《无上大乘要诀妙经》

At that time, in the year of Longhan, the Celestial Worthy manifested in the kingdom of Dafutang a naturally formed Mysterious Terrace of the Seven Treasures. The terrace was adorned with every kind of precious jewel, and colored silken canopies hung all around, covering the entire land. The Celestial Worthy sat upright at the center of the terrace, and the great radiance he emitted illuminated the boundless worlds of the ten directions, so that all things became bright.

At that time the host of great holy deities, the flying celestial divine kings, the True Elder of Cinnabar Numen, the Celestial Lords of the Three Qi (vital energy) of the Most High, the many perfected beings of the Jade Dawn Supreme Emperor, together with the two perfected ones on the left and the right and countless multitudes, all came and assembled. The demon kings of the Three Realms, the dragon kings of the Four Seas, and the immortals of the ten directions also arrived, riding upon beams of light, and offered treasures of immeasurable worth. Fragrances blended from every kind of aroma gave forth their scent of themselves without being burned, and the music of heaven sounded at the same time.

The Celestial King of the Primordial Beginning said to the Most High Lord of the Great Dao (the Way): “You have accumulated profound merit, and have already attained marvelous wisdom and the methods of the Dao, teaching living beings and delivering them in every quarter. The conditions required for cultivation are likewise complete, sufficient for you to become the ancestral lord of the myriad sages. Yet you have not obtained this supreme essential teaching of the Great Vehicle, nor have you thoroughly comprehended the eternal, ever-abiding, immeasurable Great Dao. Through many kalpas you have accumulated virtue and practiced cultivation, and now at last your cultivation is complete. Therefore I transmit to you the supreme essential teaching of the Great Vehicle.

“The supreme Dao has no higher form above and no deeper realm below. When the Dharma-body is fully realized, one no longer regresses, and attains a station equal to my own. I bestow upon you the immeasurable Dharma-gates of the Three Vehicles, to be used in saving living beings. You should diligently cultivate the mind of great compassion, so that living beings may leave affliction far behind and transcend the Three Realms, and you should open the road and build bridges for them.”

Here the “Three Vehicles” is a term in Daoist scriptures for teachings of different levels; the passage emphasizes guiding and saving living beings through many kinds of Dharma-gates.

Thereupon the Supreme Lord of the Dao (Taishang Daojun), a revered deity of Daoism, left his seat, performed the rite of qishou, stepped forward to receive the Celestial Worthy’s (Tianzun) conferral of assurance and instruction, and said:

“Hearing this teaching now, my heart is filled with great joy, and I feel I have gained something I never had before. Why is that? Ever since I began to learn the Dao (the Way), I have always cultivated alone in the mountains and forests, sometimes sitting in stillness, sometimes walking, and I often thought: ‘I too have realized the nature of the Dharma (faxing, the fundamental nature common to all things). Why, then, does the Celestial Worthy deliver me by the methods of the Lesser Vehicle?’

“Yet this was my own fault, not the fault of the Celestial Worthy. Why? Had I at the outset resolved to cultivate penetrating wisdom (donghui, wisdom that reaches deeply and thoroughly), I could originally have attained deliverance through the Dharma of the Great Vehicle. Our wisdom was shallow. Whenever we heard that there was a method of the Dao, we believed and accepted it, and so we received deliverance into the path of the immortals, prolonging our years and benefiting our lifespan, yet we never heard this boundless and limitless Dharma of the Great Vehicle. Now, having received this instruction, the doubts and discontent in my heart have all subsided. Only today do I understand that I am a true child of the Dao, born of the Dao and brought to maturity through the transformative nurture of the Dharma.”

The Lord of the Dao, joyful and at ease, then composed a verse and said:

“I have heard this teaching and gained an understanding I never had before; my heart rejoices beyond measure, and the net of doubt has already dispersed.

“Now I am able not to lose the Way of the Great Vehicle, so that life is not cut off but endures for a long time, and I can also remove the afflictions of sentient beings. Hearing this Dharma, I know that every kind of outflow (lou, the faults that bind one in affliction) can be eliminated.

“I once clung to the Lesser Vehicle, and my feelings and thoughts were not yet severed. Now I understand that this was a very great fault, and the one who most deserves blame is myself.

