《太上洞玄灵宝太玄普慈劝世经》

At that time, the Unsurpassed Celestial Worthy Who Seeks Out Cries and Relieves Suffering (the Celestial Worthy who rescues suffering beings), for the sake of all beings, expediently manifested a bodily form and came to the Heaven of Defiled Desire and Attachment within the World of Mixed Retribution (the world in which beings are born according to their respective karmic retributions of good and evil). Together with many perfected immortals and their retinues, he proceeded to the lodge of Zhenduo and sat upon a golden couch. We were able to draw near the Celestial Worthy, yet we neither listened and received his teaching with attentive minds nor reverently gathered around him.

At this moment, among the assembly there was a Perfected Person named Puci. Kneeling upright upon the ground, he bowed his head in worship at the Celestial Worthy’s two feet and respectfully asked, “In cultivation and the accumulation of merit, what is most essential? If one wishes to be freed from all manner of suffering, what should one do first?”

At that moment the Celestial Worthy (Tianzun) answered Puci: “Good men, listen carefully. Suppose someone wishes to adorn an image of the Buddha: he cannot do without all the various colors. When people of the world wish to dress themselves up, they likewise cannot do without clothes, caps, headcloths, boots, and belts. Once these are worn neatly and in order, their appearance shines, and those who see them take delight in it.

“The principle you now ask about is just the same. One should adorn oneself with the wholesome conduct of the five precepts and the ten good deeds, plant good causes, and form favorable connections for lives to come. You ought to consider this: beings in the world know only how to embellish the present life, and do not know how to cultivate and accumulate wholesome karma for the future. Why? Because they cling to the world and cannot bear to let it go.

“As I see it, beings’ greedy attachment to worldly affairs is like maggots living in a filthy latrine, who take heaps of dung and filth for happiness and are unwilling to leave that place for the peace and ease of the human world. Beings are the same: sunk in the five desires, they take them for happiness and are unwilling to be reborn in the heavenly realms and enjoy the bliss of heaven.

“Good man, when the realms of peace and ease inhabited by the various heavens look upon the human world, it is like people of the world looking at maggots in a latrine and finding them set amid filth. Why? The human body holds pus, nasal mucus, and saliva, and it also discharges urine and feces, so it is not pure. What is meant by the impurity of the body? People of the world take wine and meat into the body and regard them as clean; once that food has entered the body and turned into urine and feces, they regard it as filth. They know only how to treat wine and meat as pure things, yet in the eyes of the various heavens these are not pure. Thus, because beings are immersed in wine, meat, and the pleasures of the five desires—things that are plainly impure—I say that they are like maggots in a latrine.

“Good man, as I see it, people of the world have much sinful karma and little merit and virtue; the poor are many and the well-off are few. All of this comes about because they do not understand how to cultivate and accumulate merit and virtue, or how to adorn themselves with wholesome karma. That you now ask so earnestly is in order to exhort and transform the people of the world.”

At this, joy arose in Puci’s heart, and he longed eagerly to hear—as if, though hungry, he could spare no thought for eating, wishing only to grasp clearly the principle that “people of the world have much sin and little merit, many who are poor and few who are rich, all because they do not cultivate meritorious karma,” so that he might spread it through the world.

The Celestial Worthy told the Perfected One of Universal Compassion: “You should know that if a person can keep the mind at peace and unmoving, enter meditative concentration, and reflect with single-minded attention in a quiet chamber, without craving fragrances or the pleasures of sound and form, then through such practice they will obtain the karmic fruit of the ‘Unmoving’ and be reborn in the ‘Land of the Unmoving.’ Men and women of later generations who wish to seek this fruit should enter concentration, sit upright, and contemplate their own mind. Among all methods of cultivation, this is the most important.

“Good man, if someone is indolent and, hearing that there is a practice site where the scriptures (jing) are being expounded, the teaching transmitted, alms given, and precepts conferred, yet in their leisure only sleeps and will not go to listen, receive, and cultivate; craving coolness in summer and thinking only of warmth in winter, singing and chanting all day and seeking nothing but pleasure, indulging the mouth in rich and fresh foods, letting the mind chase after deviant desires, blocking the path of doing good and opening the gate of doing evil—such a person will not obtain a good fruit.

