《太上洞神三元妙本福寿真经》

At that time, the Most Holy Xuanyuan Daode Tianzun, the Taishang Laojun—one of the highest deities venerated in Daoism—was dwelling in the Ziwei Celestial Palace of the immortal realm of Taiqing. The celestial emperors of the various heavens, the great celestial immortals, the Sanyuan Dizhen (the deities who preside over the Upper, Middle, and Lower Origins), and the host of immortals and sages were arrayed by rank, paying court in the celestial court. Heavenly troops and stalwart warriors, together with golden boys and jade maidens, stood in attendance as guards on either side.

At this moment a great Zhenren, one who had penetrated the profound mysteries and whose virtue was deep and lofty, stepped forward from the ranks and memorialized: “Your servant has heard that, after Heaven and Earth differentiated from the Primordial Beginning, the Dao (the Way) transformed and gave birth to the myriad things. The two modes of Yin-Yang turn without cease, and the Five Qi (vital energy)—the five primordial energies that constitute all things—generate the myriad beings. All of this is directed and set in motion by the Three Origins (Sanyuan) and is under the jurisdiction of the Three Officials (Sanguan). Extending to the four quarters, the eight extremities, the Three Realms and the ten directions, and likewise to mountains and rivers, seas and peaks, sages and ordinary people, every kind of living creature, grasses, trees, and insects—whether flying or hidden, moving or growing, whether waxing full, waning, or undergoing increase and decrease—the ceaseless generation and transformation of the myriad things is, without exception, in the charge of the Three Origins.

All who live in the world, from emperors and kings down to the common people—their eminence or decline, wealth and rank or long life, peace and health or hardship, together with good and ill fortune, success and failure, blessings, misfortunes, and calamities—are all arranged and allotted by the Three Origins. Your servant is dull of understanding and does not know by what causes, conditions, and meritorious virtue the Sanyuan Dizhen hold the pivot of the movements and transformations of Heaven and Earth; nor does he understand why, through past and present and the succession of kalpic ages, they still abide constantly and unchanging, and why their resonant retribution upon good and evil, the public and the private, never errs by so much as a hair. I earnestly beg the Greatly Compassionate Tianzun to expound this fully, so that the various heavens and the people of the world may all understand it clearly, cultivate and put it into practice, and turn their hearts in refuge.”

When the memorial was finished, he performed nine obeisances, knelt long upon the ground, held upright the jade tablet—the ritual implement borne when one is received in audience by the Tianzun—and listened with hands joined in respect.

At the end of the original text, the passage from “abide constantly, and their numinous resonant retribution…” through “held the tablet upright and listened with joined hands” is repeated. Its meaning is the same as what precedes: a request that the Tianzun expound the offices of the Three Origins and the principle of their resonant response; when the memorial was finished, he made nine obeisances, knelt long, and listened with reverence.

At that time the Most High (Taishang, a venerated deity of Daoism) sat silent and wordless amid golden light, upright with a faint smile, quietly gazing upon the Unsurpassed Celestial Worthy of the Wondrous Dao of Wenshi (Wushang Wenshi Miaodao Tianzun) and the Sovereign of the Golden Portal (Jinque Dijun). Grasping the Most High’s profound intent, the Sovereign of the Golden Portal admonished the Great Perfected of Penetrating Mystery and Supreme De (Virtue/Power), saying:

I have heard that the Dao (the Way) has neither beginning nor primal origin; it arises before Heaven and Earth. The Dao is not what is commonly called the Dao: look, and it cannot be seen; seek to name it, and there is nothing by which to name it; listen, and it cannot be heard. Profound and more profound, subtle and hard to discern, it can yet commune with the human heart and mind; wondrous to the very limit, empty and still in the extreme, it seems to merge with the hidden dark.