“Now I have received the supreme conferral of assurance, and at last I am able to release all suffering. Formerly I did not know that we all abide together within the same Dharma gate.

“Among sentient beings whose afflictions lie deep and heavy, who can fully comprehend and subdue the reliance and clinging within the heart? This is the blessed reward brought about by accumulating De (Virtue/Power) and cultivating practice. Now I am washed by a Dharma-rain like sweet dew.

“The body of the Celestial Worthy bears thirty-two golden marks, together with eighty exquisite bodily features; his merit is profound and vast, and even the Demon King cannot revile it.

“Now I have realized the empty Dharma (kongfa, experiencing that all dharmas have no fixed inherent nature); doubt and regret have both been washed away. Boxun (Papiyan, the Demon King) has also been subdued, and therefore I now perform the rite of qishou before you.”

At the end of the scripture, the verses concerning the bodily marks of the Celestial Worthy, the realization of the empty Dharma, the removal of doubt and regret, and the subduing of Boxun are restated once more. Among them, the phrase “The Dao says: I sprinkle sweet dew” seems to continue from what precedes, meaning that the Celestial Worthy said: “I moisten sentient beings by sprinkling the Dharma-rain of sweet dew.”

The Dao said: Through countless kalpas past, I have continually proclaimed the unsurpassed Great Dao (Dao, the Way) and instructed you. Through the long ages of birth and death, you too have followed me in study. According to the manner suited to each of you, I guided you and set you upon the path of cultivating the Dao, hoping that you would resolve to practice the unsurpassed Great Dao I transmit. Yet gradually you sought only the methods of the Lesser Vehicle (cultivation practices that emphasize personal liberation) and came to think this was already enough. Now I proclaim for you a scripture of the Great Vehicle, entitled The Unsurpassed Lingbao (Numinous Treasure) Teaching of the Methods of All the Perfected.

The Celestial Worthy (Tianzun) said: You have long accumulated the merit of cultivation; now your wish is fulfilled, you have realized the unsurpassed fruition, and your wisdom is complete. Your dwelling has towers and palaces adorned with the seven treasures, and the flowers of the heavens shine in brilliant splendor. You too ought to teach living beings by means of the methods of the Three Vehicles (cultivation approaches of different levels).

At this time the host of sages assembled, and the gods of the various heavens also arrived. Seeing that the Lord of the Dao (Daojun) had received the prediction of unsurpassed fruition, they were filled with joy and leaped with delight, and wisdom was complete; the towers and palaces were adorned with the seven treasures, and the heavenly flowers shone in brilliant splendor. You too ought to teach living beings by means of the methods of the Three Vehicles.

After the host of sages had assembled and all the heavens had gathered, they saw that the Lord of the Dao had received the prediction of unsurpassed fruition, and all were boundlessly joyful, exulting and leaping with delight. They removed their celestial garments and offered exquisite flowers and incense to the Lord of the Dao. Hundreds and thousands of kinds of heavenly instruments sounded together in the air, and everyone present likewise aroused the aspiration to pursue the unsurpassed, true and correct Great Dao.

At this time, after the Lord of the Dao had received the prediction of the unsurpassed Great Dao, he addressed the Celestial Worthy: In the past I cultivated according to the teachings and was thereby able to leave behind the birth, old age, sickness, and death that living beings undergo, and to turn toward the Dharma that abides forever and is never extinguished. I wish to explain these causes and conditions to the four assemblies (the two assemblies of men and women who have left the household life, and the two assemblies of lay men and women), so that they may dispel doubt and regret.

The Celestial Worthy said: A person of wisdom can come to understand a truth by means of analogy.

Consider, for example, an old man already advanced in years, who possessed untold wealth and whose household was exceedingly spacious. The house had only a single gate, yet more than a hundred people lived within it. The building, long fallen into disrepair, suddenly caught fire, and everyone was seized with panic and fear. Although the old man himself had already escaped, the children were still playing inside the burning house, unaware of any danger; even as the flames drew near, they did not realize that harm was upon them.

The old man said to the children: “This great house is already on fire and will soon be engulfed in flames. You may all be burned to death—it is truly dreadful. Outside the gate I have prepared a sheep-cart, a deer-cart, and a great ox-cart. Come out and play; whichever you wish for, I will give you.” Hearing this, the children were delighted and rushed out of the burning house, each striving to be first.

