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. Title 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 has the "water" radical and a qing "green" phonetic element. The second character jing has the "green" radical and a zheng "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 or , for instance, the Daoist concept qingjing wuwei or "quiet and non-action; discard all desires and worries from one's mind". Chinese Buddhism used qingjing to translate Sanskrit parishuddhi or Pali vishuddhi "complete purification; free from defilement" (cf. vishudda). Kunio Miura explains: In Standard Chinese usage, qingjing means "quiet; tranquil; serene (surroundings, etc.)" and qingjing 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", "Scripture of Purity and Tranquility", tr. "Scripture on Clarity and Tranquility", tr. "Scripture on Clarity and Stillness", tr. "Scripture of Purity and Stillness", tr. "Scripture of Clarity and Quiescence", tr. Overview and origin 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 considered 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" (, 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 (, 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