“If someone in the world has no other attachments and no private vexations, is not attached to form, sound, scent, taste, touch, and mental objects (the six sense objects spoken of in Buddhism), and constantly listens to and ponders the Mahayana scriptures with care, upholds the precepts, and repents, the merit and karmic fruit such a person obtains surpasses that of those mentioned before by a hundred thousand myriad times.

“If someone, in order to hear and receive the teaching, temporarily sets aside other affairs and miscellaneous activities, and whether in hardship and distress, in sorrow or in joy, in wealth and honor or in poverty and want, can let go of what disturbs them and single-mindedly listen to and study the wondrous scriptures, uphold the precepts, and repent, the merit and karmic fruit they obtain again surpasses that of the person just mentioned by a hundred thousand myriad times.

“If someone is deaf or blind, impaired in hands or feet, or lives in unease at every turn, yet still draws near the practice site and seeks the good teaching, such a person can accumulate merit. The scripture says that in a future life they may recover their bodies and no longer be troubled by illness.

“If someone, with a compassionate heart, regularly gives clothing and food to these people who are disabled and whose lives are unsettled, the merit and karmic fruit they will obtain in the future will exceed that of the present life by a hundred thousand myriad times. How much more so if they give to the Three Treasures (the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha), to venerable scriptures and to sites where the teaching is expounded, or copy scriptures and fashion sacred images—the merit thus obtained is beyond all measure.”

Puci should think in this way: if someone has never once set foot upon a place of purity, such an ordinary person is like one without feet; one who has never taken up a scripture scroll (Jing) is like one without hands; one who enters the ritual space, sees the Heavenly Worthy (Tianzun) and the scriptures, yet does not give rise to a mind of taking refuge, is like one without eyes; and one who hears scriptural passages and verses being expounded, yet does not retain them in the heart, is like one without ears.

Why is this said? If the feet, hands, eyes, and ears are not used to do good and cultivate blessings, merit cannot be accumulated. Without merit, in the next life one will not obtain the corresponding good fruits; even if born in the central land, one may fall into remote border regions, and may even be unable to possess complete hands and feet, eyes and ears. Good man, the beings of the world have much sinful karma and little blessed virtue—how can they avoid passing through the eighteen levels of hell?

When the Perfected Puci (Zhenren) had heard these words, he could not help but weep. He bowed before the Heavenly Worthy and spoke in verse:

Within the Nine Darknesses (Jiuyou, the obscure underworld), interrogation and punishment never cease, and day and night the sounds of suffering can be heard.

This is all because in former lives they were unwilling to keep the good in mind and to practice the good; after death they are led into the Iron City to undergo punishment.

The Ox-Heads (Niutou, ghostly minions of the underworld) are by nature without feeling—how could the jailers give rise to compassion?

Scalding iron pellets are taken as food to stave off hunger, and iron birds come flying to peck at the eyes.

Those to whom grievance and debt are owed are beyond counting; every debt must be repaid, and karmic retribution is clear.

May this verse be spread throughout the world. May the people of heaven and of the human realm, upon hearing this exposition, all accomplish the field of blessings (Futian, the conditions for accumulating blessed virtue).

At that time the Celestial Worthy again said to Puci: Sentient beings are foolish and benighted, like someone hurrying along the road at night who does not look ahead, but simply presses forward at will by the strength of his feet. He steps on a deadly venomous snake, is wounded, and suffers pain too great to bear; in fewer than ten days he loses his life. People are the same. Their minds and natures are stubborn and unyielding; they indulge their desires and commit offenses. Before a hundred years have passed, after death they fall into hell, climbing sword-trees with their hands and treading knife-mountains with their feet. They must also endure being pounded in stone mortars and crushed by stone mills until their bodies are ground to pieces. Looking from afar upon those who suffer in this way, my heart is filled with deep grief. Now I offer you a gatha (a verse used to expound doctrine) to help you:

Unwilling in life to draw near the Three Treasures (Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha), how after death can they escape the Nine Darknesses (the dim and profound netherworld)?

