Huahujing

The Huahujing is a Taoist book. Although traditionally attributed to Laozi, most scholars believe it is a forgery because there are no historical references to the text until the early 4th century CE. According to Louis Komjathy , the Taoist Wang Fu originally compiled the ''Huahujing'' circa 300 CE, and the extant version probably dates from the 6th century Northern Celestial Masters. The text is honorifically known as the ''Taishang lingbao Laozi huahu miaojing'' . A copy of the ''Huahujing'' was discovered in the Mogao Caves near Dunhuang, and Liu Yi believes the original text dates from around the late 4th or early 5th century.

Emperors of China occasionally organized debates between Buddhists and Taoists, and granted political favor to the winners. The Taoists developed the ''Huahujing'' to support one of their favorite arguments against the Buddhists, writes Holmes Welch , their claim that "Lao Tzu had gone to India after his westward departure from China, and had converted—or become—the Buddha. Buddhism then was only a somewhat distorted offshoot of Taoism."

The ''Huahujing '' is somewhat longer than Laozi's Tao Te Ching taking the form of a question-and-answer dialogue between a young Prince and a learned Master. Thematically the text covers much of the same ground as the ''Tao Te Ching'' elucidating on the concept of the Tao - the universal force that purveys everything and everyone. The ''Huahujing'' makes reference to holistic medicine, Taoist meditation, feng shui, and the I Ching.

The text has been translated into English by Brian Walker and the Taoist priest Hua-Ching Ni.