《太上洞玄灵宝出家因缘经》

The Most High (Taishang) said: Long ago, at noon on the fifteenth day of the seventh month in the first year of Kaihuang, at the Precious Altar of the Three Brilliances in the Upper Abbey of Zhuyang in the kingdom of Chiming, I paid homage to the Celestial Worthy of the Most High and received the Wondrous Scriptures of the Great Vehicle of the Three Caverns (Sandong), in 13,500 chapters, together with 7,000 sections of talismanic diagrams. Just as the Celestial Worthy was about to return to the realm of the Great Void and Wuwei (non-action), the two hundred kings, consorts, and ministers present, along with the men and women of the various kingdoms, together vowed to turn toward the Dao (the Way) and bowed before the Celestial Worthy. They were willing to abandon their lands, cities, wives, and children, leave household life to cultivate the Way, and swore to uphold and make offerings to the scriptures of the Three Caverns for the rest of their lives, accumulating merit and virtue for the three ages of the future.

The Celestial Worthy smiled and sent forth a precious light of nine colors that illuminated the entire assembly. Kings and common people alike, within and without, became as clear and luminous as spheres of liuli, so that even their viscera and body hair could be seen distinctly. In that light they beheld their own bodies, transparent and bright inside and out, and they also came to know their own destinies: the good and evil of past, present, and future—the three ages—appeared before them as if set out in plain view.

The kings and all the men and women present were deeply stirred and filled with awe. They further aroused the supreme and unsurpassed mind of the Dao, prostrated themselves in worship, and addressed the Celestial Worthy:

“We disciples, through the causes and conditions and the fortunes of the past, have been able to meet the compassionate and exalted Celestial Worthy, to take part in this unsurpassed assembly, and to receive the Great Law of the Three Caverns. Now we have further heard the scriptures reveal the causes and conditions of former times. This is truly not a blessing that ordinary people could easily encounter even after a thousand years; it is the vast compassion and grace of the Celestial Worthy, who has specially bestowed mercy and opened the way of deliverance, so that we might gather here today.

“Minute as insects and ants, we may not fully comprehend the depth of the Celestial Worthy’s kindness. Yet our hearts are sincere: we truly wish to abandon the dusty world and our wives and children, leave household life to cultivate the Way, uphold the scriptures and precepts, and accumulate the merit and virtue by which one transcends the secular world. We earnestly beg the Celestial Worthy, in compassion, to grant our request.”

The Celestial Worthy said: “Before you had even formed the thought of leaving household life, I already knew it. I sent forth this ray of light so that you might see your former lives and understand the karmic connections—the relations of cause and effect—produced by good and evil deeds. Leaving the household is a matter of great weight. That you are able to arouse the resolve to leave home is truly inconceivable; yet I fear that you have long been sunk in worldly affairs and given over to indulgence and laxity, and may be unable to rest content in austerity or bear the toil of cultivation. If you begin but do not finish—diligent at first and slack afterward—and cannot devote yourselves wholly to upholding the Dao (the Way), you will in the end fall into the evil paths; to slight your teachers and neglect the teachings will likewise cause you to sink.”

When these kings heard this, they bowed together and knocked their heads to the ground, weeping as they spoke, and then vowed: “If we disciples, after leaving the household, begin but do not finish—diligent at first and slack afterward—violate our original vow, and shrink back into laziness midway, we willingly sink into hell together with our ancestors of nine generations and our parents, and even through ten thousand kalpas find it hard to be redeemed; and if we are later reborn among non-human beings, we dare not utter a single word of complaint.”

The Celestial Worthy (Tianzun) said: “Listen carefully, all of you. I will now explain to you the causes and conditions of leaving the household life.

Some people are able to leave home in this life because, in a former life, they built numinous abbeys, mysterious altars, and pure dwellings—Daoist temples and abbeys, ritual grounds, and places of cultivation—widely erected halls, fashioned images of the deities, arranged them with solemn dignity, and made offerings to them. They copied, expounded, and recited the scriptures, so that human beings and the beings of the heavens were awakened.

Some, in a former life, gave up states and cities, wives and children, even their heads, eyes, and bone marrow. They also bestowed gold and silver, pearls and jade, fine silks and brocades, carriages, horses and attendants, bedding, clothing, and every kind of utensil, dedicating these goods to the Three Treasures—the Dao (the Way), the Jing (scripture/classic), and the Master—as good deeds that accumulate merit and virtue.

Some, in a former life, kept the fasts and observed the precepts, worshiped and burned incense, practiced the Dao and offered praise, repented of their faults, and constantly vowed to do good, never growing lax. Some ransomed lives and relieved the poor, prisoners, the elderly, the sick, and the disabled, together with birds, beasts, and all living beings. Some treated illness and saved those in danger and suffering, on the brink of death.

Some, in a former life, widely read scriptures and treatises, preached the Jing in order to teach and transform, and guided the young and the ignorant so that they understood the good Dao. Some planted fruit trees, dug wells beside the roads, built bridges and made boats, helping the many to pass. Some broadly established charitable fields, gave clothing and food to those pressed by hunger and cold, the poor and the sick, and also cared for insects, fish, birds, and beasts, so that all might be warm and fed.

Some, in a former life, built charitable halls, took pity on those suffering cold and heat, offered tea and provided fire for warmth, and helped travelers settle. Some, wherever they found themselves, aroused a good heart of equality without distinction, taught men and women, supported places of the Dao, built abbeys and delivered people, copied scriptures and made images, transmitted the Jing and the precepts, worshiped, burned incense, lit lamps and recited, and by giving and repentance guided deluded beings.

Some, in a former life, were loyal and upright, humane and filial, assisting the state and promoting moral teaching. As persons they were pure, honest, gentle, and kind, doing no harm to the myriad things and bringing ease and joy to living beings.

Some, in a former life, were sovereigns who widely practiced benevolent and compassionate government, dwelling in plain palaces and eating simple food, caring for the people, regarding the myriad things as equal, and bringing peace to the realm. Yet their evil karma was not yet exhausted, and their good deeds were not yet complete. Thus, although they possessed merit and renown, they still could not ascend to a higher realm, and could only be reborn in the human world according to their own merit. Later they encountered the scriptural teaching, and only then were they able to leave home.