The Three Origins (Sanyuan—the primordial Qi (vital energy) and the presiding powers of the three realms of Heaven, Earth, and Water) lie concealed in undivided chaos, vast and formless; the Five Greats (Wutai—the five stages before Heaven and Earth took form) are nurtured in a lonely, soundless realm. The Dao of perfect truth dwells in the boundless chaos and presides over the Great One (Taiyi—the single source before the myriad things were distinguished) within the primordial whole. It is neither being nor emptiness; it has neither sound nor image. It manifests wondrously, yet is without form or features; it stands alone and eminent, as if right before the eyes. It truly exists, yet cannot be taken for ordinary existence; clear and deeply remote, it seems at once present and absent. One may, straining for a name, call it “prior to the Lord of Images,” and by a borrowed name call it “the beginning of the Primordial Sovereign.”

When Taiji (Supreme Ultimate—the origin in which Heaven and Earth are not yet divided and Yin-Yang are about to separate) first unfolds, the Three Origins are transformed and born from it; once chaos has been opened, the One Qi, the fundamental vital energy that constitutes Heaven, Earth, and the myriad things, comes into being in turn. The Three Poles are established at the center of Heaven and Earth, and the two Qi of Yin-Yang each take their place. The Sovereign oversees the guiding order of Heaven and Earth’s movement, and the spirits (Shen) hold its crucial pivots. Thus Heaven first condenses into water, and Earth governs the sources and streams of water; the Qi of Yin-Yang blend into one, and the primordial Qi converges within them. The turning of creation proceeds in secret, and living vitality continues without end.

The charge of the Sovereigns of the Three Origins is precisely this: they oversee the guiding order of Heaven and Earth, hold the pivots of their motion, and make rounds of inspection. Immortal officials and perfected beings, the gods of Heaven and the spirits of Earth, the Mother of Water, and, within the three realms, the rulers and ministers of the myriad spirits, together with the good and evil of every kind of living being, all come under their rule.

Chapter of the Celestial Official’s Sincere Operation (Tianguan Chengyun Zhang)

The Celestial Official upholds a Qi (vital energy) that is pure, refined, centered, and upright, and presides over the vigorous working of the heavenly Dao (the Way), so that all things each receive what is fitting for them. Thunder shakes, wind drives the clouds, and rain descends; being and non-being transform into one another, and waxing and waning cycle without cease. The Celestial Official harmonizes the creative transformations, so that all things are fused within a single Qi and life is generated without end; he also impels the rising and falling, bending and stretching of Yin-Yang, so that the four seasons turn on in unbroken succession.

In the season when Shaohao presides over the seasonal ordinances, the Celestial Official carries out the correct commands; at Yanggu (the legendary place where the sun rises), he manifests the De (Virtue/Power) of supreme benevolence. He stirs the wind of humaneness and harmony, so that grasses and trees, mountains and rivers all display a flourishing beauty; he also brings the primordial Qi into harmonious blend, so that living beings that fly, that lie hidden, that move about, and those of the plant kind are all filled with harmonious Qi.

The Celestial Official’s De is vast, and his divine merit is without equal; his mysterious benevolence transforms without end. He holds the authority of the Heavenly Offices (the bureaus of the celestial realm) by which all things are made to grow, and he also presides over the pivotal mechanism of the creative operations of the Heavenly Treasury. Imperial virtue extends in every direction, and true merit is inexhaustible.

The lords of the mountain peaks, the city gods, the officers of the soil altars, and other spirits under heaven each administer affairs according to their offices; all improper deities, together with rulers and ministers, persons and beings, come under the Celestial Official’s examination and verification, and according to their conduct are dismissed or advanced, rewarded or punished.

Chapter on the Earth Official’s Substantial Foundation

The Dao (the Way) is the profound root of all things, and the great earth is the foundation on which all living beings depend for survival. The Earth Official (Diguan; one of the Three Officials of Daoism, who governs water and soil and examines good and evil), within deep obscurity and silent darkness, unites the Five Tai (Wutai; a Daoist concept describing the initial stages of cosmic generation), presides over the earth, and nurtures all things amid their unceasing change and growth.

