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The Daozang Database (DDB) is an ARC/China project aiming to produce a searchable database with bibliographic and other information on all texts in the Daoist Canon (Daozang 道藏). Support from ARC/China has made it possible to amend an earlier version of the database and to expand the amount of data with the help of Dominic Steavu, a graduate student of the Department of Religious Studies at Stanford.

The DDB is based on the numbering system in K. Schipper's catalogue of the Canon (Concordance du Tao-tsang, 1975), but also provides references to the numbering systems in the Harvard-Yenching catalogue (Daozang zimu yinde 道藏子目引得; Weng Dujian 翁獨健, 1935) and in Daozang tiyao 道藏提要 (ed. Ren Jiyu 任繼愈 and Zhong Zhaopeng 鍾肇鵬, 1991).

[See some screenshots of the Daozang Database] [See a PDF file with a small subset of the Daozang Database.]

1. Basic bibliographic data

The DDB currently contains the following basic data on each text:

1. Volume and page numbers in three reprints of the Daozang (Hanfenlou, Yiwen chubanshe, and Xinwenfeng chubanshe)
2. Classification in the traditional subdivisions of the Canon (Three Caverns or sandong 三洞, Four Supplements or sifu 四輔, and Twelve Divisions or shi'er bu 十二部)
3. References to volume and page numbers of corresponding titles in the Daozang jiyao 道藏輯要, and title under which the text appears in that collection (these data are based on my unpublished index to the Daozang jiyao)
4. References to the text in P. van der Loon, Taoist Books in the Libraries of the Sung Period: A Critical Study and Index (London, 1984)
5. Classification of the text in Ren Jiyu 任繼愈 and Zhong Zhaopeng 鍾肇鵬, eds., Daozang tiyao 道藏提要 (A conspectus of the Taoist Canon; Beijing, 1991)
6. Quotations in the Wushang biyao 無上祕要 (references are to J. Lagerwey, Wu-shang pi-yao: Somme taoïste du VIe siècle, Paris, 1981)
7. Quotations in the Yunji qiqian 雲笈七籤 (based on J. Lagerwey, "Le Yun-ji qi-qian: Structure et sources", in K. Schipper, Projet Tao-tsang: Index du Yunji qiqian, Paris, 1981)

2. Dates, attributions, and corpora

Details on date, attribution, and association with a particular corpus are available for several texts (in particular, those belonging to the Shangqing 上清 or the Lingbao 靈寶 corpora), but have not yet been systematically entered into the DDB.

3. Secondary studies and reference works

For each text, the DDB provides references to notices found in the following works:

• J. M. Boltz, A Survey of Taoist Literature: Tenth to Seventeenth Centuries (Berkeley, 1987)
• J. M. Boltz, "Notes on Modern Editions of the Taoist Canon" (Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 56, 1993)
• J. M. Boltz, "Notes on Daozang tiyao" (China Review International 1.2, 1994)
• M. Kalinowski, "La littérature divinatoire dans le Daozang" (Cahiers d'Extrême-Asie 5, 1989-90)
• L. Kohn, ed., Daoism Handbook (Leiden, 2000)
• L. Kohn, Laughing at the Tao: Debates among Buddhists and Taoists in Medieval China (Princeton, 1995)
• F. Pregadio, ed., Encyclopedia of Taoism (London, forthcoming) [references are given to entries concerned with texts and their authors]
• I. Robinet, La révélation du Shangqing dans l'histoire du taoïsme (Paris, 1984) [references are given to vol. 2]
• M. Strickmann, Le Taoïsme du Mao Chan: Chronique d'une révélation (Paris, 1981)

Other references in the DDB include:

1. Reproductions and discussions of Dunhuang mss. in Ôfuchi Ninji 大淵忍爾, Tonkô dôkyô 敦煌道經 (Taoist scriptures from Dunhuang; Tokyo, 1978)
2. Indexes and concordances:
   • Ôfuchi Ninji 大淵忍爾 and Ishii Masako 石井昌子, Rikuchô Tô Sô no kobunken shôin Dôzô tenseki mokuroku, sakuin 六朝唐宋の古文献所引道藏典籍目録・索引 (A catalogue with index to Taoist texts cited in ancient sources of the Six Dynasties, Tang, and Song; Tokyo, 1988)
   • Yoshioka Yoshitoyo 吉岡義豊, Dôkyô kyôten shiron 道教經典史論 (Historical studies on Taoist scriptures; Tokyo, 1955)
   • Indexes and concordances of single Daozang texts
3. Translations of the text into English and French
4. Transcriptions of the text in several Chinese anthologies of Daoist texts

4. Other data

Besides the data outlined above, the format of the DDB makes it possible to integrate it with materials found elsewhere. In particular, the DDB is linked with another database that contains, at present, about 850 scans of illustrations found in Daozang texts; these illustrations can be consulted directly within the DDB. To give other examples of the possibilities of expansion, relevant materials from the forthcoming Encyclopedia of Taoism and from Daoism Handbook have been added to some records.

5. Possibilities of expansion

The DDB can also be expanded with the addition of data found on the Internet. This data can either be linked to the DDB or directly imported into it. To illustrate these further possibilities, abstracts of Daozang texts found in the Zhongguo chuantong wenhua gang (www.enweiculture.com) and the Daojiao wenhua ziliao ku (www.taoism.org.hk) websites have been imported into the DDB, also providing links to the original web pages. Moreover, texts available in digital versions from several major websites can be accessed directly from the DDB, which contains active links to the relevant web pages.

6. Export to PDF

The entire DDB, or any subset based on particular search criteria, can be exported to a PDF file, where the data are arranged in catalogue format.

[See some screenshots of the Daozang Database] [See a PDF file with a small subset of the Daozang Database.]