There are also those whose blessings come because seven generations of ancestors accumulated merit, so that the grace extends to their descendants; and there are those who establish merit in this very life, so that their fame reaches the various heavens. Such rewards are not gained in a single day and night.

In former lives you revered the Three Treasures, copied the scriptures, fashioned sacred images, and built mysterious altars; you delivered people and aided beings, kept the fasts and worshiped, recited and chanted the Jing, burned incense and made offerings, practiced the Dao, gave in charity, repented, and made vows, never ceasing from first to last, and widely accumulated merit. Therefore in this life you have come to enjoy the station of kings and to stand as the honored among human beings. This is truly inconceivable.

If now you can go further still—abandoning states and cities, wives and children, setting aside worldly joys, seeking to leave home, sincerely upholding the scriptures, arousing the unsurpassed mind of the Dao, and accomplishing the work of the Dao for the future and for the long term—that is rarer still. Truly inconceivable, inconceivable.”

The kings together bowed their heads and cast their five limbs to the ground, sorrow and joy intermingled, scarcely able to contain themselves.

Thereupon, the Celestial Worthy at once commanded the True Officials of the Nine Earths—the divine officers who govern the earthly realms—to set out seats for inviting the True Immortals. The Emperors of the Four Heavens brought the registers recording the names of the immortals, and the True Kings of the Three Heavens sent down the tokens attesting to attainment of the Dao (the Way). The Five Emperors held the ceremonial insignia and banners; the spirits of the Three Realms grasped the tallies; the divine officers of the Four Offices presented the documents; and the Three Officials examined the registers. The Imperial Lords of the various heavens, the immortal lads and jade maidens, and the hosts of gods and immortals, numbering in the hundreds of millions, descended together. They scattered flowers and burned incense, waved banners, struck bells and chimes, and played every kind of celestial music. Arrayed on either side, they joined in praising this good deed, came to the ritual arena—the place where the liturgy is performed—oversaw the ritual assembly, and brought this meritorious bond to fulfillment.

The Celestial Worthy ordered me, together with the Exalted Sage of Jade Clarity—a high-ranking holy perfected being of the Jade Clarity realm—to transmit to the various kings and the others the precepts, rites, and norms of practice for entering the Dao. The Four Heavenly Kings and the others put on their ritual vestments—the ceremonial robes used in liturgies or in rites of cultivation—faced north, and bowed to the Celestial Worthy three times. They then turned and paid their respects to me and to the celestial immortals and true sages, prostrated themselves facing east, and received the sincerity of Initial Perfection—the vows and precepts to be observed in the early stage of entering the Dao.

The vow states: After leaving the household, the first requirement is that one must not slight the scriptures (Jing) or the methods of the Dao, nor look down upon the precepts, rites, and norms of practice for entering the Dao.

Here the text earnestly admonishes those who have left the household. After leaving home, first, one must not slight the scriptures (jing), the methods of the Dao (the Way), or one’s own master. Second, one must not treat the ritual robes with disrespect or impair the appearance and dignified bearing proper to a monastic. Third, one must not turn back midway and pursue instead worldly glory, wealth, and honor. Fourth, one must not cast aside the Daoist ritual robes and follow another school. Fifth, one must not associate or live together with those who have not left home, or with people of other schools, lest one defile the pure status represented by the ritual robes. Sixth, one must not drink alcohol or eat meat, nor harbor any thought of killing. Seventh, one must not, in associating with men and women, give rise to licentious thoughts. Eighth, one must not violate the precepts and admonitions of the scriptures and thereby commit all manner of faults. Ninth, one must not be arrogant and unrestrained, fierce and perverse, or oppress fellow practitioners or those who have not left home. Tenth, one must honor one’s parents and the ruler, and practice loyalty and filial devotion.

Those who have left home should also constantly make vast vows, striving to do good and to teach and transform living beings. First, they should build Daoist monasteries in order to deliver the people of the world, copy the scriptures, and fashion sacred images, so as to propagate the teachings of Daoism. Second, they should expound the scriptural teachings of the Three Caverns (Dongzhen, Dongxuan, and Dongshen—the classification of Daoist scriptures), exhorting and transforming living beings so that all may come to a broad understanding. Third, they should observe the fast, perform worship, and burn incense with sincere devotion, and for living beings accumulate, amid the cycles of birth and death in past and future, the merit of accomplishing the fruit of the Dao. Fourth, they should widely perform meritorious deeds for the ruler, the ministers, and the people of the realm. Fifth, for the Nine Mysteries and Seven Ancestors (ancestral kindred), for the parents who gave them birth, for family, wife, and children, and for all living beings, they should cultivate blessings and virtue across successive lives. Sixth, for all beings in heaven and on earth—whether conscious or without consciousness, with affinity or without, human or nonhuman—they should recite the scriptures, offer worship, and recollect the Dao and the master, wishing that all may leave suffering and together reach the other shore of the Dao. Seventh, they vow that all living beings may awaken to the true Dao and forever depart from the cycle of birth and death. Eighth, they vow that the Great Dao of the past, the future, this life, and lives to come may flourish and prosper, never decline, and broadly deliver living beings.

These kings all performed the rite of three prostrations, then turned and bowed once toward each of the ten directions. Facing the Celestial Worthy (Tianzun), they personally made their vows. First, after leaving home, they would never slight the scriptures (Jing), the methods of the Dao (the Way), or their own original master. Second, after leaving home, they would never treat the ritual vestments—the ceremonial robes worn by Daoist priests—with disrespect, nor impair the bearing proper to one who cultivates the Dao. Third, after leaving home, they would never lose heart halfway and turn instead to the pursuit of worldly glory and wealth. Fourth, after leaving home, they would never abandon the ritual vestments to follow another religious tradition. Fifth, after leaving home, they would never associate or dwell with those who had not left home, or with followers of other teachings, lest they defile the ritual vestments. Sixth, after leaving home, they would never drink wine or eat meat, nor harbor any thought of harming life. Seventh, after leaving home, they would never, through association with men or women, give rise to lustful desire. Eighth, after leaving home, they would never violate the precepts of the scriptures and commit all manner of faults. Ninth, after leaving home, they would never be arrogant and unrestrained, fierce and perverse, oppressing fellow practitioners or those who had not left home. Tenth, after leaving home, they would never dare fail in reverence toward their parents and the sovereign, but would fulfill loyalty and filial piety to the full.