The earth receives the Dao of Heaven. Its form is supremely soft, yet in operation it is firm and powerful. It contains within it yuanhuang Qi (vital energy), and its working is vast yet subtle. It embraces the remote wastes of the eight directions and bears the Four Seas and the Nine Provinces. It encompasses the myriad phenomena and brings all things into being through transformation; it links the channels of the Nine Springs and holds together the hidden, subtle, and mysterious principles. Breath communicates between mountains and marshes, and wind and clouds gather in secluded valleys. Heaven and earth conjoin, stirring thunder and lightning that course through the great void.

The earth extends east to Fusang, west to Xiliu, south to Nanwei (the Southern Bound), and north to Beidu (the Northern Capital). At the center it upholds famous mountains such as Mount Dai, and above it joins the immortal realm of Kunlun. It drives the alternating transformations of Yin-Yang: the sun and moon are sometimes dim and sometimes bright, sometimes rising and sometimes setting. When closed off, this becomes the storing and gathering of winter; when open and free, it brings about the growth of spring. Whether things without feeling or beings with feeling, whether great in form or minute in shape, all are brought into being by the earth and grow within it.

Thus the merit of Houtu (the deity of the earth) is supremely lofty, and the grace of the Central Emperor (Zhongdi; the deity who dwells at the center and presides over the earth) is profound and boundless. The daily conduct of ordinary people, their going forth and withdrawing, their advance and retreat, all receive the weighty grace of the earth’s support; in life and in death, in rest and in dwelling, all are granted its vast protection. Across the mountains, rivers, plains, and wilds of the Nine Provinces and the Eight Wildernesses, any deities that are not upright, any demons and monstrous beings, and the ghosts and departed souls of the dark underworld—if they harm the people—all fall under the Earth Official’s examination, punishment, and destruction. As for the generation, growth, and nurturing of all things, sentient and insentient alike, these too belong to the workings of the creative transformation of heaven and earth.

Chapter on the Water Official (Shuiguan) Returning to the Source

The Water Official is one source of the Dao (the Way)—the fundamental Way of the cosmos—and it courses through the myriad tributaries. Its sacred De (Virtue/Power) is deep and limpid, like the vast sea; its wondrous workings are secluded, still, and far-reaching, like the Jasper Pool. It lies hidden within the formless, traceless primordial vastness, and it also abides in the chaos not yet opened—broad and profound, beyond all measure.

Water flows and surges, merging into the Great Void; it can also grow clear and quiet, coming to rest upon the earth. It is soft and yielding, yet its functions are inexhaustible; its form may be square or round, and its depth cannot be fathomed. Water is full and abundant, yet it is not self-satisfied; its coming and going follow a constant order, keeping faith without fail. Its substance is soft, yet its strength is exceedingly firm; its nature dwells in low places, yet its action is impartial and even. Within it are stored treasures of gold and jade, and the springs and currents of water nurture dragons, fish, clam-serpents, and other living beings. Nothing so minute that it does not enter; nothing so vast that it does not embrace. The wondrous transformations of water can topple mountains and peaks; when it would pierce what is hard, it can pass through metal and penetrate stone.

The Dao and De of water can succor all under Heaven and bear great ships of ten thousand hu; its luster spreads throughout the world, reflecting the bright moon in a thousand rivers. Such are the form and function of water: rising and falling, it transforms of itself. Therefore the highest good is like water: it nourishes the myriad things, yet does not contend with them. The wonder of water is like the Dao of Heaven; through a thousand ages it does not change. Boundless and pure, vast and gentle, it communicates with Heaven and Earth, shares one body with the void, nourishes the myriad things, and bestows its grace upon all beings.

It is a pity that ordinary people do not understand the profound kindness of water, and can only gaze upon its broad surface and sigh. Great rivers and seas, streams and their sources, brooks and ravines, wells and valleys, pools and ponds, together with every divine mother of the watery depths, venomous dragons, flood-dragons and clam-serpents, fish and turtles, water monsters, and other demonic beings in the dragon palaces and the hidden treasuries of the sea—whatever among them harms human beings—all come under the jurisdiction of the Water Official, to be examined, punished, and put to death.

