《太上洞玄灵宝天尊说济苦经》

The Most High Heavenly Worthy of Cavern Mystery (Dongxuan) and Numinous Treasure (Taishang Dongxuan Lingbao Tianzun), a revered deity of Daoism, says: My realm exhausts the infinite and reaches the Limitless. I possess seven methods of the Dao (the Way), named Concealed Light (Yinguang), Dwelling in Light (Chuguang), Concealed Form (Yinxiang), Luminous Concealment (Mingyin), Concealed Transformation (Yinbian), Concealed Truth (Yinzhen), and Great De (Virtue/Power). In transformed bodies I pass through the world, observe all living beings, and examine their good and evil.

Whether man or woman, whoever reveres my methods of the Dao, cultivates diligently and with devout faith, keeps the Dao in mind while walking, standing, sitting, and lying down, maintains purification fasting over a long period, wears clean clothes, burns incense day and night in a clean place, worships at the proper times, makes offerings to the deities of the ten directions, practices the Dao through recitation and chanting, praises the sages and perfected ones, and keeps the prescribed fasting days of each month without interruption—if such a person then meets illness and hardship, pain difficult to cure, or is imprisoned and confined, or if a woman is in difficult labor, one should recite the names of these seven methods and intone an invocation to beseech me. Hearing the call, I will hasten there, leading my attendants and arriving through the void, going directly to that home to heal the sick and summon back the scattered souls so that they return into the body, and the illness will be cured. If a person is in prison or amid calamity, the fetters can likewise be undone and the plight escaped; if a woman suffers a difficult birth, she can also deliver safely.

Moreover, if the household harbors filthy and evil things, wandering disease-ghosts, malignant spirits and wangliang, poisonous deviant Qi (vital energy) and spectral beings, or losses incurred without cause, all can be driven far away. If someone practices curses or gu-sorcery, or if jealousy brings calamities of slander and dispute, those disasters are turned back upon the perpetrators themselves; and if someone incurs fault by an offending act, that person will likewise bear the corresponding consequence.

I will send attendant youths and jade maidens to guard this household, so that blessings and joy constantly remain there: the elderly lengthen their lives, the young gain added years, every kind of good affinity draws near, and all manner of evil affairs melt away like ice. Whoever believes with a single mind and practices according to the teaching will naturally attain the true reality of the Dao.

The Celestial Worthy said: The teaching I carry out is for believers to follow. You should cultivate diligently, receive and safeguard the methods of the Jing (scripture/classic), and recite them with care. For such people of the Dao (the Way), I will often protect and bless them and look with sympathy upon their cultivation. So long as they revere the methods of the Dao and strive to rid themselves of afflictions, they will not suffer undeserved calamities. In life they are free of sorrow and hardship, and after death free of disaster and guilt. The realm to which they go is that of Wuwei (non-action); they are ever accompanied by good affinities, naturally receive blessings, and in the end transcend and ascend as immortals.

The Celestial Worthy said: The Daoist priests of my school are your masters. They accept the offerings you provide, transmit to you the methods of the Dao, and recite the scriptures; they preside over zhai rites, transmit the precepts, and then report your wishes to me. If you pray with a sincere heart, I know of it of myself; if anyone does not act according to the methods of the Dao, I know that as well. You people of the Dao should be glad to make offerings, and you must not slight or insult the Daoist priests. If you speak slander and thereby create the karma of speech, or if regret arises after you have given, then after death there will be no merit. I examine each person’s conduct, and each bears their own guilt. When one gives with a sincere mind, much giving brings much blessing and little giving brings little blessing; the same principle applies to printing and producing scriptures and to sculpting and painting sacred images. If one can also build temples and abbeys, install my sacred image, surround it with banners and fresh flowers, light lamps so that their light continues, and devote effort to bringing these things about, the merit is exceedingly vast and hard to measure. Such a person will gradually obtain good fortune and in the end ascend as an immortal.

The Celestial Worthy said: Before heaven and earth were born, I alone existed. I am without birth or extinction, and transformation comes about of itself. Only after heaven and earth had taken form were there rulers and common people. I established the scriptural teaching and through the ages served as teacher to emperors and kings; and also, as a pure and true great deity of the celestial realm, I nurture and rescue all living beings. I once taught living beings in Biluo (the Azure Empyrean) of the East, Yanming (Fiery Brightness) of the South, Datang (the Great Hall) of the West, Yudan of the North, and other places. After the conditions of this teaching had spread through every quarter, I returned to the imperial realm, saving beings of the ten directions and bringing them all to practice the methods of the Dao. If one can sincerely love the methods of the Dao and reverently honor the scriptural teaching, one may in the end ascend as an immortal.

Note: The original text contains two repeated passages, which have been consolidated above according to the sense. Zhai rites are religious activities such as purification and fasting, setting out offerings, and praying according to ritual; the precepts refer to the disciplinary rules of Daoism and the rites by which they are transmitted.

The first is the Limitless Great Dao (the Way without bounds, supreme and unsurpassed); the second is the Unsurpassed Perfectly True Dao; the third is the Great Dao of Wuwei (non-action), Great Peace, and the Pure Covenant.

The Celestial Worthy said: This scripture (Jing) consists of a single fascicle. If one recites it three times each day and invokes the Three Treasures of which I have spoken—here referring to the three Great Daos listed in the scripture—this can protect the person who recites it, so that he is no longer afraid; even if he has committed offenses, they can be removed.

You who cultivate the Dao: if, when reciting this scripture, the breath of your mouth is unclean and your conduct is incautious, you may become stained with impurity and thereby incur guilt. If you wish to recite it, you must first rinse your mouth clean and set your thoughts in proper order. Pray to bear a boy, and you will obtain a boy; pray to bear a girl, and you will obtain a girl; pray for long life, and you will obtain longevity and ease, with clothing and food in sufficiency.

This scripture possesses great divine De (Virtue/Power) and can deliver all living beings from the suffering of birth and death. Whether man or woman, if one copies, receives, and upholds this scripture and places the text in a clean place, the household will be secure, the men and women of the family will flourish, the host of sages will protect them, and people of the world will honor and cherish them; and they may enjoy wealth and ease. All of this comes from blessed virtue. As good deeds continue to increase, descendants through seven generations will all ascend to heaven. If beings of every kind in the Dharma realm all uphold this blessed virtue, they ought to believe, accept, and put it into practice.

Here ends the complete text of the Taishang Dongxuan Lingbao Tianzun Shuo Jiku Jing (Scripture Spoken by the Most High Celestial Worthy of the Numinous Treasure of Dongxuan, the Cavern Mystery, on Relieving Suffering).