They further established ten aspirations. First, they wished to found Daoist monasteries, convert and deliver the many, copy scriptures, and fashion sacred images, so that the Three Treasures—the Dao, the scriptures, and the master—might be transmitted and flourish. Second, they wished to expound the scriptural teachings of the Three Caverns (Dongzhen, Dongxuan, and Dongshen), the scriptural system of Daoism, so that people might be widely awakened and understand their principles. Third, they wished to keep the fasts and perform worship, sincerely revere the Dao and burn incense, morning and evening without slackening. Fourth, they wished to do good and accumulate virtue on behalf of the sovereign, the ministers, and all the people under heaven. Fifth, they wished, for the nine mystic and seven ancestral generations—the ancestors of successive ages—for their birth parents, and for kindred bound by affinity, to sow widely merit and virtue across the kalpas. Sixth, they wished to recite scriptures and perform worship for all living beings in heaven and on earth, so that they might reach the far shore of the Dao. Seventh, they wished that all living beings might awaken to the correct Dao. Eighth, they wished, life after life and age after age, always to remain within the Daoist tradition, their resolve to cultivate the Dao never retreating. Ninth, they wished that all men and women of Daoist aspiration throughout the worlds of the ten directions might leave home to cultivate the Dao. Tenth, they wished, generation after generation, to plant the good causes of cultivating the Dao, attain the Dao and become immortals at an early time, and forever depart from birth and extinction.

When these vows had been made, the whole assembly present together praised them as “good,” and each returned to his original place.

At this time, the immortal perfected and holy assemblies of the various heavens, together with numerous jade lads and jade maidens, bore ceremonial regalia and banner-standards, scattered flowers and burned incense, sang in praise of the boundless merit of the Celestial Worthy, and performed the music of heaven. They led the kings and the others who had just left household life in circumambulating the ritual arena three times, and ten times acclaimed “Good,” expressing praise and prayerful vows. When the rite had ended, everyone went straight to the Hall of Blessings, partook of the food and drink offered by the celestial realm, and kept the fast and observed the precepts, remaining pure.

The men and women of the various heavens, as well as the people of the kingdom, one after another presented all kinds of flowers and fruits and rare offerings of Dharma-flavor. When the offering was complete, they further brought forth from the treasuries the seven treasures, pearls and jade, patterned silks, gauzes, and silk floss, clothing and bedding, utensils of daily use, together with incense burners, tables, fly-whisks, ruyi scepters, shoes, staffs, eating vessels, sitting cushions, rope couches, knee-rests, pennants and banners, bathing jars, towels and cloths, spoons and chopsticks, and the like; these also included servants, carriages and horses, residences and estates, gardens and groves, bamboo, trees and fruit trees, flowers, grasses, and medicinal herbs, ponds and marshes, and every sort of thing that could be used in cultivating the Dao (the Way). All of these they brought forward as donations and offerings.

Those who had newly left household life, together with everyone present, said: “We possess the blessings of former lives, and only thus have we met with this day. The Celestial Worthy, in compassion, widely bestows salvation; the kings and the others have abandoned their kingdoms and left household life, bringing us the greatest of blessings, so that our dull and ignorant minds have been awakened and we have been able to see the true Dao. We only wish that the kings and the others will hold firmly to the regulations, abide in the Dharma-gate of the Great Dao, carry out the teachings of the Celestial Worthy, guide and deliver us, so that we may extinguish our sinful karma, accumulate measureless good deeds, and in the future attain the Dharma-body of leaving household life and cultivating the Dao.” When they had finished this prayer, they acclaimed “Good” three times, gazed up toward the Celestial Worthy, bowed their heads to the ground in homage, and then sat down.

The Celestial Worthy (Tianzun) said: “You men and women, through countless kalpas (extremely long spans of time), have continuously upheld fasting and the precepts, made offerings, and paid reverence, and only thus have you been able to meet with such conditions of affinity as today’s—truly inconceivable. You should also give alms to those newly leaving the household life and to all who take part in the ritual assembly; in this way the merit will be immeasurable, and heavenly beings and humans alike will rejoice. After your lives come to an end, you will certainly be reborn into the households of wealthy and noble kings, become intelligent and worthy persons, and in the future will also be able to leave home and cultivate the Dao (the Way). Of this there can be no mistake.”

The men and women present, upon hearing this, together acclaimed it as good, then immediately paid homage to the Celestial Worthy, and afterward sat down each in his or her own place.

The Celestial Worthy (Tianzun) says that leaving the household has three meanings: the first is “leaving the household,” the second is “entering the Dao (the Way),” and the third is “abandoning the ordinary.”

What is meant by “leaving the household”? There are two kinds of “household.”

The first is the household of affection and attachment—the bonds of care among parents, brothers and sisters, children, and kin. Emotional ties easily lead people to cling; thoughts become entangled, and from this one creates all manner of evil karma, gives rise to craving and affliction, and cannot freely cultivate the correct Way. To leave this kind of “household” now is to cut off such entanglements, gain freedom, turn single-mindedly toward the Dao, and realize Wuwei (non-action).

The second is the “household of all existences,” the body formed by the gathering of the Five Aggregates (the five factors that constitute the person and experience) and the Four Great Elements (earth, water, fire, and wind). Living in the world, a person constantly gives rise to all kinds of thoughts as the Six Roots (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind) contact external objects, grasps at worldly affairs, and creates evil karma. Encounters with form, sound, fragrance, taste, and the like further disturb the pure mind. Defilement and affliction arise from this, causing one to cycle through birth and death, find liberation difficult, and sink for a long time.