Once they fall into the prison of the long night of ignorance (a realm of suffering that symbolizes foolishness and the inability to see the true path), not even in a thousand years can they awaken to the causes of birth and death, calamity and fortune.

Iron beds scorch like fire day and night, and the branches of the sword-trees never know when autumn will come.

Sentient beings and hungry ghosts wail without cease, resenting the jailers and the ox-headed demons (ghost officials who, in legend, seize and punish the souls of the dead).

Knife-mountains rise sheer and perilous, piercing hands and feet; furnaces and charcoal fires blaze fiercely, inflicting cruel torment.

Through eighteen thousand kalpas (an immensely long span of time) they still see no day of return; even if they leave hell, in their next birth they will still become pigs and dogs.

Unwilling in life to practice helpful kindness (doing good, aiding others, and making things easier for them), once they have become ghosts, on what can they rely to form good causes?

These places are the Three Paths (the three evil destinies of hell, hungry ghosts, and animals) and the Eight Difficulties (eight conditions in which it is hard to hear the Dao—the Way—and to cultivate). To whom can worry, sorrow, and anguish be told?

At this moment, the Celestial Worthy (Tianzun), having finished speaking this verse, went on to tell Puci: “Sentient beings dwelling in this world are as if they were living in hell. Their minds are constantly pressed and beset, entangled in afflictions; illness invades the body, and cold and heat, pain and itching follow one upon another; there are also hunger, poverty, cold, and all manner of other misfortunes. Even if one were to speak of them for an entire kalpa (an immensely long span of time), one could not finish. One should therefore understand that ordinary beings cannot truly be at ease in the world.

“Even if someone has ample food and clothing, numerous oxen and horses, abundant wealth, and bondservants and attendants besides, such an ordinary person is likewise not at ease. Because they are not at ease, they readily give rise to anger, deluded thoughts, the intent to kill, and noisy strife and contention; from these various causes and conditions, they are certain to fall into hell, with little hope of a day of release.”

The Celestial Worthy then asked Puci: “Among all who possess the body of an ordinary person, is there anyone entirely without anger?”

Puci replied: “There is not. So long as one has this body, there will be anger; only without the body is there none.”

The Celestial Worthy (Tianzun) further said to the Perfected One of Universal Compassion (Puci Zhenren): “According to the orthodox teaching, a person who is free of anger and hatred and who does not take life is not an ordinary person. An ordinary person is an ordinary person precisely because there is anger and hatred in the heart. Anger and hatred arise from the ordinary person, and anger and hatred in turn exist in dependence on the ordinary person. Why is this so? If anger and hatred can be brought to rest, the condition of being an ordinary person is likewise brought to rest; if anger and hatred are not brought to rest, the ordinary person is not brought to rest either. Anger and hatred arise in the heart of the ordinary person, and the hells are produced by anger and hatred. The ordinary person and the hells are therefore bound together: if the ordinary person can be brought to rest, the hells are brought to rest as well; if the ordinary person has not been brought to rest, neither have the hells. One ought to bring anger and hatred to rest. When anger and hatred cease, the ordinary person no longer exists; and since there is no ordinary person, there are no hells either.

“Furthermore, Puci, in order to exhort the people of the world, you should tell all beings this: the causes and conditions of the world shift and are impermanent, and whatever ought to be done should be done early. When the time arrives, the myriad things are renewed; when the time has passed, the myriad things decline. This is what is called impermanence. As for what is called ‘the indeterminate,’ in what way is it indeterminate? A person at birth is called an infant, and in a moment is crawling; then come childhood, youth, adulthood, the prime of life, middle age, and old age. Both a person’s years and bodily condition change. Times of illness, affliction, sorrow, pain, death, and the like are likewise impermanent and impossible to foresee.

