Qingjing Jing - Title

Title

The Qingjing jing title combines qing 清 "pure; clean; clear; fresh; cool; distinct; clarified; quiet; peaceful", jing 靜 "still; motionless; static; silent; quiet; peaceful; calm; tranquil", and jing 經 "(fabric) warp; scripture; canon; classic".

The first Chinese character qing 淸 has the "water" radical 氵 and a qing 青 "green" phonetic element. The second character jing 靜 has the "green" radical 青 and a zheng 爭 "struggle" phonetic, and was anciently a variant Chinese character for jing 淨 "clean; pure; complete; only", which has the "water" radical and this zheng phonetic. Qingjing could interchangeably be written 清靜 or 清淨, for instance, the Daoist concept qingjing wuwei 清靜無為 or 清凈無為 "quiet and non-action; discard all desires and worries from one's mind". Chinese Buddhism used qingjing 清淨 to translate Sanskrit parishuddhi or Pali vishuddhi "complete purification; free from defilement" (cf. vishudda). Kunio Miura explains,

Whereas Chinese Buddhism always used the compound qingjing 清淨 (clarity and purity) rather than qingjing 清靜 (clarity and quiescence), Taoism uses both interchangeably. When qingjing 清淨 (clarity and purity) is used, however, there is ample room for considering a Buddhist influence. (2007:800)

In Standard Chinese usage, qingjing 清靜 means "quiet; tranquil; serene (surroundings, etc.)" and qingjing 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:

  • "Classic of Purity" (Legge, 1891)
  • "Scripture of Purity and Tranquility" (Kohn 1993)
  • "Scripture on Clarity and Tranquility" (Despeux and Kohn 2003)
  • "Scripture on Clarity and Stillness" (Komjathy 2004)
  • "Scripture of Purity and Stillness" (Miller 2006)
  • "Scripture of Clarity and Quiescence" (Kohn 2007)

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