Chapter on the Three Primordials Embodying the Wondrous (a chapter that tells of the wonders of the Three Primordials, Sanyuan)

The primordial Qi (vital energy of the source) of Prior Heaven, the Great Mystery, the Utmost True, Primordial Chaos, and the Central Yellow; the primordial Jing (essence of the source) of the Cavern Abyss and the Clear Marsh; and the wondrous Dao (the Way) of the Azure Efflorescence of Yanggu—these three origins are thus, and human beings are thus as well.

Good, sincere, and trustworthy people in the world who possess De (Virtue/Power), if they have long since accumulated merit and so are able to hear the subtle and profound principles set out above, can dispel illusory and deluded thoughts and render body and mind clear and still. Nourishing the primordial Jing, gently and unceasingly regulating the primordial Qi, and in stillness contemplating the primordial Shen (spirit, the innate nature of the spirit), they bring Shen, Qi, and Jing into union and gather them in the Heavenly Valley (the empty, still place within the body of which Daoism speaks), and thereby return to the wondrous Dao of the Limitless and the Utmost True. In this way they may endure through the turning of the kalpas, obtaining immeasurable lifespan and immeasurable blessings in recompense. Their luminous sagely achievements and mysterious, wondrous De are hard to fathom in words or thought.

Receiving the wondrous utterance of the compassion and wisdom of the Taishang (the honorific by which Daoism addresses the supreme deity), I proclaim and once more recite the Sanyuan spell (the Spell of the Three Origins):

“Enduring forever, one obtains immeasurable life and receives immeasurable blessings; such sagely merit and mysterious De are inconceivable.”

(At the end of the original text the lines of the Spell of the Three Origins are repeated once; in the scripture as given, no new spell is recorded after the word “says.”)

The Dao (the Way) of the Mysterious Origin and Primal Ancestor is vast without bound, and the wondrous Dao is spontaneous, of itself just so. True Yang is deep and luminous; true Yin is hidden and mysteriously remote. The supreme sovereign manifests its first beginnings within emptiness and stillness, and from this opens Heaven and Earth. The Primordial Sovereign distinguishes the Five Greats (the five stages of cosmic generation), establishes the root, and presides over the Three Origins (the Three Officials of Heaven, Earth, and Water, together with the primordial Qi (vital energy) they govern). The Three Origins blend the Five Qi (the five kinds of primordial Qi that constitute the myriad things), bringing about transformation and generation between Heaven and Earth. The Qi of the Three Powers—Heaven, Earth, and humankind—intermingles, and from this the myriad things grow without cease.

Among the myriad things, human beings are the most spiritually discerning and the most honored; their true nature originally communicates with high Heaven. If one can abide in Wuwei (non-action) and clarity and stillness, and hold fast to the Dao and to De (Virtue/Power), one can preserve one’s original nature—pure and mellow as fine jade, upright and bright as metal; yielding and substantial as the earth, and, like water, conforming alike to square and round. Human nature is originally without birth or extinction, yet thoughts arise that cling and grow partial. The Four Wrongs (four kinds of speech and conduct not in accord with the correct Way) and the Eight Consciousnesses (the eight kinds of mind-consciousness taught in Buddhism) draw those thoughts along, and love and hatred, liking and aversion, give rise to delusive ideas and attachment. People then sink again and again in the sea of suffering and gradually lose the root of original truth.

The Taishang (the Daoist honorific for the supreme deity) pities all living beings and purposely proclaims the Great Dao and establishes a gate of the teaching, like building a boat of the teaching to ferry people to the far shore of the Dao. Yet some are arrogant and inverted, without direction amid turbid desires, and willingly fall into the dark underworld, passing through the many sufferings of rebirth and long tormented by the fire of karma. They indulge themselves, know no repentance, and cling to delusion without awakening—truly to be pitied.