“From birth until death, the evil karma a person creates while living in the world is beyond all reckoning. After death one falls into the Three Paths (the three evil destinies of the hells, hungry ghosts, and animals) and suffers poisonous harm, pain, and anguished distress. Ox-headed ghosts glare with furious, staring eyes, enough to split the heart and gall; even if one knocks one’s head on the ground and cries out to Heaven, no one comes to the rescue. One must also pass through the sword-trees and enter the boiling cauldron (a great pot of seething liquid), enduring the punishment of freezing ice, the iron bed, the copper pillar, and every kind of torment, unable even to keep one’s bodily form. Nor can the length of this suffering be foreseen. Therefore I say that in all matters one must act early and cultivate merit and virtue.

“What, then, counts as seizing the right time and cultivating merit and virtue? Take a person’s vegetable diet: one should begin it while still young. By old age the time has already passed, and it is hard to keep up. The long fast, reading the Jing (scripture/classic), burning incense and paying reverence, regularly attending the sanctuary of the Dao (the Way), listening to the teaching and repenting, and giving away food and property—all of these should be done in good time. Once the time has passed, one can scarcely manage them, just as the mulberry does not readily grow in the cold months.

“Good men should reflect in this way: if people of the world cannot even keep a vegetarian diet, how can they observe the fast for long? If they cannot observe the long fast, how can they abstain from grain (not eating the five grains)? If they cannot abstain from grain, how can they learn to become immortals? If they cannot learn immortality, how can they study the Dao? If they cannot study the Dao, how can they attain the Dao? If they cannot attain the Dao, how can they escape suffering? Therefore, those who observe the fast, abstain from grain, seek immortality, and study the Dao ought to receive offerings. Why? Those who cultivate and study the methods of the Dao are seizing the right time, and those who make offerings to them are likewise seizing the right time.

“It is like raising crops: sowing in spring and reaping only in autumn is called seizing the right time; not sowing, and so having no harvest, is called missing the right time. Every evil deed is to be cut off by means of wisdom, and every good deed is to be cultivated by means of wisdom, so that good conditions are formed for the life to come—this is called seizing the right time. If the time is missed, there will be no good conditions in the life to come—this is called missing the right time. Likewise, to be prosperous, peaceful and happy, and long-lived in this life is to have seized the right time; to be poor and to die early is to have missed the right time.

“I observe the people of the world: those who can seize the right time are few, and those who miss the right time are many.”

Note: The original contains several repeated sentences, and phrases such as “the mulberry in the cold months” and “the iron-form copper pillar” may be corrupt or represent special usage; the translation follows the original and retains their general sense.

Next, Universal Compassion (Puci, 普慈, "bestowing compassion everywhere") said:

If someone, moved by compassion, gives the wealth in their home and the clothes on their body to Daoist practitioners, so that scriptures may be copied and images of the deities fashioned, and joins with others in cultivating good roots (accumulating good deeds), the merit that person gains is beyond measure. In the future they will surely receive a fitting reward: seated on a lotus throne, with food and clothing in abundance, they will be able to draw near to me. Why is this so? Giving wealth and copying scriptures opens the eyes and ears of living beings and helps them hear and understand the true teaching; it is also like building a bridge for them to the Great Dao. One should therefore know that such a person will receive a rich reward.

Thus, if men and women wish for long life, or hope for a good outcome in a future life, they should give their wealth to pure Daoists, to be used for repairing and copying the scriptures of the Daoist Canon. This is called seizing the opportunity; to lack such an aspiration is called missing the opportunity.

Good men, suppose someone, moved by compassion, repays the kindness of their parents and of deceased relatives for raising them, and at a place where scripture is expounded takes off the clothes they are wearing and gives them to their parents. The children born to such a person in this life will have loving and filial hearts. Why? If a father is not filial to his own parents, his children may likewise lack affection, just as evil trees grow in a thicket of brambles. Understanding this principle, you should know that those who give clothing on behalf of their parents will have children like the fragrant trees of a sandalwood grove, not like a forest overgrown with thorns and poisonous trees. Such a person has also seized the opportunity.