One should understand that the body is not a permanent, real “self.” It is assembled from impure things such as pus and blood and only temporarily sojourns in the world. In the turn of an eye it decays and disperses; in the end the hundred bones have no master. It is like foam and illusion: gathering and scattering both occur in a moment. Although the forms of the myriad things differ, in essence they are all illusory and impermanent and do not truly belong to oneself. If one falsely clings to being and non-being and craves external things, mind and spirit are defiled, and one may even fall into the dark underworld and the hells. Therefore, to leave this second kind of “household” is to cut off affliction and contemplate the emptiness and illusoriness of the body and of external objects. Whatever thoughts arise, one returns them all to the Great Dao, cultivates body and mind, and reverts to non-being, until at last one is no longer subject to the turning of birth and death and realizes lasting peace and joy. This is “leaving the household.”

What is meant by “entering the Dao”? “Dao” here has two senses.

The first is the realm of the Dao: the mysterious altar (the place where Daoists set up an altar and practice methods), numinous abbeys (Daoist temples), mountain forests and quiet retreats (places for pure cultivation of the Way), gardens beneath trees, and other places of clarity, stillness, and Wuwei, undisturbed by worldly dust. The cultivator bodily enters the sacred precinct, faces the images of deities and perfected beings, recites numinous texts, burns incense and bows in worship, practices the Way and chants scriptures, expounds the teaching of the Great Vehicle, concentrates on guarding the One, leaves the environment of ordinary society, and refines body and mind within the ritual space, seeking to realize the Dao and become a sage, to attain the fruit of Jade Clarity (Yuqing, the lofty celestial realm spoken of in Daoism), and to reach a state of neither coming nor going, still and eternally abiding.

The second is the substance of the Dao: one straightens the posture and quiets thought, contemplates oneself and examines one’s bodily form, then observes external things, and recognizes that everything exists in dependence on causes and conditions and that nothing is constant and unchanging. The myriad things suddenly arise and soon change and disappear. Nothing abides, and a human life does not last long. Looking closely at the world, one knows that all affairs change from moment to moment; carefully contemplating oneself, one also understands that there is no eternally unchanging true self within. The body is only a temporary gathering of causes and conditions; in a moment it will scatter—how could it endure? Therefore one should preserve the Three and guard the One (the Daoist method of visualizing the Three Primes and holding to the Primordial One), refine and nourish the bodily form so as to return to the True, abide enduringly with the Dao, escape the suffering of birth and death, and realize the state of permanence, bliss, freedom, and purity. This is to bring the body with outflows (a body still bound by affliction and by birth and death) into the realm of the Dao, and is called “entering the Dao.”

What is meant by “abandoning the ordinary”? “The ordinary” has two senses.

The first is the ordinary realm, including heaven and earth, sun and moon, mountains, rivers, and rock faces, grasses, trees, insects, and fish, and all living beings. These formed things all arise only temporarily and will also be destroyed and disperse. They are not worth craving; otherwise they only defile body and mind. One should understand that the Three Realms (the Realm of Desire, the Realm of Form, and the Formless Realm) are all produced by causes and conditions, illusory and impermanent, and that craving for them ought to be relinquished.

The second is the ordinary body, the human body assembled from eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, blood, flesh, and skin, hands, feet, and hair, together with the bones and orifices of the whole body. Examined closely, there is no fixed and unchanging “person.” Birth, aging, sickness, and death change at every moment. The body is filthy and impure, only something temporarily relied upon. Why cling to it and go on to produce disputes over right and wrong, and over self and other?

Killing, theft, sexual misconduct and licentiousness, jealousy and stinginess, greed, abuse, anger, boastful speech, false speech, sowing discord, harsh speech, bellowing and bullying, and mutual seizure arising from wealth or poverty—all of these arise from love and hatred, acceptance and rejection, and clinging attachment. People chase forms and sounds, crave fragrances and flavors, and continually accumulate gold, silver, pearls and jade, silks and clothing, and grain, as if to leave them for ten thousand generations, yet they do not know that the body will one day turn to dust.

Now one abandons attachment to the body and ceases every kind of craving: the eyes do not chase colors, the ears do not chase sounds, the nose does not crave fragrance, the mouth does not crave flavor, thought does not cling to external things, and the body does not indulge in desire. The Six Roots, Six Consciousnesses, Six Desires, Six Thieves, Six Entrances, Six Defilements, and Six Dusts draw one another along and form thirty-six kinds of conditions. They are the source of all evils and should all be abandoned together. To clarify and purify the one mind in this way and forever cut off affliction is called “abandoning the ordinary.”

In sum, a person who embodies these three levels of meaning—leaving the household, entering the Dao, and abandoning the ordinary—is called a Daoist priest (daoshi).

What is meant by a “Daoist” (daoshi) is a person who, whether walking, standing, sitting, or lying down, and in every stirring of mind and arising of thought, takes the work of the Dao (the Way) as the matter of first importance. Such a person keeps the fast and offers worship, recites the scriptures (jing) with a sincere heart, burns incense and scatters flowers, lights lamps and repents, gives alms and makes vows, expounds the teaching of the Great Vehicle, instructs living beings, arouses the aspiration to seek the Dao, broadly cultivates merit, keeps all living beings in view, puts others before the self, does not sink into worldly affairs, and attends only to cultivating the Dao. “Shi” means a person engaged in a particular occupation. Cultivation of the Dao may be deep or shallow, and what is studied also differs; in broad terms there are seven grades, all of them called Daoists.

The first is “Heavenly Authenticity” (tianzhen): body and mind accord with the natural Dao, pure within and without. The second is “Divine Immortal” (shenxian): one who possesses transformations beyond all measure and transcends the ordinary realm. The third is “Secluded Ease” (youyi): one who draws in radiance and conceals reputation, free of worldly entanglements. The fourth is “Mountain Dwelling” (shanju): one who lives in retirement among mountains and forests, pure and quiet and withdrawn from the world, content in the way of humaneness. The fifth is “Leaving the Household” (chujia): one who abandons attachment and craving for the things of the world and departs from the dust and turmoil of ordinary life. The sixth is “Householder” (zaijia): one who, while living amid secular life, can dwell with the world without losing the Dao, cherishing the Dao and De (Virtue/Power) in the heart. The seventh is “Libationer” (jijiu): one who lowers station to come into the world and rescue those in hardship and danger. For this reason, living beings in heaven above and on earth below, together with sentient beings among the six paths and the four modes of birth, all bow in worship and take refuge in them.