When the old man saw that the children had all come out safely and that nothing any longer obstructed them, his mind grew calm and he rejoiced exceedingly. The children then said to their father: “Father, the playthings you promised us earlier—the sheep-cart, the deer-cart, and the great ox-cart—please bestow them upon us, each according to its kind.”

The old man thereupon gave each child a great carriage. Its body was tall and broad, adorned with every kind of precious jewel; railings were set all around it, and bells hung on its four sides. A canopy was spread above, likewise decorated with rare treasures; jeweled cords were interlaced and wound about it, with garlands of flowers hanging down. Within, soft cushions were laid and crimson pillows were placed. The carriage was drawn by a white ox, its coat sleek and full, its form handsome, its sinews and bones robust, its gait steady, and its running swift as the wind; beside the carriage stood many servants as attendants and guards.

The old man said: “These children are all my sons. My household is abundant in wealth, and these jeweled carriages are both magnificent and comfortable, powerful and strong, steady and swift in their going, and attended by servants. I possess countless such carriages, and I ought to distribute them fairly to every child, without partiality. My treasures would suffice to supply the people of an entire country without ever running short—how much more, then, to give them to my own children?”

Each of the children mounted a great carriage, and all were filled with joy; what they received far surpassed what they had originally hoped for.

Here the “burning house” and the three kinds of carts serve as an analogy: by an expedient means the old man led the children out of danger, and in the end bestowed upon them a still finer great carriage. What the scripture recounts is precisely this—guiding people away from peril by means of analogy, so that they may obtain a greater benefit.

The scripture (Jing) says: that elder saved the children, freeing them from the danger of the burning house, and also gave them carriages adorned with the seven treasures. With a heart of great compassion, I save and deliver sentient beings in just the same way.

I am the father of all sentient beings in the world. I can enable them to depart completely from every kind of fear, decline, affliction, sorrow, and the obscuration of foolish ignorance, and I constantly aid their liberation by means of wholesome teachings. The many afflictions of the Three Realms—the Desire Realm, the Form Realm, and the Formless Realm—are like a house on fire. Sentient beings suffer the torment of birth, old age, sickness, and death, together with grief, sorrow, distress, and delusion, and they are also scorched by the fire of the three poisons: greed, anger, and ignorance. I teach and transform them so that they enter the supreme and true Dao (the Way).

I see sentient beings tormented by birth, old age, sickness, death, grief, sorrow, and distress, and enduring all manner of suffering for the five desires—the sensory cravings for form, sound, scent, taste, touch, and the like—and for wealth and profit. In their greedy clinging and pursuit they already bear many hardships in the present; after death they may yet suffer the pains of the hells, the animal realm, and the hungry ghosts. Even if born in the heavens or in the human world, they still meet poverty and hardship, separation from those they love, and injury at the hands of resentful enemies. Sentient beings are sunk in these sufferings, yet they still delight in play, neither perceiving their condition nor seeking liberation. They rush about inside the burning house of the Three Realms, and even while undergoing great pain they do not recognize it as a calamity.

Seeing sentient beings in such a plight, the Dao said: I am the father of sentient beings. I ought to rescue them from suffering and bestow upon them measureless wisdom and the boundless realm of the Dao, so that they may cultivate and roam in peace and freedom, and thereby attain liberation.

If the mighty power of spiritual penetration is not used to proclaim teachings that awaken people and inspire reverence, sentient beings cannot thereby be delivered. Why is this? Although sentient beings have cast off the afflictions of birth, old age, sickness, death, sorrow, and grief, they remain as if trapped in the burning house of the Three Realms—the Realm of Desire, the Realm of Form, and the Formless Realm. How, then, could they comprehend the wisdom of the sages?

Just as that elder, though himself strong and vigorous, did not simply carry the children out of the burning house, but used earnest and flexible means to rescue them from danger and only afterward gave each of them a precious great carriage, so too do I, employing only wisdom and expedient methods, rescue sentient beings from the burning house of the Three Realms and guide them toward the Three Vehicles: the Earth Immortal, the Heavenly Immortal, and the vehicle of the unsurpassed Dao (the Way).

