", is analogous with other Hundred Schools of Thought texts like ''Mozi'', '' Zhuangzi'', Guiguzi, and Baopuzi. Wen 文 "written character; literature; refinement; culture" is an infrequent Chinese surname, and hence Wenzi is interpretable as "Master Wen." Wen is also frequently used in given names, posthumous names, et cetera, due to its positive connotations. For example, King Wen of Zhou 周文王 or Kong Wenzi 孔文子 (''Analects'' 5.15). Hence, Wenzi is also interpretable as a ''nom de plume'' denoting "Master of Literature/Culture." Nothing can be said for certain about Wenzi, no matter how this name is interpreted. Although we do not know his true identity, various hypotheses have been proposed.

The bibliographical section of the 1st century CE ''Book of Han'' says Wenzi was a student of Laozi, a contemporary of Confucius 孔子 (551-479 BCE), and an adviser to King Ping of Zhou 周平王 (r. 770-720 BCE). This cannot be true, as King Ping and Confucius lived two centuries apart, and it fueled suspicion of the text's forged status in later centuries. To solve the chronological inconsistency, some commentators suggest a mistake for King Ping of Chu 楚平王 (r. 528-516 BCE), whose reign does coincide with Confucius' lifetime.

The early ''Wenzi'' commentary by Li Xian 李暹 (fl. 516 CE) records that Wenzi's surname was Xin 辛 and his sobriquet (''hao'' 號) was Jiran 計然, he served under Fan Li 范蠡 (fl. 517 BCE), and studied with Laozi.

The later ''Wenzi'' commentary by Du Daojian (1237-1318) furthermore notes Wenzi was a nobleman from the Spring and Autumn period state of Jin, his surname was Xin 辛 and courtesy name (''zi'' 字) was Xing 銒. He was also called Song Xing 宋銒 referring to his home of Kuiqiu 葵丘, which was in Song (state).

Received Text

Written references to the ''Wenzi'' first appear in the Han dynasty. The no longer extant 1st century BCE ''Qilue'' 七略 "Seven Summaries" by Liu Xiang and Liu Xin said the ''Wenzi'' had 9 ''pian'' 篇 "chapters". The bibliographical section of the 1st century CE ''Book of Han'' records the ''Wenzi'' text in 9 ''juan'' 卷 "rolls; volumes", says Wenzi was a student of Laozi, a contemporary of Confucius (551-479 BCE), and adviser to King Ping of Zhou (r. 770-720 BCE), but adds "the work appears to be a forgery",Tr. . presumably because King Ping and Confucius lived two centuries apart.

In his ca. 523 CE ''Qilu'' 七錄 "Seven Records", the Liang dynasty scholar Ruan Xiaoxu 阮孝緒 records the ''Wenzi'' text in 10 volumes. Bibliographies in the 636 CE Book of Sui and the 945 CE New Book of Tang both record 12 volumes.

In 742 CE, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang canonized the ''Wenzi'' as a Taoist scripture (along with the ''Tao Te Ching'', ''Zhuangzi'', and '' Liezi'') honorifically called the ''Tongxuan zhenjing'' 通玄真經 "True Scripture of Understanding the Mysteries". The emperor posthumously styled Wenzi as the Tongxuan Zhenren 通玄真人 "True Man Who Understands the Mysteries".

The Daozang "Taoist Canon" includes three ''Wenzi'' redactions under the ''Yujue'' 玉訣 "Commentaries" subsection of the ''Dongshen'' 洞神 "Spirit Grotto" section. The oldest extant edition is the ''Tongxuan zhenjing zhu'' 通玄真經注 "Commentary on the Authentic Scripture of Pervading Mystery" by Xu Lingfu 徐靈府 (ca. 760–841) of the Tang dynasty. The ''Tongxuan zhenjing zhengyi zhu'' 通玄真經正儀注 "Commentary on the Correct Meaning of the Authentic Scripture of Pervading Mystery" is by Zhu Bian (ca. 1085–1144) of the Song dynasty. Third is the 1310 CE ''Tongxuan zhenjing zuanyi'' 通玄真經纘義 "Collected Explanations to the Authentic Scripture of Pervading Mystery" by Du Daojian 杜道堅 (1237–1318) of the Yuan dynasty. Judith M. Boltz cites the opinion of Siku Quanshu bibliographers that Du's version was the most reliable ''Wenzi'' redaction. She notes that Du Daojian became the rightful literary heir to Wenzi when he discovered a copy of the classic at the Tongxuan Guan 通玄觀 "Abbey of Pervading Mystery" of Mount Jizhou 計籌 in Zhejiang, where hagiographic legend says Wenzi took refuge and wrote down his teachings.

