Received Text
The eponymous 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 Zhuangzi and Mozi. Wen 文 "written character; literature; refinement; culture" is an infrequent Chinese surname, and "Wenzi" is interpretable as a nom de plume denoting "Master of Literature/Culture". Compare the common Chinese word wenzi 文字 "characters; script; writing; written language".
In 742 CE, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang canonized the Wenzi as a Daoist scripture (along with the Daode jing, Zhuangzi, and Liezi) honorifically called the Tongxuan zhenjing 通玄真經 "Authentic Scripture of Pervading Mystery". The emperor posthumously styled Wenzi as the Tongxuan Zhenren 通玄真人 "Authentic Person of Pervading Mystery".
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. Sakade 2007:1041).
In his ca. 523 CE Qilu 七录錄 "Seven Records", the Liang Dynasty scholar Ruan Xiaoxu 阮孝绪 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.
The Daozang "Daoist 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 徐灵府 (ca. 760-841) of the Tang Dynasty. The Tongxuan zhenjing zhenyi zhu 通玄真經正儀注 "Commentary on the Correct Meaning of the Authentic Scripture of Pervading Mystery" is by Zhu Bian 朱弁 (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 杜道坚 (1237–1318) of the Yuan Dynasty. Judith M. Boltz (1987:219) 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.
Read more about this topic: Wenzi
Famous quotes containing the words received and/or text:
“To speak critically, I never received more than one or two letters in my life—I wrote this some years ago—that were worth the postage.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“What our eyes behold may well be the text of life but one’s meditations on the text and the disclosures of these meditations are no less a part of the structure of reality.”
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)