《太上老君说上七灭罪集福妙经》

At that time, the Most High Lord Lao (Taishang Laojun), a revered deity of Daoism, came at the close of the Longhan calamity—the final stage of a remote cosmic aeon in Daoist teaching—to the sheer summit of Mount Sumeru, a legendary high mountain. There he gathered with celestial immortals, earthly immortals, flying immortals, and divine immortals, together with the multitudes who had come from the ten directions, and expounded the methods of the Dao (the Way).

Gazing with compassion upon the living beings of southern Jambudvīpa, the world inhabited by humankind in the Buddhist cosmology, Lord Lao found that every household suffered from pestilential qi (vital energy), lawsuits and disputes, the loss of wealth and position, and the deaths of family members. He therefore immediately summoned the Seven Perfected of the Northern Dipper, the seven stellar lords of the Northern Dipper, and inquired into conditions throughout the world.

The Seven Perfected of the Northern Dipper set their robes and caps in order, came forward holding their audience tablets, bowed three times, and reported to Lord Lao: “Please hear our account. The people do not revere the Three Treasures—the Dao, the Jing (scripture), and the Master. They abandon the orthodox Dao and put their trust in deviant ways. They commit the ten evils and the five rebellions, grave wrongdoing and offenses against the moral bonds of human relations, yet they will not turn their hearts toward goodness. On the upper sevens of each month—the seventh, the seventeenth, the twenty-seventh, and other days associated with the number seven—they neither burn incense and present memorials nor repent and purify body and mind, and so they cannot preserve themselves or their families. Whenever an upper seven arrives, the Mouth Messenger of the Northern Dipper records good and evil and submits the record to the Celestial Bureau, the heavenly office that keeps the registers and administers rewards and punishments. People’s blessings, emoluments, and lifespans are thereby diminished, and these misfortunes are brought upon them.”

Lord Lao said: “Well spoken! The Seven Perfected of the Northern Dipper are skilled at presenting their report. What you do can benefit living beings, yet living beings remain wholly unaware and do not fear disaster. The Seven Perfected of the Northern Dipper may first be honored as the ‘Ten Great Celestial Worthies Who Extinguish Sin, Dispel Calamity, Promote Blessing, and Assist Goodness.’ If good men and good women hear this Marvelous Scripture of the Upper Seven, make offerings, burn incense, and recite it before the holy worthies, they can eliminate the obstacles of sin and the karmic obstructions created by body, speech, and mind since birth. As they invoke the names of the holy worthies, the sins they have created will gradually be extinguished.”

Lord Lao then pronounced these honorific titles and prayers: Celestial Worthy of the Greedy Wolf, may my dwelling be peaceful; Celestial Worthy of the Great Gate, may my parents enjoy long life and health; Celestial Worthy of Preserved Emolument, may my undertakings prosper and proceed smoothly; Celestial Worthy of Literary Melody, may the whole family be healthy and safe.

O Celestial Worthy of Lianzhen (a revered deity in the cult of the Seven Stars of the Northern Dipper), may my descendants flourish in wealth and honor; O Celestial Worthy of Wuqu, may every evil karma upon my person be forever extinguished; O Celestial Worthy of Pojun, may the six kinds of livestock in my household thrive; O Celestial Worthy of Fubi (an assisting stellar deity in Northern Dipper belief), may my illnesses be healed; O Celestial Worthy of Santai (a stellar deity venerated in Daoism), may my goods and wealth not go on dwindling; O Celestial Worthy of Pojun, may the six kinds of livestock in my household thrive; O Celestial Worthy of Fubi, may my illnesses be healed; O Celestial Worthy of Santai, may my goods and wealth not be wasted in vain; O Celestial Worthy of Huagai, may unexpected calamities never occur.

