《玉清无上灵宝自然北斗本生真经》

The True Scripture of the Original Birth of the Natural Northern Dipper of the Unsurpassed Numinous Treasure of Jade Clarity

Transmitted by the Great Celestial Emperor-Lord, Great Controller of Destiny of the Thirty-Six Heavens, who preserves life in the Imperial Capital.

The grand and boundless Dao (the Way) is vast and immense, filled with the Qi (vital energy) of Chiming, the Red Brilliance. The Supreme Lord of Primordial Beginning (a revered deity in Daoism, symbolizing the origin of all things) opened heaven and earth, taught and transformed the myriad beings, manifested a great radiance, and illuminated hundreds and thousands of worlds.

In the Palace of the Imperial Ultimate of Jade Clarity, the Supreme Lord of Primordial Beginning emitted all manner of light: the cloud-light of the golden treasury, the cloud-light of the jade treasury, the cloud-light of the pearl treasury, the cloud-light of the oceanic treasury, the cloud-light of the fragrant treasury, the cloud-light of the floral treasury, the cloud-light of the fiery treasury, and the light of the Five Phases (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water). These lights shone throughout the world: downward they illuminated the human realm, upward they reached the twelve thousand heavens, and downward they covered eighty million lands. There was no place that did not receive the power of the Supreme Lord of Primordial Beginning. Living beings thereupon gathered all at once and came forward to listen to the unsurpassed, supremely true, and wondrous Dao.

The Supreme Lord of Primordial Beginning, the True Venerable of Taiji (Supreme Ultimate)—an honorific title in Daoism for the Primordial Venerable Deity—sat leaning upon an armrest, looked down upon the assembly, and sent forth a mighty Brahma-sound, like a great celestial drum resounding in all directions. Everyone in heaven above and on earth below felt that the Supreme Lord of Primordial Beginning was speaking to that person alone. All rejoiced, believed with sincere hearts, and listened with reverence.

The Supreme Lord of Primordial Beginning then expounded profound principles, setting forth the deep and subtle meaning of the supremely true great Dao, and parted the clouds and mists that delude living beings. At that moment the voice was like a dragon’s chant and the roar of thunder, shaking the ears and eyes and stirring the heart as well.

The true meaning of the Great Dao (the Way) lies in the one mind, profound and subtle, vast enough to embrace every phenomenon. All that the mind receives is clear and transparent within and without, and from the beginning there is no obstruction. Birth and death, coming and going, are like shadows and dreams. Why do people turn things upside down and fall into confusion, taking these for what is real, and so sink into delusion from which they cannot break free?

Just at this point, a Zhenren (Perfected One) rose from his seat, bowed reverently a hundred times, gazed up at the countenance of the Zhenzun (True Venerable), and addressed him: “Your servant is named Baoshang, the highest in rank among the sons of the heavens. I now have a small wish, and hope the True Venerable will instruct me and bring it to fulfillment. The Seven Stars of the Central Heaven (the seven stars of the Northern Dipper) stand lofty and resplendent. They command the host of stars, set in motion the Qi (vital energy) of heaven and earth, and decide life and death; their power is exceedingly great. By what causes and conditions are they so supremely honored? In which kalpa did they originate? How did their transformation and birth begin and end? I earnestly beg you to explain this in full.”

The True Venerable commended him, saying, “You have asked well. Far back in the Longhan age (an ancient kalpa in Daoist legend), there was a king named Zhou Yu, whose sagely De (Virtue/Power) was boundless. People of that time lived to extreme ages, as long as eighty-four thousand great kalpas. The king had a jade consort, intelligent and compassionate, named Lady Ziguang (Purple Radiance). Amid the kalpas she passed through in the dusty world, she had long since made a great vow, willing to give birth to holy sons who would assist heaven and earth and help the work of creation proceed.

After three thousand kalpas, this king was born into the world. It was early spring, and the hundred flowers were in full bloom. While roaming the rear garden, the king came to the edge of the Warm Jade Pool ringed by golden lotuses. He removed his robes, entered the pool to bathe, and suddenly received a response. The lotuses in the pool formed nine buds, which then opened and were transformed into nine children. The two elder children were the Tianhuang Dadi (Great Emperor of Celestial Sovereignty) and the Ziwei Dadi (Great Emperor of Purple Tenuity); the seven younger children became the seven stars Tanlang, Jumen, Lucun, Wenqu, Lianzhen, Wuqu, and Pojun (Greedy Wolf, Giant Gate, Preserver of Emolument, Civil Melody, Pure and Steadfast, Martial Melody, and Army Breaker).