Householder Daoists and Libationer Daoists are Daoists as well. Among them, the Libationer Daoists are the most honored. They need not attend audience with the Son of Heaven, nor need they pay respects to dukes and marquises. They generate meritorious deeds for human beings and for the heavens, and they receive the offerings of the Three Realms. Why is this so? Because they have received and follow my teaching, wear my ritual robes (fayi), uphold the scriptures and precepts, and guide living beings, so that beings of the three times—past, present, and future—forever leave sorrow and suffering and enter a state of constant peace and joy. They are parents to the Dharma-bodies of living beings in the human world and in heaven.

Although emperors and kings possess all under heaven and are honored without equal, they still cannot escape birth and death, sickness, affliction, decline, cold and heat, and the restless coming and going of affairs. If one is able to cultivate the Dao, a Daoist can be freed from these sorrows.

If someone, after leaving the household, does not follow my teaching and does not wear the ritual robes; or turns away from the gate of the Dao and returns to secular life, abandoning the true to chase the false; or studies heterodox and deviant paths and puts faith in outside teachings; or pursues worldly splendor and covets fame and profit; or, under coercion or wrongful accusation by official or private power, is stripped of the ritual robes and has the standing of one who cultivates the Dao insulted and harmed; or personally casts aside the ritual robes and sinks once more into the ordinary world; or if there are those who neither believe nor revere, who revile, bully, and beat those who have left the household, or who harbor contempt and show no respect, or who joke about them, mock and make sport of them, and behave with arrogance and license—the scripture says that such people will in this very life certainly suffer the disease of worms and leprosy, their eyebrows falling away and their whole bodies swollen and ulcerated, so that others cannot bear to look upon them.

They may also meet with lawsuits and imprisonment, be placed in instruments of punishment, and suffer pain to the utmost; or become blind, deaf, or mute, with hands and feet contracted, maimed, and lame, their appearance ugly and themselves poor and lowly; or go mad with epilepsy, suffer retaliation from perverse gods, evil ghosts, and resentful enemies, and be bound by illness; or, without cause, be harmed by venomous snakes and fierce beasts, by water and fire, by blades and weapons, and by violent persons and thieves. The children they bear may likewise be ugly in appearance, poor and base, and often lacking what life requires; they may also be long afflicted by illness, unable to obtain life and unable to obtain death, lying bedridden for a great length of time.

If they are born in distant lands among other peoples, they may also kill one another, live each day in fear, and be separated as fathers and sons. After death they enter the hells directly, swallowing fire and eating charcoal, treading mountains of knives underfoot, climbing trees of swords with their hands, and bearing iron staves upon their backs. They undergo such cruel punishments as being boiled in scalding liquid, crushed beneath stone mills, and assailed by freezing ice, examined and punished day and night, the pain hard to endure, even through ten thousand kalpas. Thereafter, even if they obtain rebirth once more, they fall among livestock, poor and base, blind, deaf, and disabled, and suffer every kind of affliction.

If, after leaving the household, one gives rise to a mind of retreat, treats the ritual robes with contempt, violates the scriptures and precepts, drinks wine and eats meat, kills living beings and steals, indulges in illicit sex and dissolute conduct, fails to observe the ritual norms of cultivating the Dao, and brings ruin upon the Daoist community, one will suffer the same retribution.

At that time all those present cried out together in approval, bowed in worship to the Celestial Worthy (Tianzun), and chanted a hymn of praise:

(The assembly offers praise:)

Excellent indeed, O supreme honored deity! With a heart of compassion you universally rescue and protect all living beings, and you have bestowed the Taishang Jing (Supreme Scripture of the Most High), enabling the kings to awaken. They therefore make vows together, turn toward you in sincerity, and revere you forever. The kings relinquish their states and seek to leave the household life in order to cultivate the Dao (the Way); whatever their causes and conditions, they all receive guidance and deliverance. They accept the precepts and admonitions and proclaim their vows, and the sincerity of their hearts moves both the human world and the heavens. The scripture broadly expounds the teaching of causes and conditions, leading the many onto the path of taking refuge. This teaching will serve as the law of cause and effect that guides living beings out of birth and death, enduring through ten thousand kalpas and circulating for a long time.

We who are gathered in this assembly likewise rejoice together and revere with sincere hearts. The kings abandon their countries and leave home, and according to their conditions they receive guidance and salvation; they accept the precepts and make their vows, their sincerity stirring humans and heavens; they widely proclaim the teaching of causes and conditions and lead people to take refuge. This teaching will circulate for a long time and benefit living beings. All of us in the assembly rejoice together and drink the sweet dew (symbolizing the pure flavor of the teaching that cleanses and nourishes body and mind).

If the four seasons run out of their proper course and Yin-Yang falls into disorder, one ought to establish Daoist abbeys and deliver the people; if floods, fires, and the chaos of arms occur and the world suffers harm, one ought to establish Daoist abbeys and deliver the people; if pestilence spreads and the common people die, one ought to establish Daoist abbeys and deliver the people. If the sovereign meets with calamity and misfortune comes upon his person, or if the destiny of the state is about to fail and warfare arises on every side, one ought to do likewise. When a ruler has newly ascended the throne and governs the people, or commands all under heaven while the land is not at peace, one ought to do likewise. If a household bears children yet encounters sickness and disaster, one ought to do likewise as well. Wherever there are calamities, uncanny changes, and every kind of peril and suffering, one ought to establish Daoist abbeys and deliver the people.

Whether for the sake of parents, oneself, wife and children, or subjects, or for ancestors, the living, the dead, or those who dwell in the Three Paths (the destinations of suffering spoken of in Daoism), deliverance may be accomplished by establishing Daoist abbeys. To establish Daoist abbeys and deliver the multitude can, from above, dispel heavenly disasters, settle the destiny of the state, protect the sovereign, remove harmful calamities, save the common people, and cause both the living and the dead to obtain blessing and felicity. Such merit and virtue are exceedingly vast, universally extended to all, giving living beings a place of refuge; the merit is measureless and beyond conception.