Good men, suppose someone commits the grave offense of rebellion and unfilial conduct: they provide for their wife and children but do not honor their parents; they indulge in drink and abandon restraint, beating and cursing their parents. The sin such a person creates is heavier than the suffering of beings in the eighteen levels of hell. Only when the torments of all eighteen levels are fully exhausted can this person's sin be eliminated; so long as the torments of hell have not ended, neither will the punishment they receive. Such a person is said to have missed the opportunity.

Good men, suppose someone with a compassionate heart sees another person give alms and is filled with joy, courage, and diligent effort, seeking good causes and good results, and then takes off their own clothes and gives them to their parents. The merit they gain is double that of the one who gave before them. Such a person has seized the opportunity. But if someone lacks compassion and, on seeing others give, feels envy and mockery instead of joy, that person receives no blessing at all and instead creates a great sin. After death they fall into the Three Evil Paths (hell, hungry ghosts, and animals) and are reborn as a hungry ghost, repaying the offense of having envied others' good deeds in a former life. This too is called missing the opportunity.

Good men, if you seek to become an earthly immortal, cultivate the causes that make one an earthly immortal; if you seek to become a flying immortal, cultivate the causes of a flying immortal; if you seek freedom and ease, cultivate the causes of freedom and ease; if you seek the state without outflows (no longer generating afflictions and karma), cultivate the causes of that state; and if you seek Wuwei (non-action; the state beyond the sway of contrivance, arising, and ceasing), cultivate the causes of Wuwei. In the past, in the Kingdom of Precious Gathering, I explained these causes and conditions to Haikong Zhizang. Having heard them, Haikong quickly realized Wuwei. This too is called seizing the opportunity; to fail to arouse such an aspiration is called missing the opportunity.

Suppose someone often dozes off at a place where scripture is being expounded, and reproaches themselves in their heart: "Why do I fall asleep every time I sit in the sacred space? Sitting like this does me no good." They then grow lax and withdraw. As I observe the realm of ordinary beings, whether human or non-human, within the five organs and the many joints of the body there dwell true spirits (Shen). They can all help a person receive and uphold the wondrous teaching, and as a result that person will surely grow wise. You, men and women, should understand this: it is better to sit upright in the sacred space and doze than to go home and idle away the time in amusement. This is called seizing the opportunity; to withdraw and grow lax because of dozing is called missing the opportunity.

Good men, you should also think in this way: if people in the world bring money and precious goods on behalf of the deceased, explain the reason to the assembly at a place where scripture is expounded, and give these goods to the Three Treasures (the Dao, the scriptures, and the masters), praying that the deceased repent of their sins, then the deceased, whether parents or other departed relatives, will surely obtain liberation. Why? Repenting and giving wealth is called redeeming sin. The greater the gift, the heavier the blessing; the smaller the gift, the lighter the blessing, and this also depends on whether the deceased was rich or poor in life. To be able to arouse such an aspiration is called seizing the opportunity; to lack it is not seizing the opportunity.

If someone understands the wondrous teaching and explains it to others, so that the many can receive and practice it, that person's merit is as vast as empty space and cannot be measured. If someone, having heard the wondrous teaching, can praise and spread the lines and verses of the scripture, remember them and explain them correctly, and pass them on to others, this is called seeing the teaching and also practicing the teaching; that person's merit is exactly the same as that of the teacher who expounds it.

If someone hears the wondrous teaching, even just three, four, or five lines, and afterward invites others to come together to the sacred space to repent, eliminate the karma of their sins, and accumulate blessings and virtue, that person is a good spiritual friend and a bridge to the true teaching. After death they will not fall into hell; I will command the True Person Who Saves from Suffering and Responds to the World to receive them and send them directly to the Pure Land. Such a person is said to have seized the opportunity; to fail to arouse such an aspiration is not seizing the opportunity.

