Dunhuang Documents
Lao Zi Yi Shu (Commentary of Dao De Jing)
Written by Cheng Xuanying of Tang Dynasty; manuscript in red and black inks.
Lao Zi, also named as Dao De Jing, was written by Li Er of the "Spring and Autumn Period" and was regarded as the first complete philosophical work and a Taoist classic in the history of China. Lao Zi Yi Shu was an annotated edition of Dao De Jing written by Cheng Xuanying and was recognized as a classic work on metaphysics in the Tang Dynasty. This Dunhuang Edition of Lao Zi Yi Shu is a very rarely seen relic. The exhibit is a manuscript of the Tang Dynasty in scroll binding, with incomplete beginning and ending parts. The lections were written in red ink and the annotations in black, and its contents were different from the existing Dao De Jing which gave us a view of the original version of the work.