If only the mind ceases its vain stirring, one is no longer drawn by birth and extinction; when the ground of the mind is clear and still, offenses can be removed; when the mind is empty and luminous, one can pass beyond the hold of the Eight Consciousnesses and cut off every fault; when the mind-nature is pure and unified, free of falsity, and the inner heart is bright, wisdom can come to completion. When thought penetrates freely, there is no obstruction; when one thoroughly awakens to the Great Dao, one can rest at ease in the state of returning to the primordial beginning. If one is willing to turn the heart back toward what is right, one can bring forth a golden lotus amid raging fire and transcend the ordinary and the worldly: the deluded sink to become ghosts of the lower realm, while those who awaken clearly ascend to the realm of the immortals.

If one treasures and firmly guards spirit and primordial Qi, the Three Origins can return to their original condition. The merit gained thereby is vast and measureless, subtle and hard to put into words.

Cleanse the inner heart and apply the will with concentrated diligence; purify and abstain in body and mind, holding utmost sincerity and reverence. When sincere intent reaches its utmost, one spontaneously resonates and communes with the Dao, and all affairs thereby tend toward smooth accord. The Great Dao is true and wondrously subtle, yet without form or color, without sound or scent; its marvelous transformations are hard to fathom, and within stillness it shows forth clarity. It can dissolve every offense and adversity and disperse every calamity, so that one’s conduct constantly meets with purity and good fortune, and blessings and prosperity, long life, health, and peace are all obtained. The Great Dao of the Three Origins is subtle without end and brings a bright condition in which the heart is content and all moves freely.

Reverently bow before the Great Dao, single-minded and undivided; with a heart of reverence and trust, strive to practice it. In this way the sovereign within the heart constantly enjoys peace and security, and the world too can long remain at peace.

Upon hearing this scripture (Jing) and its incantations, the Three Officials (Sanguan Dijun), the deities who govern the Upper, Middle, and Lower Three Origins (Sanyuan), performed nine bows before the Most High Worthy of the Dao (Taishang Daozun). Holding a jade tablet, they solemnly vowed:

“I, your subject, am charged above all with the affairs of the Three Origins. I patrol the world and examine and record the good and evil of human beings. In ordinary times I accord with the Dao through clarity and stillness, follow the natural course of things, and do not regard myself as having any merit. Now that I have heard teachings of the Dao so lofty and wondrous, I am willing to spread them throughout the world.

“I respectfully receive the decree of the Most High and proclaim it to the immortal sages of all the heavens, to the divine officers of the bureaus of the Three Origins, and to the deities of the Three Realms and the Ten Directions: If good men and women in the world observe the fasts and precepts of the Three Origins, purify body and mind, recite and inwardly realize this scripture, reverently uphold and chant the true incantations, and cultivate with diligence, then, in response to the sincerity of their hearts, we shall go to them, protect and bless them, and rescue them from the sufferings of flood, fire, warfare, banditry, illness, childbirth, and travel by boat, and from every kind of calamity and harm. We shall remit and dissolve the enmities, faults, and karmic obstructions they have formed in past lives and in this life; we shall uphold them as they advance diligently in cultivating the Dao, moving toward the wondrous Dao that is unsurpassed and utterly true. We shall also cause their long-standing illnesses to subside little by little, their spirits to grow vigorous, their bodies to be sound and at ease, and their blessings and lifespans to increase.”

When the memorial was finished, the Three Officials bowed once more.

At that moment the Great Perfected of Penetrating Mystery and Utmost Virtue, together with the celestial emperors, the celestial immortals, the immortal sages of the Three Origins, and the host of immortals and perfected beings, joined in praise, saying: “Through many kalpas we have never heard a teaching of such subtle excellence. Now we have come to understand the root of the great Dao of the Three Origins, and we have also come to know the vow-power by which the Three Officials save and deliver living beings. All of us rejoice from the heart.”