The Dao (the Way) says: Those who leave the household to cultivate the Way can plant, for all living beings, the merit and virtue that lead toward liberation from birth and death, and for this reason they also obtain the most excellent blessed rewards in the human world and in the heavens. People should constantly pay reverence to them and make offerings, supplying what they need for daily life and practice, including clothing, bedding, everyday utensils, fragrant oil, staffs, carriages, attendants, halls and dwellings, pavilions and towers, gardens of flowers, trees, and medicinal herbs, bathing pools and orchards, food and drink, as well as precious treasures, textiles, banners and flowers, lamps and candles, and ritual implements such as bells and chimes. Incense burners, bathing vessels, ruyi scepters, fly-whisks, and the like may also be given as alms according to whatever one possesses, so as to support the bodies of monastics engaged in cultivation, enabling them to live in security, unfold wisdom, recite the scriptures (Jing), worship and burn incense, keep the fasts and observe the precepts, establish jeweled teaching seats, and expound the teachings of the Great Vehicle. Monastics constantly serve, for rulers, ministers, men and women among the people, and all living beings, as a field of merit across the three ages of past, present, and future.

If rulers, ministers, or common people do not give rise to faith and reverence toward monastics, but instead revile and curse them, rebuke and oppress them, even imprison them, place them in cangues and shackles, and injure the bodies with which they cultivate the Way—going so far as to harm or kill them, flog and interrogate them, causing them to suffer, defiling their ritual robes, and forcing them to return to lay life—then such people will meet with all manner of calamities. After death their souls and Shen (spirit) will fall into hell, endure every kind of torment, and through ten thousand kalpas find liberation hard to attain.

If monastics themselves do not cherish their identity as those who have left the household, if their conduct falls short of proper norms, and if hatred and arrogance arise in their hearts, so that living beings thereby lose faith in the teachings of the Dao, then in a future life they will be reborn in the forms of pigs, dogs, snakes, vipers, and the like. All of you, men and women, must be cautious, and cautious again.

The Dao says: You men and women—better to strip the clothing from five hundred people than to remove the ritual robe of a single monastic (the symbol of that person’s identity as one who has left the household and of a life of cultivation); better to harm all evildoers than to harm the cultivating body of a single monastic; better to provoke three thousand fierce beasts than to offend a single monastic. The original text breaks off here.

The Dao (the Way) says: You men and women, better to strip the clothes from five hundred people than to remove the ritual robe of a single monastic; better to harm all evildoers than to harm the cultivated body of a single monastic; better to offend three thousand fierce beasts than to offend a single monastic; better to insult five thousand strongmen than to insult a single monastic; better to slight and deceive ten thousand evil ghosts than to slight and deceive a single monastic.

Better to sit in a great fire than to share a seat with a monastic; better to lie on a red-hot iron bed than to share a bed with a monastic; better to touch fifty thousand venomous snakes than to touch a monastic’s ritual robe; better to blow a great mountain into dust than to speak critically of a monastic; better to swallow ten thousand hu of raging fire than to eat a monastic’s food; better to labor amid filth ten thousand zhang deep than to commit sexual misconduct toward a monastic; better to cause a hundred thousand people to bleed than to expose a monastic’s faults. Why is this so? Because monastics are disciples of the Celestial Worthy (the Daoist designation for the supreme honored deity) and bear the responsibility of transmitting and propagating the teachings of the scriptures (Jing, scripture/classic); they are the supreme masters of the teaching for beings of the human world and the celestial realms; they are the bridge by which living beings escape the suffering of birth and death, and the parents upon whom the people may take refuge and rely. The goodness cultivated by monastics is also bound up with the sovereign, and they are able to deliver the Nine Mysteries and Seven Ancestors (ancestors and kin of successive generations). It is from this that the immortals, the Perfected, and the sages first arouse the resolve to cultivate the Dao. Leaving the household to cultivate the Dao is also the boat of the teaching that carries one across the Three Paths and Five Sufferings (the evil destinies and every kind of hardship).

The sovereign, parents, and kin ought to treat monastics with reverent courtesy, faith, and offerings. The demon kings of the various heavens and the ghosts and spirits of the Three Realms must also bow their heads, draw in their forms, call themselves subordinate officials, and receive the transformative teaching of the monastic path. Why is this so? Because monastics receive the instruction left by the Celestial Worthy, cultivate the scriptural methods of the Celestial Worthy, recite the teachings of the Celestial Worthy, wear the Celestial Worthy’s precept registers (Fulu, talismans and registers, used for upholding the precepts), and reverently uphold the Celestial Worthy’s talismanic charts. The Five Emperors of the Three Realms, together with their generals, officers, and soldiers, constantly guard them and escort them on their coming and going; those who offend monastics will incur guilt.

If sovereigns, ministers, and men and women among the people can arouse a good heart, leave the household, and enter the Dao, then the ancestors of nine generations and their parents may ascend to the celestial palaces, and the descendants of seven generations will not fall into hell. If a Daoist priest widely exhorts those with a destined affinity to leave the household, then for each person successfully persuaded that priest’s lifespan increases by one thousand five hundred years; if three or more are successfully persuaded, the priest’s name is entered in the register of immortals. Such a person lives in peace and happiness in the present life, with clothing and food naturally abundant, and after death is reborn in the celestial realm, with blessings without end.

The Dao (the Way) says: You men and women, since you have already left household life, you ought to safeguard the ritual robes worn by those who have renounced the world, respect your teachers and elders, and constantly keep the Dao in mind; sincerely uphold the scriptures (Jing) and cultivate with diligence. You should bow in worship and burn incense, maintain fasting and observe the precepts over the long term, recite the scriptures, and practice the Dao according to the teachings; expound the teachings of the Great Vehicle, widely proclaim merit, exhort and guide one another, jointly instruct and transform all living beings, and inherit and propagate the teachings of Daoism. You should also always cherish a compassionate heart, come to the aid of all living beings, and deeply study the supreme Great Dao, so that the spiritual realm continually rises and tends toward the mysterious and subtle. Wherever you may be, you must persevere with constancy, advance diligently at all times, never turn back, and ultimately realize the truth of the Dao.