Do not cling to dwelling in the burning house of the Three Realms, nor crave the coarse pleasures of sound, sight, fragrance, taste, and the like. If you cling to these objects and thereby give rise to desire, you will be as though scorched by fire. You should quickly leave the Three Realms, and then you can obtain the Three Vehicles: those of the lower immortal, the middle immortal, and the superior Dao. These words are true and worthy of trust, and not in the least false.

You should understand that the sages praise these Three Vehicles. They pity sentient beings yet seek no repayment from them. If one merely abides in quiet and concentrates on contemplative visualization, one can find joy in what one attains and obtain the secure happiness of Wuwei (non-action). If any sentient beings, upon hearing this teaching, believe it, accept it, and put it into practice, advance with diligent effort, seek all wisdom, and also pity sentient beings and are willing to save every one of them, this is called the Great Vehicle. Those who pursue the Great Vehicle are called the supreme cultivators of the Way.

Just as those children left the burning house in order to obtain the ox carriage, I hope that sentient beings will escape the suffering of the Three Realms and attain a joy that never disappears. Therefore I proclaim the Three Vehicles in order to guide sentient beings, and in the end deliver them by means of the Great Vehicle. This teaching is inexhaustible; it is only that sentient beings cannot all receive it. From this one should know that the sages, according to differing circumstances, adopt suitable ways of expounding the teaching.

At this time, the Lord of the Dao, having received the prediction, rejoiced and chanted a verse, saying:

The Celestial Worthy proclaimed a subtle and profound secret teaching, one I had never heard before. By cultivating the Dao (the Way), one may gain vast wisdom and spiritual powers, and a lifespan beyond all measure.

All in the ritual sanctuary who heard the scriptural teachings rejoiced. Everyone should diligently cultivate the Six Perfections (six methods of practice), steady their resolve, and advance with courageous vigor.

The Cavern Chapters (Daoist scriptures or sacred verses) spread throughout the Three Realms (the Realm of Desire, the Realm of Form, and the Formless Realm), and the beautiful sound of the teaching circulates to the ten directions. Practitioners rise in body beyond Daluo Heaven and roam in the realm of Wuwei (non-action).

In great compassion the Celestial Worthy pities all living beings and once again expounds the way of long life. All who possess good roots should cast off afflictions and karmic obstacles and proceed toward a realm of purity and peace.

If one wishes to obtain perfect wisdom, one must practice the six great perfections. Uphold the precepts and constantly preserve purity; firm one’s resolve and pursue the unsurpassed work of the Dao. When giving precious treasures and establishing offerings, apply oneself fully and do not be stingy.

With a single-minded heart accumulate this merit and blessing, and pray to obtain unsurpassed merit. May I achieve all wisdom and possess every kind of spiritual power and the power of meditative concentration.

Burning incense, one states a lofty aspiration and accumulates merit into the hundreds of millions. Faithfully accept the teachings of the Great Vehicle and cultivate the lofty and subtle work of the Dao; when giving precious treasures and establishing offerings, apply oneself fully and do not be stingy.

With a single-minded heart accumulate merit and blessing, and pray to obtain unsurpassed merit. May I achieve all wisdom and possess every kind of spiritual power and the power of meditative concentration.

Burning incense, one states a lofty aspiration and accumulates immeasurable merit. Faithfully accept the teachings of the Great Vehicle, single-mindedly recollect the Great Dao, and let go of attachment to external things.

Let the consciousness of Shen (spirit) roam and ascend into the empty, luminous, and mysterious realm, so that every aspiration meets with no obstruction.

Since I attained the way of the immortals, I have already passed through countless kalpas (spans of time of extreme length). I constantly proclaim the teachings of the Dao and instruct and transform all living beings.

May you contemplate and realize the mysterious and true traces of the Dao, so that the realm of Shen transcends physical form. Practice the methods of refining the body, prolonging life, and extending vision, and let mind and Shen abide in Shangqing (the pure and empty celestial realm where the revered deities of Daoism dwell).

I constantly abide here, maintaining peace through the power of wisdom. With diligent practice one may ascend to Daluo Heaven, roam freely, and proceed to Yujing (the celestial capital of the immortals in Daoist legend).

