The Wang Bi Recension of the Laozi

Abstract

There are seventy-nine places in Wang Bi's Laozi zhu where the text of the Laozi transmitted over this commentary differs from quotations of it contained within the commentary. Building on the textual studies of Professor Shima Kunio, this essay demonstrates that the readings given in the commentary are supported in practically every case by a series of early quotations and texts of the Laozi, such as the Mawangdui manuscripts and the “Old Manuscripts” that form the basis of Fu Yi and Fan Yingyuan's editions. A comparison of all of these differences shows that Wang Bi's original text must have belonged to the same broad textual family as these early manuscripts, being most closely linked to the two “Old Manuscripts” and less directly related to the Mawangdui manuscripts. In most of the these cases, the textus receptus has been supplanted by the reading transmitted through the Heshang Gong commentary. Consequently, it is now necessary to replace the textus receptus of Wang Bi's Laozi with a conflated version of the two “Old Manuscripts” and, in some cases, the Mawangdui manuscripts.