Heshanggong

Heshanggong

«Лаоцзы» с комментарием Хэшангуна, издание Сыбу цункань (四部叢刊).

The "Laozi zhangju" (老子章句, "Sentences by Chapter") is the oldest surviving commentary on the Daodejing. Tradition ascribes it to the semi-legendary Heshanggong, teacher of Emperor Wen, but the text itself was most likely composed in the Eastern Han (1st–2nd centuries CE). The commentary reads the treatise both as a manual of rulership and as a guide to cultivating life and longevity. Manuscripts of the commentary were found at Dunhuang as well; the printed tradition knows two main versions — the Daozang text and the Song-dynasty text (in the Sibu Congkan, 四部叢刊).