The host of immortals will become companions on the same path; the consciousness of Shen will be clear and refreshed, and one will obtain peace and glory.

How pitiful—living beings are sunk deep in suffering. Therefore I do not manifest my true body, so that they may thereby yearn for and pursue the wondrous Dao.

Because admiration arises in their hearts, I proclaim for them the Lingbao (the important scriptures, methods, and teachings of Daoism). Thereby the consciousness of Shen is elevated, and they arrive at Yujing. The palaces there are exceedingly precious and beautiful.

When the course of the kalpa comes to an end, even if calamities of water and fire scour heaven and earth, the place where practitioners dwell remains settled together with their companions in the Dao; the consciousness of Shen is clear and refreshed, and they obtain peace and glory.

How pitiful—living beings are sunk deep in suffering. Therefore I do not manifest my true body, so that they may thereby yearn for and pursue the wondrous Dao.

Because admiration arises in their hearts, I proclaim for them the Lingbao. Thereby the consciousness of Shen is elevated, and they arrive at Yujing. The palaces there are exceedingly precious and beautiful.

When the kalpas reach their final end, floods and fires sweep across heaven and earth, and the immortal realms likewise shift with the turning of the kalpa, vast and without bounds. There, jade trees gleam and splendid fruits flourish in abundance; the Dharma pools are pure and clear, and one may bathe and refine oneself within them.

Those who dwell in the realm of Wuwei (non-action) practice non-action in mind and conduct. Even if they take no food, they are naturally satisfied. They peacefully enjoy an inexhaustible lifespan, ultimately unite with the Dao (the Way), and uphold the Three Treasures of the Dao, the Jing (scripture/classic), and the Master.

Sentient beings who constantly dwell upon their transgressions suffer on account of evil karma. Through ten thousand kalpas they remain in pain and affliction, and they never hear the teachings of the Lingbao (Numinous Treasure) scriptures.

The wise cultivate and accumulate merit. Their temperaments are gentle, yet their foundations are firm. They seek a place in which the Dao may be cultivated, and are reborn amid splendid lotuses.

Hearing the sound of the Dharma, their ears and eyes are thereby awakened. Fellow cultivators practice together with the hosts of the heavens. They ascend into the immortal realms, their lifespans without measure. The benevolent ought to turn toward the Dao of the worthy and the good.

The merit accumulated through long cultivation can break demonic obstacles and wash away filth and defilement. Life continues through countless kalpas. Practitioners stand firm in body and mind, seeking longevity.

When all afflictions are exhausted, one can swiftly attain the unsurpassed true Dao.

The Celestial Worthy (Tianzun) said, “This scripture of the Great Vehicle is exceedingly profound. Those of shallow insight will be perplexed and fail to understand it. As for the remaining worthies…”

The merit accumulated through long cultivation can break demonic obstacles and wash away filth and defilement. Life continues through countless kalpas. Practitioners stand firm in body and mind, seeking longevity.

When all afflictions are exhausted, one can swiftly attain the unsurpassed true Dao.

The Celestial Worthy said: The principles of this Great Vehicle scripture (Jing) are profound and abstruse. People of shallow insight are easily confused and find them hard to understand. Even immortals of lower rank, though they comply with and believe what the scripture says, do so only because they follow the words of the Dao (the Way), and not from their own wisdom. Those who harbor anger, pride, contempt, and indolence should not be allowed to accept and uphold this scripture. Ordinary people are shallow in insight and deeply addicted to desires for wealth and property, sights and sounds, food and drink, and sleep; even after hearing it they cannot understand, so one should likewise not expound it to them.

If someone does not believe this scripture and, on hearing that others receive and uphold it, make offerings, observe fasts and precepts, and read and recite it, then slanders, despises, hates, and envies them, still nursing resentment in the heart, that person’s offense is extremely grave. After death, he will fall into hell and, through countless kalpas (immensely long periods of time), suffer the greatest pain. Emerging from hell, he will fall again to become an animal, receiving a body that is maimed and incomplete, covered with scabies and malignant sores, and must personally undergo every kind of poisonous harm as retribution. Even if one may speak of his being reborn, the suffering remains very heavy. This is the sinful retribution brought about by slandering this scripture.

