《太上老君说益算神符妙经》

At that time, the Most High Lord Lao (Taishang Laojun) and the Perfected Celestial Master (Tianshi) came together to the Biluo realm in the land of Chanli. They saw living beings stricken by unexpected calamities, their bodies bound by illness and trapped in misfortune and hardship, many of them dying young before their time. The Perfected Celestial Master rose and addressed the Most High Lord Lao: “What method should these beings follow, and what merit should they accumulate, so that they may be saved, lengthen their years and increase their lifespan in this life, and suffer calamity no more?”

Lord Lao said: “These beings each endure the many afflictions that the body brings, and they do not understand the correct Dao (the Way). Through delusion they have fallen into this condition.” The Perfected Celestial Master bowed his head in reverence and asked to be taught the root of these calamities.

Lord Lao then spoke in verse: The first is that in former lives they did not believe in and revere the Dao; the second, that in past lives they undertook no cultivation; the third, that in this life, though they possess this body, they do not know how to dedicate the merit of their practice to others; and the fourth, that in establishing themselves and conducting their lives they cling to every kind of entanglement and find it hard to gain liberation.

For this reason they draw every sort of calamity upon themselves, so that illness, misfortune, and decline follow one upon another without cease.

If one wishes to support the weakened and dispel disaster, nothing is more fitting than the pure fast—cleansing body and mind, keeping the fast, and cultivating goodness—together with the repeated recitation of the Yisuan. Wearing a numinous talisman on one’s person and receiving its protection at all times, one may preserve longevity and drive away inauspicious connections.

When Lord Lao had finished speaking this verse, it was the seventh day of the first month of the Shangyuan Jiazi year. Riding in a chariot of purple clouds, Lord Lao went together with the Celestial Master (Tianshi) to the capital of Shu. On the fifteenth day of that month, they set up a seat in the city of Chishi and expounded the teaching, bringing aid universally to all living beings.

At that time, Zhao Sheng and Wang Chang, devoutly believing in and revering the methods of the Dao (the Way), came before Lord Lao, knelt at length, and requested to take him as their teacher. Lord Lao thereupon ordered the Celestial Master to convene the stellar officials of the various heavens, the officers of longevity and the Directors of Fate, the Generals of the Six Jia, and the gods of heaven and spirits of earth—countless divine hosts—to come and be seated. Together they deliberated on transmitting the wondrous sounds of the sacred teaching, in order to rescue living beings and spare them from calamity. Afterward they carved the scripture (Jing) upon stone as a credential, and transmitted the divine talismans and this wondrous scripture, so that it would circulate in the world and help people to lengthen their lives.

The Perfected One bowed again and reported: “Although we have been favored with your guidance, so that people have been awakened from ignorance, living beings still do not fully understand. If good men and good women are able to observe purification and keep the precepts in accordance with the teaching, follow its instructions, and not fail the compassion of their teacher, they can forever leave behind every kind of suffering. As for those who slander and do not believe, how should they be guided so that they may obtain deliverance?”

Lord Lao said: “Well asked! It is because your heart is filled with compassion that you inquire in this way for the sake of living beings. If there are those who, generation after generation, revere the Dao, remaining firm and devout and never changing, who burn incense, perform worship, and recite the true scripture, then their bodies and minds will be at peace, their lives will be prolonged, their blessings and prosperity will increase, and they will gradually draw near to the Great Dao.”

Lord Lao said further: “The Dao can shelter the myriad things and cherish them with loving-kindness, nourish the myriad things, and also bring the myriad things into being. If there are those who, generation after generation, revere the Dao, remaining firm and devout and never changing, who burn incense, perform worship, and recite the true scripture, then their bodies and minds will be at peace, their lives will be prolonged, their blessings and prosperity will increase, and they will gradually draw near to the Great Dao.”

Lord Lao said: The Great Dao (the Way) can shelter, nurture, and bring the myriad things into being, and it can also rescue and protect all living beings. If a person’s allotted lifespan is about to come to an end, the Great Dao can add for him twelve thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine years of life-count, making his life firm and enduring and bringing it into accord with the Great Dao. Heaven and Earth then share the same De (Virtue/Power) with him, and the myriad things flourish as a result. The True Lord descends into the human world to lengthen the disciple’s life and increase his life-count, so that calamities and evil influences are all laid to rest.

If someone meets with hardship, decline, crisis, or disaster, or is tormented by all kinds of illness, the Six Jia Generals—Daoist divine generals who command the Jiazi and the rest of the sixty sexagenary positions—are summoned, together with the stellar officials of the various heavens and the forty-eight thousand holy hosts, to come jointly and bring healing.

