《太上说中斗大魁掌算伏魔神咒经》

Lord Lao said: The Great Dao (the Way) has no fixed form and ever abides in the hidden, profound, and mysteriously remote. It is the sage among sages and the numinous among the numinous, embracing the myriad things and nurturing all living beings. Sentient beings receive the endowment of the Great Dao; those who can discern principle attain thorough understanding, those who turn against the Dao go toward death, and those who accord with the Dao are able to live.

If you wish to ascend to the upper realms and not fall into the dark underworld, you must fast and keep purity with a sincere heart, and recite this Jing (scripture) morning and evening. Recite it one hundred times, and the hun and po souls will be at peace; recite it one thousand times, and dragon spirits will guard the body; recite it ten thousand times, and you will subdue and destroy evil influences, every wish will be realized, and every undertaking will succeed. Evil ghosts will be brought to submission, and demonic spirits will be restrained. Those who see me will die; those who hear me will be struck with fear; those who slight me will perish; those who revere me will preserve their lives. When the scripture has been recited ten thousand times, one enjoys spiritual powers at ease and a body light and sound; whatever is sought comes as wished; one rides a cloud carriage, pays homage to Heaven and Earth, and joins the ranks of the immortal officials. Descendants too receive blessing, and the household prospers.

If disciples of the secular world can listen in earnest, I will certainly not deceive you. So long as you give rise to a heart of utmost sincerity—even in the wild countryside, or amid warfare, sudden disaster, or siege within a city, or when meeting tigers, wolves, venomous insects, and snakes, or even evil ghosts, sprites, and every kind of terror—you need only recite this scripture. You need not say it aloud, nor let others hear it; you need only keep the fast in purity and devote yourself with sincere reverence. I will then dispatch divine troops to descend. Calamity will disperse at once, and the reciter will naturally pass from danger into safety and obtain blessing.

The divinities named in the scripture, if called upon in urgency, will answer: one hundred thousand Celestial Masters (Tianshi) prolong human life; one hundred thousand perfected beings add to human years; one hundred thousand golden lads guard the hun and po; one hundred thousand jade maidens protect the body; one hundred thousand heavenly soldiers devour ghosts; one hundred thousand strongmen swallow and destroy essence-specters; one hundred thousand generals slay demons; one hundred thousand vajra warriors bind evil influences. One hundred thousand dragon kings rise in wrath, and the Thunder Lord releases lightning in crisscross flashes; when they meet evil influences they swallow and destroy them, without asking names. Waves surge, sun and sky grow dark, mountains shake, wind and thunder roll vast, and thunderbolts crash. The Five Emperors, the spirits of the Five Sacred Peaks, and divine generals such as the Six Jia and the Six Ding all set forth together. When devils hear the sound of the scripture their skulls split; sprites have nowhere to hide; tigers and wolves flee in panic; and blades and weapons cannot make one afraid.

The one who recites must be single-minded and reverent, and must not be careless or disrespectful. When recitation reaches ten thousand times, the practice is complete, and one may go of oneself to Peng and Ying (the legendary immortal mountains in the sea). This is the merit of the Great Emperor, and the Five Emperors too once practiced it. It closes in the form of a Daoist statutory formula: let all be carried out at once according to the statutes and ordinances of the Most High Mystery Metropolis.