“Ritual robes” refers to the Daoist garments worn by monastic practitioners; “long-term fasting and observance of the precepts” means maintaining fasting over a prolonged period and abiding by the precepts.

The Dao (the Way) says: All of you, men and women, have passed through innumerable kalpas (immeasurably long spans of time), continually casting off old bodies and receiving new ones, doing good and cultivating the Dao, and upholding the fasts and precepts; only today have you been able to leave the household life. You ought to understand the causes and conditions of your past, and from where the body of this present life has come.

Through the good karma accumulated in the past and the power of cultivating the Dao, a person is able to be born as a human being and to be lodged in the parents’ womb. The causes and conditions of the parents come together; each of the two contributes one half, and together they constitute the body. The human form is modeled on Heaven and Earth and is endowed with the six roots—the eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and the rest (the basic faculties of perception and action). It receives primordial Qi (vital energy), generates the various Shen (spirits) within the body, and Yin-Yang Qi circulates throughout the whole body. The eyes, ears, nose, and mouth; the bones, joints, and skin; the viscera and bowels, the blood and the vessels—inside and outside communicate with one another. They condense true Qi, nourish the Shen within the five viscera, and make the body firm. The root of the human being originally issues from a single source. The sun and moon shine down, and the myriad things are generated and transformed from this. The Three Origins and Eight Effulgences (sanyuan bajing—a Daoist system concerning the divinities of the human body and the transformations of Qi) continually transform, and inner and outer join together. Throughout the body there are thirty-six thousand sites, each with its own order from beginning to end. I now set these things forth for you; you ought to keep them in mind.

When a person first receives conception, causes and conditions accord with the Dao, and Heaven and Earth, Yin and Yang, each contribute one half. Before the body has taken form, it lodges in the parents’ womb. The Qi of the Nine Heavens gathers, and the Shen of the Three Origins are distributed within it.

The first month is called bao, “the envelope.” Bao means enveloping: primordial Qi envelops the fetal body, causing it to gather and assume form, to transform and grow; within it true Jing (essence) is already present.

The second month is called tai, “the embryo.” Tai carries the sense of expansion: the Shen, bearing the causes and conditions of former lives, descend into the parents’ womb; Yin-Yang Qi interweaves, and the bodily form gradually unfolds.

The third month is called hun, “the cloud-soul.” Hun is like cloud-vapor; it is the refined essence of Yang Qi. Light and subtle, it gives rise to Shen, moves without cease, and impels the fetal body to grow.

The fourth month is called po, “the white-soul.” Po carries the sense of coming to rest; it is formed by the rich coagulation of Yin Qi. It settles and stabilizes the Shen, secures the bodily form, and causes the body to take shape in calm stability.

In the fifth month the five viscera are formed. Zang means storing. Yin and Yang manifest bodily form, and the Five Phases (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water) are distributed among them. Thus the five viscera—the liver, heart, spleen, lungs, and kidneys—are established, to store the Shen of the five viscera, to govern the numinous light within the body, and to bring about the generation and transformation of the whole body.

In the sixth month the six bowels are formed. Fu carries the sense of gathering: pure, refined fluids accumulate within the body in order to nourish the Shen of the five viscera. The large and small intestines, the stomach, the gallbladder, the triple burner (sanjiao—the bowel that regulates fluids and the movement of Qi within the body), and the bladder gradually take form. They are charged with digesting water and grain and with distributing fluids, and the various parts of the body are thereby made complete.

In the seventh month the apertures of the body are formed. Qiao means a passage, so that the functions of seeing, hearing, and the like may pass in and out freely, and inner and outer gradually become clear.

In the eighth month the jing, or “effulgences,” of the body are formed. Jing here carries the sense of watchfulness and protection. The Three Divisions and Eight Effulgences (sanbu bajing—a system of divinities distributed through the human body) guard and uphold the body.

By the ninth month the Shen are complete. The powers of generation and transformation belonging to Heaven and Earth, the sun and moon, the stars, the Five Phases, and the four seasons join, inside and outside, with the various Shen. They enter and leave the body, are distributed through the upper, middle, and lower divisions, and encircle the Three Palaces. Above and below, within and without, the whole body reflects and illumines itself, and the various bodily structures arise together: the Golden Hall and the Jade Chamber, the Twelve-Storied Tower (shier chonglou—a Daoist image for the palaces within the body and for structures such as the throat), the Purple Portal and the Jade Pavilion, together with the sun, moon, and stars, and the Five Marchmounts and Four Waterways (wuyue sidu—symbols of the five famous mountains and the four great rivers). These structures are modeled on Heaven and Earth. Each is fully present in the human body and extends throughout it.

In the tenth month the spirits and deities of Heaven and Earth, the Five Emperors and the Four Directors, the Marshals of the Nine Heavens, the good spirits of the ten directions, the immortal lads and jade maidens, and other divine beings all come to inspect and to protect. Taiyi (a Daoist deity) guards the carriage, and the Mysterious Mother watches over the birthing chamber. Heaven and Earth are moved, and the host of sages rejoice together. The Director of Destiny enters the name in the register of fate, and the Celestial Emperor determines the allotted span of life. A person receives recompense according to the karmic causes of former lives, and there is no error.

A person ought to preserve the bodily form and guard the Shen, so that the mind is clear, luminous, and spontaneous; refine and transform the turbid, stagnant Qi within the body; and continue to cultivate and accumulate good merit. By means of the Dao one connects the Shen; by means of De (Virtue/Power) one nourishes the bodily form, so that body and Shen unite and at last return to emptiness and non-being, attaining the state of neither birth nor death, ever-abiding and self-subsistent. Therefore a person ought to care for form and Shen, cherish them with caution, and must not injure them.