If such a person is later reborn as a human, the senses will be dull; the body will be crooked, lame, or contracted; there will be blindness and deafness, and the back will be hunched. What he says will be believed by no one; his breath will often be foul; and he will be harassed by ghosts and demons. Such people will be poor and lowly, constantly driven by others, often ill and emaciated, and without clothing. Even when they draw near to others, they will not be valued. Whatever they obtain will soon be lost again. If they use the art of medicine to treat others, even when they follow the prescriptions, they may add some further illness to the patient, or even cause death. When they themselves fall ill, no one will come to treat them, and even if they take good medicine, the illness may grow worse. They may also, through defiance, robbery, theft, and the like, meet with sudden disaster. Such sinners will never be able to see the host of holy spirit-kings expounding this scripture of the wondrous Dharma.

Only to those who keep the precepts in purity, turn sincerely toward the Dao, and hope to attain the Dharma of the Great Vehicle may one expound the Wondrous Scripture of Lingbao (Lingbao Miaojing).

The Lord of the Dao bowed and inquired of the Celestial Worthy: From now on, when the latter age comes, if good men and good women hear this Lingbao scripture (Lingbao Jing) and, of their own will, bring gold, silver, and treasures as tokens of faith in order to accept and believe it, or go to view it and hear it expounded, how much blessed reward can they obtain?

At this time, the Celestial Worthy of Primordial Beginning (Yuanshi Tianzun, a revered deity of Daoism) said to the Lord of the Dao (the Way; Daojun, a revered deity of Daoism): “We are now in the latter age. If there are Daoist priests who devoutly believe in the Dao, or good men and good women, who, after hearing this Lingbao Jing (a Daoist scripture), of their own accord bring gold, silver, and treasures to come and revere it, or come to watch and listen to its exposition, how much blessing can they obtain?”

The Celestial Worthy of Primordial Beginning further said to the Lord of the Dao: “We are now in the latter age. If there are Daoist priests who devoutly believe in the Dao, or other people of wisdom, whether old or young, who happen to hear this Jing, are able to accept and uphold it, carefully take its principles to heart, and go on to do good; and who, on suitable occasions, expound this Jing so that those who hear it also give rise to faith, then their merit is very great.

“Suppose there is a person of a wealthy household who makes a great vow and gives his possessions as alms to those in need, and who also teaches living beings by the methods of the Dao, enabling them to become immortals of a lower rank and to fly across the Five Sacred Mountains (Wuyue, the five great mountains of China). Are this person’s blessings many?”

The Lord of the Dao kowtowed and replied: “Very many.”

The Celestial Worthy said: “That person has only bestowed precious treasures on living beings, and his merit is already measureless; how much more so that he also transmits the wondrous methods of cultivating the Dao, enabling people to ascend as immortals. This merit can enable one to fly across the Five Sacred Mountains. Are such blessings many?”

The Lord of the Dao kowtowed and replied: “Very many.”

The Celestial Worthy (Tianzun) said: If someone merely gives precious treasures in charity to living beings, the merit thus gained is already immeasurable—how much more so if one teaches others to cultivate wondrous methods by which they may ascend as immortals? Yet merit as profound as this still falls short of the merit of one who, upon hearing this Lingbao Jing (Scripture of the Numinous Treasure), gives rise to joy. That merit is greater still, surpassing the donor’s; it cannot be reckoned, nor readily conveyed by any comparison. Such a person does not do very much, yet obtains merit of this order—how much more so one who personally receives and upholds this scripture and makes offerings to it?

If someone, at a place where the scripture is being expounded, or having once taken part in a purification observance—during which body and mind are restrained according to the rules—hears that there is this venerable Lingbao Jing and tells a friend, “There is a scripture of such depth and subtlety; let us go and listen together,” then in a future life that person will enter upon the path of the Great Vehicle, with keen faculties and wisdom. Through hundreds of thousands of myriads of lifetimes, that person will not be mute; the breath will be fresh, and the tongue and mouth will seldom be afflicted. The teeth will not be stained black, nor turn yellow, nor grow sparse, nor fall out. The lips will neither droop nor curl inward; the mouth will not be crooked, nor overly thick or large, nor unpleasantly black. The nose will be neither flat nor twisted. The complexion will not be dark, and the features will be well formed. The whole body will be free of any repulsive appearance: lips, tongue, and teeth all proper and fine, the bridge of the nose high and straight, the face full and rounded, the eyebrows high and long, the forehead broad and level—fully endowed with excellent human marks.

