The Qingjing Jing is an anonymous Tang dynasty Taoist classic that combines philosophical themes from the Tao Te Ching with the logical presentation of Buddhist texts and a literary form reminiscent of the Heart Sutra. It instructs students of the Tao to practice the elimination of desire in order to cultivate spiritual purity and stillness.
The Qingjing jing title combines qing "pure; clean; clear; fresh; cool; distinct; clarified; quiet; peaceful", jing "still; motionless; static; silent; quiet; peaceful; calm; tranquil", and jing "(fabric) warp; scripture; canon; classic".
The first Chinese character qing Chinese: 淸 has the "water" radical Chinese: 氵 and a qing Chinese: 青 "green" phonetic element. The second character jing Chinese: 靜 has the "green" radical Chinese: 青 and a zheng Chinese: 爭 "struggle" phonetic, and was anciently a variant Chinese character for jing "clean; pure; complete; only", which has the "water" radical and this zheng phonetic. Qingjing could interchangeably be written Chinese: 清靜 or Chinese: 清淨, for instance, the Daoist concept qingjing wuwei Chinese: 清靜無為 or Chinese: 清凈無為 "quiet and non-action; discard all desires and worries from one's mind". Chinese Buddhism used qingjing Chinese: 清淨 to translate Sanskrit parishuddhi or Pali vishuddhi "complete purification; free from defilement" (cf. vishudda). Kunio Miura explains:
In Standard Chinese usage, qingjing Chinese: 清靜 means "quiet; tranquil; serene (surroundings, etc.)" and qingjing Chinese: 清淨 means "tranquil; clean and pure; (Buddhism) purified of defiling illusion, not bothered by material concerns".
English translations of the Qingjing jing title include:
The Qingjing Jing is a short, mostly-versified text comprising some 390 Chinese characters in 90 verses. It is widely read, has numerous commentaries, and is one of the most important texts in the Taoist religion.
Two passages of the Qingjing Jing are attributed to Laozi, with the honorific "Lord Lao" (Chinese: 老君, see Three Pure Ones). This has led many traditional sources to attribute authorship of the entire text to Laozi, so the text exists under a variety of honorific titles that link it to him. Scholars believe the received text dates from around the middle Tang dynasty (618–907 CE).
The oldest extant commentary is by Du Guangting (Chinese: 杜光庭, 850-933 CE), a prolific editor of Daoist texts during the late Tang and Five Dynasties period. Du says prior to being written down by Ge Xuan (164–244 CE), the Qingjing Jing was orally transmitted for generations, supposedly going back to the mythical Queen Mother of the West.
The Daozang "Taoist Canon" includes eight Qingjing jing editions with variant titles. The basic text (CT 620) is the Qingjing miaojing (Chinese: 清靜妙經 "Wondrous Scripture of Clarity and Stillness") or Taishang Laojun shuo chang qingjing miaojing (Chinese: 太上老君說常清靜妙經 "Wondrous Scripture of Constant Clarity and Stillness, as Spoken by the Most High Lord Lao"). Commentaries include those entitled Qingjing jingzhu (Chinese: 清靜經注, CT 755–760) and Qingjing jing songzhu (Chinese: 清靜經頌注, CT 974).
A slightly longer (and "possibly earlier") version of approximately 600 characters is the Qingjing xinjing (Chinese: 清靜心經 "Heart Scripture of Clarity and Stillness") or Taishang Laojun qingjing xinjing (Chinese: 太上老君清靜心經 "Heart Scripture of Clarity and Stillness, as Spoken by the Most High Lord Lao", CT 1169).
During the Song dynasty (960–1260 CE), the Qingjing Jing became popular within the Southern Lineage "Complete Perfection" or Quanzhen School and was interpreted in context with neidan Chinese internal alchemy. For instance, the seventh Quanzhen master Sun Bu'er Chinese: 孙不二 took Qingjing sanren Chinese: 清靜散人 "Vagabond of Clarity and Quiescence" as her sobriquet and established the Qingjing Sect. Modern Quanzhen Taoists consider the Qingjing jing a central scripture and regularly chant it in songjing (Chinese: 誦經, "reciting scriptural passages; ritual recitation"). Kohn explains:
Although brief, the Qingjing Jing is philosophically complex. It synthesizes Taoist and Buddhist theories of psychology, cosmology, ontology, and teleology.
The Qingjing Jing is described by Komjathy:
These Taoist keywords are guan "scrutiny; careful observation; insight meditation; contemplation", qing "clarity; purity; cleanliness", and jing "stillness; quiet; calm; tranquility". The Tao Te Ching (45, tr.) is the Latin: locus classicus for qingjing: "Bustling about vanquishes cold, Standing still vanquishes heat. Pure and still, one can put things right everywhere under heaven."
Kohn summarizes the Qingjing jing:
The Qingjing jing has been translated into English by,, and . translated the Shuijingzi (Chinese: 水精子) commentary.
The following versions of the opening section (verses 1-8 and 9–13, reformatted for consistency) illustrate the translational range: