《洞玄灵宝玄一真人说生死轮转因缘经》

At that time, on the twentieth day of the first month of the first year of Jingyuan, the immortal Yundu, in the golden terrace and jade chamber of Mount Kunlun, sought instruction from the Ritual Master of the Three Heavens, the Perfected One of Mysterious Unity (a revered deity of Daoism):

“I was originally a person of humble station. By good fortune I received the sovereign’s grace, and I have cultivated and studied for more than two thousand eight hundred years. Although I can already ride the clouds and drive dragons, roaming freely through the great void, I have not yet obtained the standing to ascend to Heaven and take up an office. The causes and conditions of the transformations of Yin-Yang (yinyang) and of the coming and going of life and death have never lain within my duties, and so their principles are not clear to me.

“What I especially wish to know is this: what, in the end, are the causes and conditions of birth and death in human life? Why do people become one family with their parents, brothers and sisters, and spouses? Why do some kin gather together life after life, while others part and go their separate ways? Are all these bonds determined by each person’s merit? Do people of former lives take rebirth in later lives? How many punishments and blessings do they receive, and how heavy or light are they? Into what bodily forms do they finally transmigrate? What distinguishes the different paths of rebirth? And when masters and disciples meet, or when friends encounter one another, by what causes and conditions is each meeting brought about? Please explain these matters one by one, and resolve for me these principles I have not yet heard.”

The Zhenren (Perfected) said: “What you ask is a question of very great depth. Matters of the turning cycle of birth and death are something people of the world have often never heard of. The movements of Heaven and Earth follow fixed periods, and the principles concerned cannot be concealed forever. I shall now explain them to you; receive them with care and put them into practice.

“The Dao (the Way) always returns to a single whole, boundless and without end. The celestial realms of antiquity upheld it, and it is honored still today. The Dao was originally only one, and not two; it is merely that the various heavens and living beings use different speech, and so have given it different names. In the end there is only one Dao, and only one transmission from master to disciple. Yet as the ages change, the Dao manifests in the world and brings the myriad things into being.

“People of former lives underwent the cycle in Taiyin (the underworld), and later each received birth according to merit, becoming the people of the present life. When Heaven and Earth close, human beings perish with the cycles; when Heaven and Earth open, human beings are born again with the cycles. The sun, moon, and stars likewise move according to the cycles. Thus the causes and conditions linking Heaven and Earth, human beings, and the sun, moon, and stars continue without break. They are not repeated over and over as the same things, but arise in succession through these causes and conditions.

“When parents, wives, sons and daughters, and brothers and sisters gather as kin, the bond is not eternal and unchanging. Each follows blessings and merit and is temporarily reborn into a parent’s household. Afterward, according to their respective merit, they scatter with the cycles, and no relationship remains fixed: parents of a former life may become descendants in a later life; brothers of a former life may also become parents in a later life. Living beings turn and return in this way, continually undergoing birth and death. Teachers, however, transmit the teaching from generation to generation, and so the way of the master is never cut off. The teacher is also the root of instructing and transforming living beings, like a master craftsman who enables people to live long.

“Parents and brothers are not eternal kin to begin with; they merely gather for a time, each according to blessings and merit. Parents raise their children to adulthood, and therefore the sages established rites requiring people to be filial toward their parents, in return for the grace of nurture. Those who are unfilial and disobedient are punished by the laws of the king and also suffer Heaven’s condemnation. Brothers and sisters, born for a time together in their parents’ home, ought to cherish one another and fulfill filial duty together. After the parents die, they should be buried according to ritual, in return for the grace of birth and rearing. Sacrifices according to the four seasons are likewise rites that teach people kindness and filial piety; they should be transmitted to later generations, so that people understand the grace of being raised.

“The time a husband and wife spend together is not necessarily long either. After marriage, a woman leaves her parents’ surname and follows her husband’s surname: before marriage she depends on her parents, after marriage she depends on her husband, and after her husband’s death she depends on her son. If the wife dies first while the husband still lives, the family’s line may still continue; if after the husband dies the wife remarries, the original blood relationship may be broken off. Thus the Jing (scripture) says that the man inherits the father’s surname, the woman issues from the mother’s body, and at birth there is originally no name.

“Human life in the world is like spring grass coming into flower: birth has no fixed day, yet death is the inevitable place of return. While alive, people dwell for a time together in one household; after death, each returns according to causes and conditions to the place that belongs to them, and they do not gather again. Those who have blessings may after death be reborn in the celestial realms, or be reborn into the households of nobles and princes; those who have offenses are detained in dark places and suffer punishment for a long time.

“Only at times such as the sacrifices of the four seasons or the Wula (the seasonal days of sacrifice in Daoist tradition) may the dead perhaps meet their kin briefly, rejoice with one another, and recall the affection of their lives. After they meet, each still returns to the place that belongs to them; from then on they are long separated and gradually no longer remember one another. When the term of punishment is complete, then according to the weight of their offenses and punishments and their respective causes and conditions, they may be reborn as human beings, or fall into the Five Paths (the different destinations of rebirth) and the six domestic animals (cattle, horses, sheep, chickens, dogs, pigs, and other livestock), or be born in distant foreign regions. Former affinities are severed in the unseen, and kinship no longer remains.

“While people live they have descendants; husband and wife unite according to the rites of Yin-Yang and together enjoy life in the human world. After death, the hun-spirit returns to the celestial realm and receives only punishment; there is no longer the union of man and woman or the begetting of descendants. Therefore, in life one is called a human being, and after death one is called a ghost; only the name has changed. The living take life as joy; the dead take death as suffering. The living therefore cannot know the affairs of the ghost realm beneath the earth, yet ghosts can know the affairs of the world above. All ghosts envy the life of the living, but they cannot return to life of their own accord; they must wait until the term of punishment is complete. Those whose offenses are light may return to the human world and, according to the measure of their merit, be reborn as human beings.

“Those who did evil while alive become ghosts after death. They wish to return to life but cannot have their wish; they can only suffer punishment for a long time, enduring endless cold and anguish. After the punishment ends, they may still be reborn among the six domestic animals or as people of distant foreign regions, or be afflicted with many diseases—blind, deaf, mad, or dull-witted—becoming people of foul appearance, loathsome and shunned by others. All their lives they endure hunger and cold, and may even die of freezing and starvation. After they have suffered to the full, they may be reborn yet again as livestock, with hardly a time of release. They may also be born as bondservants or persons of low station, driven by others and fearful of them, long enduring hunger and cold and suffering the whip, able only to live at another’s mercy, their life and death left to others to decide. By then the hun-spirit no longer knows from where it was reborn; only the ghost clerks who examine the registers of the dead know.

“Those who accumulated good merit while alive may after death become lords of the ghost realm, dwelling in palaces and halls of joy, receiving food and drink supplied by the celestial realms, free and at ease. When their merit is complete, they may again be reborn into the households of emperors and kings or of the rich and noble, naturally possessing wealth and emoluments, living in contentment, and also meeting good people and worthies, forming good affinities with them, so that their blessings increase day by day. When this life ends, they may also pass directly into rebirth in Heaven. If they can make offerings to the Three Treasures (the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha) and set their hearts toward the immortals, they may hope to move the immortals to respond and obtain the immortal way of ascending to Heaven in broad daylight. If they only cultivate ordinary good deeds, they may also, without undergoing judgment by the Diguan of Mount Tai (the divine office charged with examination in the unseen realm), cause ancestors of seven generations to receive blessings together.

“The principles of the cycle of birth and death are as clear as the sun and moon. The wise can see them; the foolish cannot understand them. Receive them in earnest and consider them carefully, and you will naturally come to understand them by degrees. Cast off evil thoughts and take the doing of good as your practice. Between Heaven and Earth and the dark unseen, not a single merit or fault can escape; even what is as fine as a hair is entered in the records, with nothing left out.”

The True Person (Zhenren) said: In high antiquity, how a person was born and how a person died were both determined by the thoughts of the heart. Officials serving the Celestial Emperor would examine and confirm the registers of names. For those whose allotted span of life was exhausted, the name of the living was deleted from the register and entered instead as the name of a ghost; for those who were due to be reborn, the ghost-name was deleted and a living name recorded anew. Afterward, their destinations were arranged according to the weight of their merit and virtue. Those whose merit and virtue were slight were reborn into poor and humble households, suffering all their lives and passing through every kind of hardship until death. They were often hungry and cold, even selling themselves merely to get by, and were never adequately fed or clothed. Although they had a human form, they lacked the blessings and livelihood that ought to go with it. Those whose merit and virtue were abundant were reborn into wealthy and noble families, or else naturally possessed property and official stipends. All their affairs went smoothly; clothing and food were no concern; they did not have to undergo much toil; and they often met good people and associated with the worthy and the sages.

In later ages these principles were no longer transmitted. Now the destined cycle is drawing to an end, and human life has no fixed span. When the Mandate of Heaven arranges a human body, it also places within that body a Shen (spirit) who presides over life and a Shen who presides over death. If a person delights in seeking life, the life-spirit protects and blesses that person; if a person slights life and tends toward death, the death-spirit will injure that person. Those who delight in life are entered in the tally of life; those who are fond of death are entered under the tally of death. These covenants are recorded with complete clarity, yet people do not know them.

If a person does good throughout life, that person will meet sages and worthies, and the name will be entered in the “left tally” (the register symbolizing that good deeds receive blessing). While alive, one may become the ruler of a state; after death, one becomes a guest of the heavenly realm. Seven generations of ancestors rejoice together, and descendants may become sons of kings and marquises, or may be intelligent and penetrating, becoming teachers of heavenly beings and human beings, revered by people and spirits of every region. When merit is complete, one may even ascend as an immortal in broad daylight. So long as merit continues, generation after generation can form affinities with the worthy and the sages and accomplish lofty achievements.

If a person does evil throughout life, that person will be joined with evil people, and the name will be entered in the “right tally” of the register of the dead (the register symbolizing that evil deeds receive punishment). While alive, one is often estranged from good people and finds it hard to obtain blessing; after death, one falls among the hells and hungry ghosts. Seven generations of ancestors are implicated as well, long trapped in darkness, with no day of release. So great is the difference between the consequences brought about by good and by evil.

For one who does good throughout life, Heaven arranges that good people be reborn as that person’s descendants, so that the parents receive grace and blessing; all of this is the retribution brought by good deeds. For one who does evil throughout life, Heaven arranges that rebellious and vicious descendants be born into that household. After a child is born, it may be difficult to raise the child; even if the child grows up, the child may be perverse, wicked, and unfilial, frivolous and dissolute, given to theft and robbery, even to killing, and so cause the parents distress. Where the offense is lighter, it implicates the parents in toil; where the offense is heavier, it may even cost them their lives.

Such descendants may also live in poverty, pressed by hunger and cold, running about in service to others, often starving and freezing, their clothing too scant to cover the body, and frequently beaten with the rod, yet without knowing their own connection to the karmic conditions of former lives. Some are dull-witted, deaf, unable to speak, or blind, or have sinews and bones drawn tight in contraction. Some are born in the morning and die by evening; some live to the age of three or of ten; some die just as they are about to come of age; and some die from harm done by other people or by venomous beasts. Some are long arrested and imprisoned by the authorities, causing their parents to grieve and sigh; and some bear many daughters throughout life and no son, so that in old age they are solitary and hard-pressed.

The scripture (Jing) says that all these experiences are the retribution brought by evil deeds of former lives. They implicate one another, so that people in succession become parents and descendants. The principle is clear and must not be violated; once it has been violated, there can be no pardon.

When the True Person had finished speaking of the karmic conditions by which life and death come and go, he then chanted verses in praise of rebirth through good affinities:

The fundamental substance of the Great Dao (the Way) is originally without form or appearance, and the two Qi (vital energy) of Yin-Yang are profound and hard to fathom. When Yin-Yang is brought into harmony, three kinds of De (Virtue/Power) take form from this, and the working order of Heaven and Earth unfolds accordingly. Birth and death turn with the transformations of Heaven and Earth; guilt and blessing are each received according to causal conditions, without any deviation.

Those who accumulate merit and plant good causes will meet good people in a future life. When the conditions of merit and blessing come together, in every passage of rebirth they enjoy honor and prosperity. Some are reborn as monarchs of the world; others become leaders of the multitudes in the heavens. When life ends, they may further become guests of the celestial halls, with fortune and emolument always attending them. They drive dragon chariots and ride vermilion phoenixes, roaming freely in the Shangqing realm; some become the sage-kings, receiving investiture and charge over the heavenly realms of the ten directions. Ancestors of seven generations together receive blessing and joy, and they themselves are then reborn in the Southern Palace. Thereafter evil conditions are forever cut off, and generation after generation they constantly attain light.

The Zhenren (Perfected Person) further tells, in verse, of the rebirths brought about by evil conditions:

Between Heaven and Earth there is not sheer emptiness. When causal conditions meet, they call forth one another. Those who live in the world yet give no thought to doing good accumulate ever heavier karmic offenses. After death they must endure the torment of mud and coals, and the punishments of wind and fire are hard to escape. When the retribution of their offenses has been fully borne and they are reborn as human beings, they are often born into poor and lowly households. From childhood they are sickly and suffer grave illness, and they may be deaf, blind, or mad. The evil and adverse conditions created in the past gather one after another, and every kind of suffering clings to them without cease. Their bodies are bound, and they suffer whipping and caning; illnesses inflicted by ghosts and spirits continue year after year. Their parents sigh for a long time, and human life seems still to lie within the hells of birth and death. Sunk in darkness upon the evil paths, they wish to encounter good conditions, yet never have the chance.

The Perfected Person said: If people are by nature inclined toward goodness, they readily accept the Great Dao (the Way), just as water flows down into a deep abyss. The wicked are hard to instruct, like the branches at the top of a tall tree—far from the ground, with their roots not set in a place of goodness. Even if such people hear the way of goodness, they know of it in the moment and forget it in the turn of an eye, like rain falling in a high forest: it moistens the leaves for a while, and they soon dry again.

When the good hear the Great Dao, they are like the depths of a great river or the source of the sea, able to receive it without going against it. The methods of the Daoist teaching are hard to hear of; sages are hard to meet, and worthies are hard to come upon. Only when the Qi (vital energy) cycles of Heaven and Earth reach a season of conjunction do the Jing (scriptures) and methods appear, and only then do sages emerge. When an emperor possesses the Dao, a sage is born in his realm; such things happen only when the great cycle converges and the time is ripe.

The cycles of Heaven change swiftly. After the latter age, in the age when the winter solstice falls at the dawn of the new moon and the Jin lineage holds the cycle, the Jing and methods will be made manifest. At that time the world will enjoy a period of temporary peace, and over several decades four out of five among the common people will know the methods of the Dao. At the end of the Jinma era, when Heaven’s cycle alternates, in a water-dragon year, Lord Li will come forth to govern the world. That will be a sagely age, and the life and death, good and evil of all living beings will be about to become clear. Men and women of good heart ought first to perform meritorious deeds. By then, about four out of five people will know the methods of the Dao. At the end of the Jinma era, when Heaven’s cycle alternates, in a water-dragon year, Lord Li will come forth to govern the world. That will be a sagely age, and the life and death, good and evil of all living beings will be about to become clear. Men and women of good heart ought first to perform meritorious deeds.

At that time a sage will appear in the world to deliver and transform the many. Those who are able to meet the sage do so because of meritorious deeds accumulated in past lives and the recompense that follows; some obtain deliverance themselves, while others have their whole families share in the blessing and enter the realm of good fortune. Those who do evil always stand against the way of goodness; even when they hear a sage expound the teaching, they take it to be empty and false. This shows that they have no roots of goodness: Heaven’s will has clouded their hearts, so they cannot respond to the sage. Thus good and evil each follow different roads, as if forever cut off from Heaven and Earth.

When the destined cycles alternate, although Dao and De (Virtue/Power) flourish, the foolish are still many, and those who truly understand the Dao are few—one in ten thousand is already reckoned many. People each offer their own instruction, yet do not seek the root. At that time there may appear clever and cunning persons, hesitant at heart, who neither believe in the Great Dao nor can tell the true from the false. This is because the age is about to turn, and it is the will of Heaven. Men and women whose hearts are set on the Dao must not turn back while doing good; once they turn back, they lose the opportunity. If the merit accumulated in the past is once lost, then even across ten thousand kalpas a worthy will be hard to meet again.

When a worthy appears in the world, people find it hard to serve him according to the correct Dao. He may feign foolishness and deafness, or appear pure or turbid, incorruptible or sternly upright; sometimes he lives in seclusion, sometimes he shows himself; sometimes he seems right, and sometimes he seems wrong. He may keep ordinary people at a distance, or he may favor certain persons. When he first enters a place, his words and conduct may seem out of the ordinary. But if he is truly a sage, his character does not change; through whatever transformations, he remains pure and upright over the long term, distinct from ordinary people, and he does not mix with the vulgar world. After meeting a worthy, one should treasure the chance to attend him, for he may withdraw, leave that place, or thereafter leave no trace.

If one lets a worthy slip by, one may not meet him again for ten thousand kalpas; if one can form a bond with a worthy, one will enjoy blessings and rank, ancestors of seven generations will ascend to Heaven, and after one’s own death one will also rise to Heaven, with clothing and food naturally complete. All of this is arranged by the Dao because of affinity from former lives. Those without such affinity, even if they live beside a worthy’s hedge or sit on the same mat with him, may still not have their destinies join; it cannot be forced. From this one knows that the recompense of guilt and blessing does not err by a hair. Even when there is a chance to meet, some still suffer all kinds of calamities and so cannot gather with good affinities; this is because they had no bond in former lives—Heaven’s will confuses their hearts, and ghosts and spirits close off their minds, so they cannot meet with goodness. Thus a barrier arises between people and the way of goodness, and they grow ever farther from the good. If someone is willing to turn toward goodness, then even if the meeting brings harm, so long as the heart does not turn back, the reward of blessing will come in the end.

When the Perfected Person had finished speaking, he transmitted these words to the worthy and charged him not to divulge them; they may be transmitted only in accordance with the Jing and the methods, and only after a covenant oath.