《太上说中斗大魁保命妙经》

At that time, during the Yongshou years, the Most High Lord Lao of the Taiqing realm met repeatedly in the Shu capital with Celestial Master (Tianshi) Zhang of Zhengyi (Orthodox Unity) and transmitted to him the spiritual texts of the Western Dipper. Celestial Master Zhang was able to cultivate with care and practice with reverence. Thereupon the Most High Lord Lao once more manifested his true form, ascended the Jade Bureau seat amid pure emptiness, proclaimed the orthodox teaching, and said:

“The golden battle-axe (the axe borne by divine generals) slays evil in front, and Great Heaven administers punishment behind. Demons and sprites are subdued—who would dare refuse submission? Those who hold registers of names and wield Fulu (talismans and registers), guarded by jade maidens and golden lads, can prolong their lifespan and preserve their lives. Riding the clouds and driving the wind, leaving the mortal body and receiving refinement and deliverance, they can be liberated from the dusty world, enduring without end.”

Lord Lao then proclaimed the incantation:

“The spirit of the center commands the four directions, governs the myriad phenomena, and transcendently holds the guiding order of heaven and earth. It makes good deeds manifest and punishes evil deeds, and presides over the jade seals within the precious cases. It scatters the myriad ghosts and breaks the sharp edge of evil. It delivers countless people of the world and causes their merit and renown to reach the celestial court. Through offerings and reverent worship, inauspicious influences are swept away. Those who receive and uphold this method with concentrated sincerity and reverence may ascend to heaven and soar. Quickly, quickly, in accordance with the statutes and ordinances!”

The first of the Central Dipper is named True Lord Heling, Deliverer of the World; the second of the Central Dipper is named True Lord Wohua, Supreme Sage; the third of the Central Dipper is named True Lord Chonghe, of Utmost Virtue (De).

The Most High said: “When ordinary people recite and uphold this Jing (scripture/classic), they must observe fasting and purification, cleanse the mind, and worship with sincere devotion, bowing the head and closing the eyes while concentrating on visualizing the deities. The mind and spirit seem to travel through the vast divine realm, meet the gods, and receive salvation. In this way one can aid the people of the world and extend life, dispel calamities and karmic obstructions, and wash away demonic and deviant Qi (vital energy), so that blessings endure from generation to generation and are transmitted without end.”

The Most High (Taishang, the Daoist honorific for the supreme sacred being) said: “The Central Dipper stands at the center of the celestial realms of the five directions. The heavens of the four quarters surround and guard it, and its station is incomparably exalted. It presides over the celestial-prime Qi (vital energy)—the original breath that constitutes Heaven and Earth—and commands all the heavens. These secretly transmitted scriptures (Jing) and mysterious chapters are treasured canons prized alike in the celestial realms and in the human world. Now I solemnly charge you to transmit them to later ages, to save and deliver bewildered beings, and to serve as a guide for the people of the world.

If the scriptures are passed to an unsuitable person who treats them with neglect and indifference, the true spirits of the celestial realms will not acknowledge them, and later generations will suffer calamity because of it. I consider that you are able to purify your heart and clarify your thoughts, to practice with reverence and purity, diligent and unremitting, holding fast from beginning to end as one, and firmly keeping to your original resolve. Therefore I may expound for you the mysterious chapters of the Central Dipper.”

The Zhengyi (Orthodox Unity) Celestial Master (Tianshi, the honorific title of the Celestial Master tradition of Daoism) bowed in obeisance, listened with undivided attention, and reverently received the teaching.

Lord Lao told the Zhengyi Celestial Master: “The vault of heaven is lofty and boundless. The Central Dipper dwells at the center, upright and still, keeping its place there as it opens and spreads forth chaotic Heaven and Earth. The celestial realms of the four quarters assist and guard it, radiant and magnificent. The Seven Governors—the sun, the moon, and the five planets of Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth, the Five Phases—move amid the patterns of heaven, and the sun and moon too are under its command. It orders the myriad phenomena, upholds the guiding principles of Heaven and Earth, and strictly examines all the heavens and the divine realms of the Limitless.

The Three Officials and Nine Bureaus (the Officials of Heaven, Earth, and Water, together with the divine offices under them), the Twelve River Sources, the Twenty-Eight Lunar Mansions, and the Thirty-Two Heavens all receive its universal protection, and thus are able to bestow blessings and avert misfortune. It can erase the records of sinful karma and extinguish the roots of evil.

The Eastern Dipper governs the allotted span of life; the Western Dipper records the registers of names; the Northern Dipper presides over death; the Southern Dipper presides over the increase of vital force. The Central Dipper is the Great Chief, towering in supreme honor. Beings of the celestial realms and of the human world alike can be saved and delivered through it, and endure through long kalpas. Those sunk in the Three Paths and Five Sufferings (the evil destinies of hell, hungry ghosts, and animals, together with every kind of affliction), and those who meet the Eight Difficulties and Three Adversities (the various obstacles and hardships of cultivation and of human life), if they receive and follow this orthodox teaching, may ascend through the Golden Gate and enter the realm of the immortals.”

Lord Lao (Laojun) said to the Zhengyi (Orthodox Unity) Celestial Master (Tianshi): The Qi (vital energy) of the Central Dipper—the primordial Qi of the central dipper mansion—is formed by the convergence of the Qi of the dipper mansions of the four directions. It runs through the beginning and the end of things and is the root from which the myriad things are transformed and brought into being. The Azure Emperor safeguards a person’s hun (ethereal soul), the White Emperor safeguards a person’s po (corporeal soul), the Red Emperor nourishes the primordial Qi, the Black Emperor clears the blood vessels, and the Yellow Emperor, dwelling at the center, commands them all. The host of spirits each keeps to its own station, and none oversteps its office.

The Demon King of the Azure Heaven, Bayuan Choubo; the Demon King of the Red Heaven, Futian Danshi; the Demon King of the White Heaven, Fanshan Liumu; the Demon King of the Black Heaven, Jianchou Langfu; and the Demon King of the Yellow Heaven, Hengtian Danli, together with the Great Demons of the Five Emperors, are the ancestral lords of the myriad spirits. They command the ghost soldiers, restraining and driving out every kind of baleful evil. Their ceremonial retinues are strictly ordered. They ride forth on kui-dragons, driving thunder and lightning, patrol the Great Void, and with golden axes cut down evil, so that the four quarters return to purity.

The forms of these exalted deities are all those of the Chongling Emperor-Lords and the Great Saints of Ultimate Truth. Stately and solemn, they sit arrayed in a circle. Practitioners may visualize the deities’ forms in the mind and pray with sincere hearts; if they obtain the deities’ protection, blessings and years of life may be extended. In accordance with the methods of the Jing (scripture/classic), one offers reverent worship: on days when disaster and adversity are encountered, on one’s day of root destiny (benming)—the birthday and year belonging to one’s zodiac animal—or at the times of the Three Primes and Eight Assemblies, specific auspicious days for Daoist Zhaijiao (purification ritual), one sets up a pure altar, offers seasonal fruits, prized flowers, and precious incense, proclaims the petition according to the Keyi (liturgy), purifies body and mind, respectfully invites the True Saints, and performs the jiao rite to atone for karmic offenses. When the True Saints rejoice, they can add to one’s allotted years and prolong one’s lifespan, and every wish one seeks may be granted; ancestors of nine generations may also ascend to heaven, have their names entered in the registers of the immortals, and roam at ease in the realm of Shangqing (Highest Clarity).

Lord Lao further said to the Zhengyi Celestial Master: The numinous sounds secretly transmitted from the five directions are what I formerly transmitted to the human world, to rescue living beings and enable them forever to escape the suffering of sinking into perdition. They are a treasure of the world, and there is no merit greater than this.

Lord Lao (Laojun) spoke again to the Zhengyi (Orthodox Unity) Celestial Master (Tianshi): “The numinous and wondrous writings of the Five Dipper talismanic forms, together with the titles of the True Lords of the Five Dippers, can be encountered only by those who have the affinity to study the Dao (the Way). To make offerings to them, honor them, and worship them brings forth their majestic spiritual efficacy; the portents of good and evil, of calamity and blessing, appear in response just as a shadow follows the body and an echo answers a sound. What matters is single-minded devotion; they must not be treated lightly or with disrespect. You should hold to them with firm resolve, revere and serve them with undivided attention, and approach them with caution, and you must not forget to proclaim these teachings.”

When Lord Lao had finished his charge, he ascended to heaven and departed. The Celestial Master prostrated himself in worship and thanksgiving, transmitted the Jing (scripture/classic) to the people of the world, and treasured it in a golden casket (a precious case), so that it might circulate widely and teach and transform countless people.