The music of the heavens was solemn and harmonious, and pure, elegant tones rose in lingering beauty. Celestial flowers drifted down, and celestial fragrance spread on every side. The immortal sages and divine perfected of the Ten Directions bowed in reverence and each returned to his own place. May all beings of the human world and of the heavens reverently believe, receive, and put this scripture into practice.

Here ends the True Scripture of Blessings and Longevity, the Wondrous Root of the Three Origins, of the Most High Cavern of Spirit (Taishang Dongshen Sanyuan Miaoben Fushou Zhenjing).

The original nature of human beings is pure and still, empty and luminous, free of partiality in desire and feeling; in itself it knows neither good nor evil. Yet the moment a thought arises in the mind, the deviant and the upright divide from that point.

I have heard that in high antiquity, rulers and ministers, the common people, and the myriad beings were all sincere and plain, pure and whole, without stray thoughts. They were of one heart with one another, and each upheld one and the same Virtue (De). Thus the Qi (vital energy) of the Three Primordials—what Daoism calls the Upper Prime, the Middle Prime, and the Lower Prime—was naturally harmonized and free-flowing, and all living beings possessed a numinous, luminous nature.

After middle antiquity, people gradually came to prize ingenuity and cleverness. Their minds ran to delusive thoughts: greed and anger, the urge to contend and prevail, jealousy and strife, deceit and hypocrisy, arrogance, extravagance, and benightedness. They did not perceive this, and to the end they would not repent. As human desire grew ever stronger, original nature was lost because of it, and injustice and calamity followed one upon another. The good suffered misfortune, bearing pain and grievance with nowhere to appeal.

This is because deviant Qi above and below invade one another, and through sympathetic response give rise to pestilence, warfare, famine, treachery and theft, the hidden poison of ghosts and spirits, the haunting of demons and monsters, and every kind of disaster—even illness, injury, and untimely death. How lamentable!

Our Most High (Taishang—the honorific by which Daoism addresses the supreme venerable deity) cherishes compassion. The Lord on High bestows a good nature upon human beings and charges the celestial bureaus and offices of the Three Officials—the divine offices that administer the affairs of the Officials of Heaven, Earth, and Water—to preside over reward and punishment. On each day of the Three Primordials the Three Officials tour, inspect, and examine, clearly distinguishing merit from fault and judging the crooked and the straight. They pardon offenses and relieve suffering, dissolve calamity and rescue those in peril. Those who possess merit receive blessing, emolument, and long life, and their descendants are worthy, talented, eminent, and honored. Those who commit sinful karma are punished, and their families and descendants may grow dull and decline. The gods are impartial and sagely luminous; retribution is swift and distinct, arising of itself, without the least error.

This scripture (Jing) sets forth the profound root and wondrous function of the Most High’s teaching on the Dao (the Way) and De of the Three Primordials. It displays the power of sagely illumination and its divine efficacy, so that those who aspire to cultivate the Dao may cultivate the true and clarify the root, return to simplicity and recover purity, restore the plain customs of high antiquity, and realize the supreme true and wondrous Dao. Receiving the ancient text, I collated its wording and divided it into chapters, so that the mysterious principles might be more readily understood and the mind that cultivates the Dao might be still clearer. First I pray that the state may long enjoy peace and stability and that the sovereign’s sagely life may be prolonged. Next I wish that the faithful may keep the fast, purify the heart, recite and put the teaching into practice, and cultivate with sincere intent, so as not to fail the compassion of the Most High, nor the vow-power by which the Dao saves the world and the Three Officials bless humankind.

When Layman Wang of Zhong’an read this scripture, he rejoiced and praised it. He resolved to solicit contributions and to provide the funds to carve and print it, so that the text might circulate widely in the human world and exhort living beings to return together to the correct Dao. This is truly a great benefit.

On the winter solstice of the jiazi year of the Taiding era, your servant Miao Shanshi, Lofty Adept of Mysterious Unity, clad in gold-bordered purple robes, respectfully bows his head and composes this preface.

Note: The original text repeats a number of phrases, and the character “钓” is suspected to be a miswriting of “钧.”