The Jiazi General Wang Wenqing dispatches one hundred and twenty officers and generals to add for the disciple So-and-so twelve thousand units of bodily life-count, protecting his body and eliminating the hundred illnesses. The Jiaxu General Zhan Zijiang dispatches one hundred and twenty officers and generals together with eight thousand holy hosts to come and bring healing. The Jiazi General Wang Wenqing dispatches one hundred and twenty officers and generals to add for the disciple So-and-so twelve thousand units of bodily life-count, protecting his body and eliminating the hundred illnesses. The Jiaxu General Zhan Zijiang dispatches one hundred and twenty officers and generals to add for the disciple So-and-so twelve thousand units of heart-mind life-count, protecting his body and dispelling demonic obstacles and delusion. The Jiashen General Hu Wenchang dispatches one hundred and twenty officers and generals to add for the disciple So-and-so twelve thousand units of emolument life-count, protecting his body and eliminating wasteful depletion and loss. The Jiawu General Wei Shangqing dispatches one hundred and twenty officers and generals to add for the disciple So-and-so twelve thousand units of blessing life-count, protecting his body and eliminating unexpected disasters. The Jiachen General Meng Feiqing dispatches one hundred and twenty officers and generals to add for the disciple So-and-so twelve thousand units of wealth life-count, protecting his body so that his property suffers no decline or damage. The Jiayin General Ming Wenzhang dispatches one hundred and twenty officers and generals to add for the disciple So-and-so twelve thousand units of longevity life-count, protecting his body so that he does not die an early death.

Lord Lao said: The six hundred Jiazi, the Lords of the Three Primes Who Bring the Dao to Prosperity, the Lords Who Augment the Life-Count of All Living Beings, and the Greatly Compassionate Radiant Brightness together with the other three thousand five hundred perfected persons will descend as one to rescue and protect the person’s body, enabling him to extend his life for ten thousand years and ascend into the orthodox Dao. At that time the great sages among the stars and lodges of the various heavens will also descend and dissolve grievances and enmities.

The Star Lord Tanlang of the Northern Dipper presides over the elimination of evil Qi (vital energy).

Those who have successfully cultivated the method of the Beidou Jumen Star Lord (one of the Seven Stars of the Northern Dipper, the stellar deity who governs the dissolution of disasters and calamities) are able to prolong their years and extend their lives, and to ascend into the orthodox Dao (the Way). At that time, the great sages among the stars and constellations of all the heavens will dissolve grievances and enmities on their behalf.

The Beidou Tanlang Star Lord presides over dispersing malign and vicious Qi (vital energy); the Jumen Star Lord presides over subduing the calamity of hidden corpses; the Lucun Star Lord presides over driving away the hundred ghosts; the Wenqu Star Lord presides over eliminating nightmares; the Lianzhen Star Lord presides over eliminating quarrels and verbal disputes; the Wuqu Star Lord presides over eliminating lawsuits and litigation; and the Pojun Star Lord presides over eliminating wasteful depletion and loss. The Zuofu Star Lord presides over the number of years in a person’s life, and the Youbi Star Lord presides over a person’s bodily form and appearance. The Santai Star Lords together increase a person’s blessings, prosperity, and lifespan, so that the person may be spared misfortune and calamity.

May the venerable deities of the assembled stars—the First Evil Star, the Second Auspicious Star, the Third Averting Star, the Fourth Yinghuo Star, the Fifth Peril Star, and the rest—dispel calamity and relieve hardship for the disciple So-and-so, and drive away the epidemics and illnesses of the world, together with the disasters brought by the stars of licentiousness, jealousy, and obstruction. May the venerable deities of the assembled stars, the Third Averting Star, the Fourth Yinghuo Star, the Fifth Peril Star, and the rest, also expel these epidemics and illnesses, and the ghosts of licentiousness, jealousy, and obstruction, causing them to depart at once beyond a thousand or ten thousand li. This command must be carried out immediately, just as the statutes issued by the divine talisman of the Most High!

Lord Lao said: “I now expound this wondrous Jing (scripture), widely transmitting the methods of the Dao and using Fulu (talismans and registers) to rescue the people of the world. Those who wear the Fulu ought to cultivate with diligence, constantly keeping reverence and faith within the heart; in this way they will be at peace and free from care. Every kind of calamity can be dissolved together, and in the course of daily conduct auspicious signs will gradually appear; whatever is sought and desired will be fulfilled according to the heart’s wish.”

After the Celestial Master (Tianshi) received this wondrous method, he composed a hymn, saying:

“O divine talisman, divine talisman, your wondrous efficacy manifests from the Great Nonbeing (Taiwu, the primordial void of which Daoism speaks). It gives rise to Heaven and Earth, and unfurls or gathers according to the transformations of the Dao. Those who wear and reverently uphold it can eliminate adversity, attain the true Dao, and ascend in the body to the Mysterious Capital (Xuandu, the abode of immortals and perfected beings of which Daoism speaks).”

When the Celestial Master had finished this hymn, he performed the rites of farewell together with his disciples Zhao Sheng and Wang Chang, and then withdrew.