You Daoist priests ought to guard form and Shen and lovingly nourish Jing and Qi, without damaging hair or skin; inwardly preserve the spirit intact, and outwardly keep the bodily form whole. The head is crowned with the lotus, the feet tread Mount Tai, and the body is clad in the sun and moon, while the Four Images (sixiang—divinities symbolizing the four directions and the order of Heaven and Earth) stand distinct: Heaven and Earth abide within the body, and the sun and moon dwell in one’s own person. In the body there is the Dao to be taken as a model and De to be revered. The myriad things therefore honor and submit, and living beings therefore take refuge. This is the ritual vestment (fafu—the ritual robe of the Daoist priest), and it is also the Dharma-body of one who has left the household life.

The Dao (the Way) said: “After I leave the world, when the time of the half-kalpa of the Supreme Sovereign arrives, heterodox teachings and the methods of the ghostly way will appear. These people will not follow my teaching, but will set up a separate set of methods of their own. The common people will believe and follow them, and the people of the world will all give them their allegiance as well. They injure the body and destroy life, yet they amass treasures in great quantity and construct images of deities and halls on a vast scale. They falsely claim that they have already attained the fruit of sagehood, saying that what was done in the past can bring blessed rewards, and they beguile people’s minds with lust and deviant conduct. Such ways will gradually spread. Men and women alike will believe and follow with sincere devotion, yet for a long time they will be unable to awaken, until at last states are ruined and families destroyed, individuals die and clans are scattered. Calamities of this kind will follow one upon another. The people of the world will be immersed in them, yet to the end they will never become aware.

“By that time, my teaching will have greatly declined. People will be unwilling to cultivate, and will revere only the methods of the ghostly way. The teaching of pure stillness and quiescent extinction that I transmit can enable people to attain long life and lasting vision, yet they will not be willing to believe it. How truly lamentable! Ignorant Daoist priests will also follow along and put their faith in this method. Once they practice it, there will no longer be any hope of becoming immortals or of living long. How can one fail to be cautious? Why is this so? Because it is the yin-deviant ghostly way, a method that leads toward death and annihilation.

“This is like grain after it has rotted: can it still sprout? Like decayed soil: can it still bring forth life? Like ashes burned to the end: can they catch fire again? And like a withered tree: can it flourish once more? They disperse and rot, turning into dung and soil. This is the method of quiescent extinction and non-arising. People of the world all regard living as good and death as bad. Everyone hopes to live, and everyone grieves at death. That is why I teach the method of long life, hoping that people will not die and will endure for a long time. Yet sentient beings are inverted and deluded. They cannot believe or put it into practice, and so they proceed toward death and destruction, and instead seek to study methods that cause people to die and be extinguished. Is this not a great error? Moreover, after a person has died, what further need is there to study the method of death and extinction?

“Therefore, the way of the immortals values preserving the body, while the ghostly way values destroying the physical form; the way of the immortals esteems brightness, while the ghostly way esteems darkness; the way of the immortals seeks lasting existence, while the ghostly way tends toward perishing; the way of the immortals esteems purity, clarity, and empty stillness, while the ghostly way esteems filth and humiliation; the way of the immortals values stability and preservation, while the ghostly way tends toward danger and uncertainty; the way of the immortals cherishes the body that has form, while the ghostly way tends toward the formless.

“Those who cultivate the methods of the Dao are able to attain long life and Wuwei (non-action), refining the spirit until they reach the mysterious and wondrous realm, returning to the Great Dao, uniting physical form and spirit, and enduring forever without perishing. What is called ‘having no body’ means that the physical form is extinguished like dust, the flesh decays and the spirit disperses, and one sinks into a darkness like the long night.

“You Daoist priests ought to keep these words firmly in mind. The reason I record this warning in advance is so that those who have the heart to understand may know.”

The Most High Dao Ancestor said: “After I leave this world, there will be Daoists who wear ritual robes and outwardly look like people who have left the household to cultivate the Dao (the Way), yet who are fierce and wicked within. They drink wine and eat meat, kill living beings and steal, and indulge in lust and excess; there is no fault they will not commit. They devote themselves entirely to minor heterodox arts, greedy for fame and profit, harming the root of cultivation, turning away from the correct path and entering deviant ways. They do not believe in the orthodox teaching of immortality and long life, but instead pursue heterodox paths that lead to death and destruction. Such people number in the tens of millions; I shall dispatch the Demon Kings of the Five Heavens (deities in Daoist legend who are commanded to punish the wicked) to destroy them one after another.”

The Most High Dao Ancestor said further: “There are Daoists, and male and female practitioners, who recite the Jing (scriptures/classics) and observe the precepts, worship and burn incense, give alms and relieve the poor, build Daoist temples, copy scriptures, and cast sacred images. They expound the scriptures to guide others and lead those whose hearts incline toward the Dao to enter the path. They also practice methods of internal refinement, such as swallowing saliva and ingesting the fluids (swallowing the fluids of the mouth) and preserving the Three and guarding the One (a cultivation method of concentrating the Shen, or spirit, and guarding the mind), so that the mind grows plain and still and distracting thoughts disperse. With a single heart they seek the way of becoming immortal and undying, earnest and sincere, never turning back. For such people I shall send the numinous officials of the various heavens and the directors of the Nine Earths (deities who administer affairs in the celestial realm and the underworld) to teach them still higher methods of the Dao, so that they obtain more profound scriptures, divine elixirs and numinous medicines, and immortal mushrooms and jade essences (legendary medicines of the immortals).

“They will thereby lengthen their years and extend their lives, transform form and spirit, refine and transmute the body and alter the spirit, and cultivate the way of lasting existence. According to the progress of each one’s practice, they will be summoned into the palaces of the immortals or the grotto-heavens of the Five Marchmounts (legendary cavern dwellings of immortals located in the Five Sacred Peaks), gradually reaching the realm of the spirits, transforming the spirit and entering the mysterious realm, and at last ascending to the various heavens. Those able to cultivate in this way are likewise beyond reckoning in the world. The way of the immortals is profound and hidden; the people of the world do not understand it.”

The kings who were present, together with their kin and the holy assembly of immortals, perfected ones, and sages, all praised these words, bowed their heads in homage to the Dao Ancestor, and then withdrew.