Content

Although the ''Wenzi'' has traditionally been considered a Taoist text illustrating Laozi's thinking, it contains elements from Confucianism, Mohism, Legalism, and School of Names. The textual format records Laozi answering Wenzi's questions about ''Tao Te Ching'' concepts like ''Wu wei''. Besides citing passages from Taoist classics like '' Zhuangzi'' and ''Huainanzi'', the ''Wenzi'' also cites others like the ''I Ching'', ''Mencius'', '' Lüshi Chunqiu'', and ''Xiao Jing''. Regarding the received ''Wenzi'' text, Yoshinobu Sakade concludes:

While these references make the ''Wenzi'' appear as a source of ancient thought, in the form we know it today it is a forgery, with about eighty percent of the text quoted from the ''Huainanzi'', and the rest consisting of an amplification of the ''Tao Te Ching'' or quotations from other texts. The present version contains expression similar to those found in the Taoist scriptures … These elements suffice to show that the extant ''Wenzi'' was written between the third and eight centuries, before the time of Xu Lingfu.

Excavated text

In 1973, Chinese archeologists excavated a Han dynasty tomb near Dingzhou 定州 (or Dingxian 定縣) in Hebei. Its occupant is identified as King Huai 懷王 of Zhongshan, who died in 55 BCE. Tomb furnishings included a precious Jade burial suit, jade ornaments, writing tools, and remnants of eight Chinese classic texts, including the ''Wenzi'' and Confucian ''Analects'' copied on hundreds of bamboo slips (''jian'' 簡). These bamboo manuscripts were fragmented, disordered, and blackened by fire, perhaps accidentally caused by tomb robbers.

The specialized project of deciphering and transcribing this ancient ''Wenzi'' copy was delayed owing to a 1976 earthquake at Tangshan that further damaged the Dingzhou bamboo slips. The team published their first report in 1981 and their ''Wenzi'' transcription in 1995 (both in the archeological journal ''Wenwu'' 文物 "Cultural Relics").

Ongoing sinological studies of the so-called Dingzhou ''Wenzi'' are providing both specific details of the presumed urtext edition and general insights in the early history of Taoist texts. Portions of the Dingzhou ''Wenzi'' are basically consistent with certain section in chapter 5 of the received text. Consensus is building that this excavated ''Wenzi'' dates from the 2nd century BCE, while the transmitted text was created after the 2nd century CE.

The question-and-answer format is a significant difference between the bamboo and received ''Wenzi'' versions. Ames and Rosemont explain:

Consistent with the court bibliography in the ''History of the Han'', the Dingzhou ''Wenzi'' has Wenzi as teacher who is being asked questions by a King Ping of the Zhou 周平王. The received text, on the other hand, has the teacher Laozi 老子 being asked questions by the student Wenzi, certainly less appropriate given that texts are usually named for the teacher rather than the student.

Translations

Compared with the numerous English translations of familiar Daoist texts like the ''Tao Te Ching'' and ''Zhuangzi'', the presumably apocryphal ''Wenzi'' has been disregarded. Thomas Cleary wrote a popularized translation of the transmitted ''Wenzi'', which he attributes to Lao Tzŭ.

There is no authoritative English ''Wenzi'' translation based on the groundbreaking Dingzhou readings, nothing comparable with the ''Analects'' translation by Ames and Rosemont. English translations of select Dingzhou ''Wenzi'' bamboo strips can be found in the monograph by Paul van Els.

See also

* Tao Te Ching
* Zhuangzi
* Liezi
* Four Books

References

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Footnotes
{{reflist, refs=
Boltz, Judith M. 1987. ''A Survey of Taoist Literature, Tenth to Seventeenth Centuries''. University of California. p. 219.

Le Blanc, Charles. 2000. ''Le ''Wen zi'' à la lumière de l'histoire et de l'archéologie''. Presses de l'Université de Montréal.

Ho, Che Wah. 2002. "On the Questionable Nature of the Texts Found in ''Lushi Chunqiu'' and the Plagiarizing Relationship between the ''Huainanzi'' and the ''Wenzi''," ''Journal of Chinese Studies'' 11:497-535.

Cleary, Thomas, tr. 1991. ''Wen-tzu: Understanding the Mysteries, Further Teachings of Lao-tzu''. Shambhala.

Further reading

* Peerenboom, Randal P. 1995. ''Law and Morality in Ancient China: the Silk Manuscripts of Huang-Lao''. State University New York (SUNY) Press.

External links

The Perfect Book of Pervasive Mystery
Taoist Culture and Information Centre

Chinese philosophy
Philosophy books
Taoist texts