Of these seven stars, some do good and some do evil, each teaching and transforming living beings in a different way. The nine children remained in the jade pool for seven days and seven nights, condensed into radiance, and flew up to the farthest reach of the central heaven, ninety million li above the earth, where they became nine vast treasure palaces. The two elder sovereigns dwell in the Palace of Taixu (Great Void) within the Ziwei Enclosure (a celestial stellar region), occupying the station of Gouchen. They have charge of the talismanic charts, govern the creative transformations of heaven and earth, and are the lords of the host of stars.

They once made a great vow to take their place, for seventy million kalpas, in this stubborn world so hard to transform, and only afterward to return to Yuqing (Jade Clarity). Lady Purple Radiance is also called the Celestial Empress of the Sagely De of the Nine Perfected of the Northern Dipper, or the True Empress, Great Sage of Mysterious Heaven, in the body of the Dao. She manifests in the upper heaven at the Southern Marchmount, under the honored title Qinghua Ziguang Chidi (Red Thearch of Auspicious Splendor and Purple Radiance).

If men and women of faith can, in the season of early spring, single-mindedly keep the fast, compose body and mind in solemnity, and establish the Jiuguang Jiao—a Daoist Zhaijiao (purification ritual) offered to the Northern Dipper and the Holy Mother of Purple Radiance—inviting the Holy Mother of Purple Radiance and the Seven Yuanjun (Primordial Lords) and presenting offerings with reverence, then even the grave sins of the ten evils accumulated over successive lives, or the bitter retributions brought by enemies, will melt away at once, as when nine suns shine upon a mountain of ice.

Whether kings and great ministers or common people, whoever practices this method can call forth blessing and protection and lengthen fortune and life. Measureless celestial perfected will also come to guard them, so that the affairs of this life reach fulfillment and their descendants prosper, and at life’s end they may ascend to the Dafan Zhentian (Great Brahma True Heaven, the pure celestial realm of which Daoism speaks). If people of the world can often recite the Jiuguang Zhenjing (True Scripture of Ninefold Radiance), perform the Nine-Radiance Jiao, and hold and recite the name of Lady Purple Radiance, wisdom together with fortune and longevity will be like a sweet spring: once drawn upon, it still wells forth without cease, and its enjoyment is inexhaustible. This is the foremost treasury of merit in the world. You should spread it abroad and help to make my Dao and its methods flourish.”

When the Zhenren Baoshang had heard the True Venerable declare this with his own mouth, he and the assemblies of all the heavens rejoiced beyond measure and were filled with gratitude for such kindness and De. They thought, “We ought to make offerings to the True Venerable. His grace is like that of our parents and is hard to repay.” Each then displayed spiritual powers and scattered through the mysterious void myriads of kinds of light: light like stores of treasure, light like precious incense, light like precious clouds, and light like precious rain. Heavenly music sounded of itself, though no one struck it, the tones blending in harmony with one another. Palaces formed of measureless jewels and giving off light also wheeled down from the sky and came before the True Venerable as offerings. The many true sages praised with one voice the Dao of the True Brahma, and opened their mouths to chant these verses:

The Celestial Worthy of Primordial Beginning (Yuanshi Tianzun), a revered deity of Daoism, stands loftily exalted, his spiritual powers vast. He ranks foremost among all the gods, and none in the world can compare with him, even as the sun shines upon every quarter.

His wisdom is expansive, and he is skilled in employing every kind of expedient means, able to teach and transform living beings. Even if we were to transform into tens of millions of bodies, each with tens of millions of tongues, and use them to praise the Dao (the Way) of the True Worthy, through countless kalpas we could never exhaust the telling.

Purple Radiance Heaven (Ziguang Tian), the honored deity spoken of in the scripture (Jing), is boundlessly compassionate and adept at transformation and manifestation, able to appear in a male body or a female body, even as the sun shines upon every quarter.

His wisdom is expansive, and he is skilled in employing every kind of expedient means, able to teach and transform living beings. Even if we were to transform into tens of millions of bodies, each with tens of millions of tongues, and use them to praise the Dao of the True Worthy, through countless kalpas we could never exhaust the telling.

Purple Radiance Heaven is boundlessly compassionate and adept at transformation and manifestation, able to appear in a male body or a female body, and to receive and guide beings according to their spiritual capacities and needs. We take refuge in the Mother of the North Pole (Beiji Mu), the honored deity of Northern Dipper devotion; her merit is like a boundless ocean.

She is forever the eyes of the blind, illuminating past and present. Her merit is in communion with that of the Celestial Worthy of Primordial Beginning; both inwardly and outwardly she can transform and nurture living beings. Through molding, casting, and smelting she brings to completion the sacred vessels of those who cultivate the Great Dao, enabling countless true immortals to attain realization.

After the Perfected One of the Precious Heights (Baoshang Zhenren) and the hosts of the various heavens had finished reciting this verse (a rhymed composition used for praise or cultivation), all the celestial deities paid homage to the True Worthy, took their leave, and departed.