《太上神咒延寿妙经》

At that time, the Celestial Worthy of Primordial Beginning (a revered deity of Daoism) rescued the many, lengthened their allotted years, and helped people escape illness, suffering, and calamity. The Lord of the Dao then knelt for a long while and bowed in reverence, reciting with undivided attention and clearing away distracting thoughts, so that all manner of evils dispersed. The General of Jiazi (the divine general who governs the jiazi years and human lifespan) added years to my life. May all that the Celestial Worthy prays for come to fulfillment. Whenever a cry for help is heard, go forth to give aid, so that people may enjoy the lifespan that is their due, continuing without break from generation to generation, transmitted and practiced without obstruction.

Fulu (talismans and registers), the written talismanic script of Daoism, can dispel the inauspiciousness brought by the Five Deficiencies and the Six Consumptions, together with nightmares, hindrances, and curses. If one can receive and uphold this Jing (scripture/classic), one will not suffer these harms; wearing the talisman can secure a lifespan of a hundred years. If one meets the various calamities of the year, the month, the day, and the hour, after wearing the talisman one will no longer be bound by the taboos of ill fortune. If one can receive and uphold this scripture, one can lengthen one’s years and increase one’s life, pass through calamity, extend one’s lifespan, and recover one’s allotted years, so that the record of death is removed from the register of lifespans and one is entered as among the living in the Palace of Wenchang (the celestial palace that governs literary fortune and the related registers).

Reciting this scripture on the Six Fasting Days, the Ten Days of Upright Conduct, the Jiazi days, the Gengshen days, one’s natal day, and the Eight Nodes (Beginning of Spring, Spring Equinox, Beginning of Summer, Summer Solstice, Beginning of Autumn, Autumn Equinox, Beginning of Winter, and Winter Solstice) can make the soul and spirit clear and upright, turn white hair black, settle body and mind, and bring one’s wishes to fulfillment.

The Perfected, the immortal lads and jade maidens of the Three Rivers and Four Seas and of the Nine Rivers and Eight Extremities, the earth spirits of the Three Realms (deities of the earth), the Three Offices and Nine Bureaus (the divine offices governing Heaven, Earth, Water, and related affairs), and all the gods and spirits, upon hearing and upholding this scripture, will for those who recite and uphold it dispel every affliction, together with the great offenses of stubborn defiance, ugliness, and the like. The faults of slighting teachers and elders, disrupting the methods of the Dao, defiling the celestial scriptures, and of treachery, theft, and seeking profit for private ends, can all likewise be dissolved.

If one recites this scripture through the six periods of day and night (in antiquity a full day and night was divided into six periods), the poisons of the five pestilences will forever remain far from the household gate. The fierce demons of the world will also flee ten thousand li. As for the supplications above: quickly, quickly, in accordance with the statutes.