The scripture (Jing) says: Ordinary people of the world do not understand that the Seven True Holy Ones of the Upper Seventh (the seven revered deities who descend into the human world on the “Upper Seventh” day of each month) come down into the human world every month, and can help people avert disaster, repent their offenses, pray for blessings, and prolong life. According to their own means, people may perform a Zhangjiao (a Daoist rite of praying to the deities and submitting memorials to make one’s petitions known), and thereby increase their merit and blessings.

On the Upper Seventh day, some good men and faithful women do not believe in the efficacy of burning incense and offering worship. This is to slight life, lose sight of the root, and prove unworthy of one’s station as a human being. The Celestial Offices (the divine bureaus that keep the registers of Heaven) will reduce their stipends and their allotted years. After death, such people will drift through the Six Paths (the six destinations of sentient beings in the round of rebirth), be reborn as birds and beasts, and forever lose the chance of obtaining a human body again.

On the Upper Seventh day, if good men and faithful women can burn incense, pray, and submit memorials to the Celestial Bureaus (the official offices of Heaven), then generation after generation they will be prosperous and intelligent, standing out among others. If someone is born with a meager share of fortune and lives in poverty, and knows how to cultivate and venerate the Upper Seventh yet lacks the means to hold a rite, that person may still pour water and offer flowers, face north toward the Northern Dipper, bow prostrate in worship, and recite the names of the Ten Great Celestial Worthies of the Northern Dipper and of the Perfected Lord of Natal Destiny (the revered deity who governs a person’s own natal fate). This too can lengthen life, increase one’s blessings, preserve the human body, cause calamity to be dispelled, bring measureless merit and blessings, extend fortune and longevity, and keep one’s family safe.

The merit of now reciting this scripture is first devoted to the solemn offering made for the heavens of the upper realm, the great sages of the ten directions, kings and imperial sovereigns, honored teachers, and fathers and mothers, so that they may be freed from disaster, obtain measureless merit and blessings, enjoy prolonged fortune and longevity, and have their households at peace; next, one prays that the whole family, great and small, of the disciple reciting the scripture at this moment may be safe and well; and further, one prays that sentient beings throughout the Dharma realm may together leave the root of suffering and alike ascend to the fruit of the Dao (the Way).

Thereupon one recites: O Lords of the Seven Primordials (the divine lords of the Seven Stars of the Northern Dipper), you great sages, benevolent, compassionate, and spiritually responsive, who relieve and deliver beings from every kind of calamity, and who guide suffering sentient beings out of the realm of suffering.

If someone comes seeking instruction, simply by reciting and upholding this scripture (Jing), that person can receive protection and be kept safe and at peace.

All manner of blessings and karmic rewards can arise from this; all of it originates in reverently upholding this scripture.

When Lord Lao (Laojun) had finished expounding the scripture and was about to depart, dragons, immortal cranes, and celestial immortals came to escort him back to the Jade Capital (Yujing, the immortal metropolis of the heavenly realm). At that moment Lord Lao again admonished the Seven Perfected of the Northern Dipper (Beidou Qizhen, the seven true deities represented by the seven stars of the Northern Dipper), saying: “You ought to proclaim the orthodox Dao (the Way), rescue and deliver all beings, so that blessings may be boundless and everyone may together partake of the fruits of goodness. If good men and good women revere this scripture throughout their lives, recite it repeatedly, and faithfully receive and uphold it for thirty years, the Celestial Bureau (Tiancao, the offices of the heavenly realm) will record their names, and the underworld will erase their registers. Even when their blessings and emoluments have been exhausted and their lifespan has come to an end, they will not remain in the realm of darkness, but will ascend directly to heaven; on the case files of the Ten Kings (Shiwang, the ten netherworld kings who preside over judgment in the underworld), their names will also be removed forever.”

At that time the perfected beings of the seven stars of the Northern Dipper who had realized the Dao bowed once more to Lord Lao and declared that they would let this scripture circulate in the world, widely transmit it so as to deliver all beings, and would not pass it on to those unfit to receive it, asking Lord Lao to set his mind at ease.