Life after life they will constantly meet with fortunate conditions, and will also constantly encounter the teachings of the scriptures. Merely urging others to go and hear the scripture already brings merit of this kind; how much more so for one who single-mindedly observes the purification fast, receives and upholds this scripture, and recites it—the blessings are even more immeasurable and inconceivable.

At that time the Celestial Worthy spoke in verse:

If someone, during the period of purification and abstinence, hears the sound of this scripture, that person’s merit is profound, and the blessings obtained are especially vast. If there is a great donor who offers…

If someone hears the sound of this scripture (Jing) during a period of fasting and purification, that person’s merit is very deep, and the blessings received are exceptionally profound. Even if a great donor provides for countless guests and expounds the teachings to them, enabling them to enter the realm of the immortal perfected—immortals and those who have attained the Dao (the Way)—this still cannot compare with the merit of doing so.

Human life is held only for a time and is as brief as a bubble on water; very soon a mind of renunciation arises, and one wishes to leave the dusty world. Even if one has already attained the Dao, become a Perfected Person, and possesses the “Three Insights” (the wisdom that discerns past, present, and future) and the “Six Spirits” (spiritual powers), this is still not equal to using a single line of scripture to teach and transform one fellow cultivator.

Such a person has abundant blessings, and the merit cannot be measured; in the future that person will possess a perfected bodily form and become a lofty, eminent, and honored supreme sage. There will be no foul odor in the mouth, and fragrance will issue forth as the breath is released and drawn in. In a later life one will also be born among the celestial beings, dwell in palaces, and enjoy rare and precious treasures.

To urge others to sit at ease and listen to the scripture is to remain ever in the company of the true Dao. How much more so if one personally receives and upholds this scripture (receiving it and cultivating in accordance with its meaning)—the blessings obtained are even harder to put into words.

Even if someone offered lands and cities, a wife, and countless precious treasures, the merit thus gained would still fall short of that of receiving and upholding this Lingbao Zhenjing (True Scripture of the Numinous Treasure); the blessings of receiving and upholding this scripture are the most vast.

Among all streams, rivers, and waters, the ocean is the greatest; among the many classics, this scripture is likewise the most revered. Just as the moon is the brightest among the host of stars, this scripture gives the greatest light among thousands of millions of millions of scriptures and methods; just as the sunlight of day drives away darkness, this scripture can dispel the gloom of all that is unwholesome. It is like the most honored sage-emperor among kings, and like the Great Brahmā King, father of all living beings and the root of the worthies, the sages, and the immortals.

This scripture can rescue living beings and keep them far from every kind of suffering, and it can also benefit living beings broadly, bringing their wishes to fulfillment. It is like a cool pool that quenches the thirst of the thirsty; like obtaining fire in the cold, clothing when naked, a child finding its mother, a boat when crossing a river, a physician when ill, a lamp in the dark, and treasure when poor. The Mahāyāna scriptures (Great Vehicle classics) have this same effect, enabling living beings to escape all suffering and the bondage of birth and death. If someone brings gold, silver, and precious treasures to receive, uphold, and make offerings to this scripture, or merely hears it, the merit obtained cannot be reckoned even by the holy spirit-kings and the king of the celestial emperors.

The Celestial Worthy (Tianzun) said to the Lord of the Dao (Daojun): “Living beings are truly to be pitied. They undergo every kind of suffering and are most lamentable. For this reason I earnestly expound this scripture again and again. You must diligently proclaim it far and wide, rescuing and delivering all living beings.”

The Lord of the Dao (Daojun, a revered deity of Daoism) kowtowed in formal homage and reverently received the command. At that moment, all who had come to attend the assembly naturally gave rise to the resolve to pursue the true and orthodox Great Dao (the Way). The four divine kings (the divine kings who guard the four directions) paid their respects and then withdrew.

The Unsurpassed Scripture of the Wondrous Essential Instructions of the Great Vehicle (Wushang Dasheng Yaojue Miaojing) ends here.

Textual note: the character pei (陪) is suspected to be an error for bei (倍).