If someone carries pearls, jade, gold, silver, and other treasures, along with fine silks and brocades, money, cloth, and fragrant oil, to the sacred space where scripture is expounded, and before thousands upon thousands of people bears witness to their own merit and asks to repent and make amends for their offenses, that person will obtain a complete reward. This is better than leaving one's wealth to others after death.

At that time, the Celestial Venerable (Tianzun) spoke a verse for the assembly:

Observe your own body constantly, and you will understand that the body is in fact illusory and unreal. It is made up of the four great elements (earth, water, fire, and wind) and the five components of the body, and so has no constant, unchanging essence of its own.

The body is composed of three hundred and sixty bones and joints, held together by skin and flesh, yet inside there is only pus and blood. Thoughts change one after another, never pausing for a moment, and from morning to night people's minds are disturbed by affliction.

Parents, wives, and children keep us company only for a time, and even the bond between brothers and sisters is no more than a passing affinity of conditions. Once the breath is cut off, a person departs empty-handed; the corpse decays and the flesh turns to pus and blood. Amid impermanence, thoughts shift ceaselessly, and affliction disturbs the mind from morning to night. Relatives keep one another company only briefly in the end, and siblings merely come together through conditions. After death, the bones all finally turn to dust.

Even if one's children weep at the bedside, they cannot bring the dead back or spare them from sinking into the lower realms. Everyone should diligently do good deeds now, rather than merely accumulating wealth to leave to their descendants.

When the verse was finished, everyone present became aware of the suffering of impermanence, as though they had nowhere to rest. Thinking of the condition of living beings, they were overcome with grief and wept, and so they asked the Heavenly Venerable (Tianzun) again: "In the Three Realms, is there anything that is constant and unchanging?"

The Heavenly Venerable answered: "No. Puci, where have you come from, that you still do not understand this principle? I once gave this very instruction at the Xiechen Hall: even the holy ones of the Three Pure Ones (Sanqing), the three supreme deities of Daoism, dwell in impermanence from one thought to the next. Therefore nothing in the world is worth relying on forever. Good man, in the Five Turbidities (a term in Buddhist and Daoist texts for a chaotic, corrupted world), the world is full of strife and contention, and none of the world's myriad things can last. You are so earnest now because you wish to exhort the people of the world; you should let living beings be freed from suffering through this."

Then Xuanyi Zhenren (the Perfected Xuanyi), who was among the assembly, heard this and exclaimed: "How wonderful is this verse the Heavenly Venerable has spoken! People of future ages will all receive the benefit of this grace. We should now copy it, receive it, and practice it, and dare not treat it lightly."

The Heavenly Venerable then said to Xuanyi Zhenren: "All of you in this assembly: in past kalpas, I came into the world for the sake of living beings and proclaimed many kinds of teachings. As I was about to bring this period of teaching to a close and return to wondrous bliss, countless celestial beings came to hear my final instruction, and countless living beings received and practiced it, daring not to treat it lightly."

The Celestial Worthy again admonished the Perfected of Mysterious Unity and the assembly present:

In the immeasurable kalpas of the past, I came into the world for the sake of all living beings and expounded teachings of every kind. When the preaching was about to end and I was preparing to return to wondrous bliss, countless heavenly beings came to hear the final instruction; countless living beings came to cultivate the final good deeds; countless rākṣasas (demons and spirits of myth) took the occasion to plant good causes; countless ghosts and spirits thereby received blessings; and countless men and women performed the final offerings and carried out the final acts of giving.

At that time I conferred predictions upon them and explained, each in turn, the karmic fruits they would receive in the future. Why? Because the giving performed at the end is called the “final field of merit,” and it is the last causal condition for the accomplishment of merit and virtue. Therefore, if men and women wish to obtain the blessings of cause and effect, they should cultivate the final good deeds in the ritual sanctuary, form the final good affinities, and doubt no longer.

At that time Zhenduoshe (the person or title referred to here) and the entire assembly, whether human or nonhuman, upon hearing this wondrous meaning, all together purified their minds and realized the fruit of Wuwei (non-action).