《太上洞玄灵宝真一劝诫法轮妙经(四种)》

The Most High’s Ritual Master of Lofty Mystery and the Three Officials of Taiji (Supreme Ultimate), together with the Perfected of Mysterious Unity, expounded the Wondrous Scripture of the Wheel of the Law of Exhortation and Admonition of the True One of the Numinous Treasure of the Cavern Mystery (Dongxuan). The ancient copy of this scripture is kept at the Most High’s Mysterious Terrace of the Six Harmonies. In the canon, the scriptural text is attended and guarded by Dragon-Flower Jade Maidens and Golden Dawn Jade Lads, who scatter flowers and burn incense in its service. By regulation, it is transmitted only once every forty thousand kalpas. Later the Most High issued a command that it be transmitted to the Left Immortal Duke of Taiji.

Taiji Zu Xiangong (the Left Immortal Duke of the Taiji, or Supreme Ultimate), an immortal of Daoist legend, quietly undertook purification and fasting on Mount Tiantai in order to purge his transgressions. He burned incense and repented, longing for the Perfected (Zhenren) and devoting himself wholly to the Dao (the Way). After this had continued for a hundred days, a numinous vision began faintly to appear: in the lofty, remote, and mysterious sky, clouds and vapors shimmered with light, now present and now absent, now scattering and now gathering, and cast their glow upon the quiet chamber of his fast.

Zu Xiangong felt that his arduous cultivation had already reached, from afar, the Perfected of heaven. He therefore applied himself to the study of the mysterious methods of the Dao and resolved to practice with diligence. Before a full year of purification and fasting had passed, he moved the Supreme Sages to descend, and their radiance shone into the secluded fasting chamber.

On the night of the gengyin day in the first month, flying clouds, a cinnabar empyrean, and the jade carriage of the Eight Luminaries (the splendid vehicle ridden by celestial immortals) suddenly appeared. Precious canopies shone through with brilliant color, lighting the boundless void; incense smoke and scattered blossoms floated in the air and arrived together, drifting down. The celestial Perfected descended amid a thousand carriages and ten thousand riders, in a splendor too great to describe fully. Dragons soared and simurghs cried; phoenixes wheeled in flight; lions and white cranes uttered long, clear calls. Immortal lads and jade maidens, each numbering in the tens of millions, held the staffs for commanding demons (ritual insignia symbolizing the subjugation of evil spirits) and the floral banners of the Ten Absolutes (splendid ritual banners). Carriages and horses formed ranks, and spirit chariots gathered; in the blink of an eye, the celestial Perfected all descended together.

Three Perfected announced their titles in turn. The first was Yuluoqiao, First Perfected of the Supreme Mystery-One; the second was Guangmiaoyin, Second Perfected of the Supreme Mystery-One; the third was Zhendingguang, Third Perfected of the Supreme Mystery-One. The three Perfected arrived together, each with a round halo above the head, their light illuminating the ten directions. They sat respectively upon golden mats spread with brocade. Attendants to left and right held floral banners, burned various precious blended incenses, and beside them raised the kongqing table (an offering table named for azurite) and cloths of eight colors.

They bestowed the Wondrous Scripture of the True One on the Dharma Wheel of Exhortation and Precepts (Zhenyi Quanjie Falun Miaojing). Above the scripture lay a brocade canopy of flying script and tassels of the seven treasures, while a mysterious radiance blazed brilliantly in the air. Zu Xiangong then kowtowed in reverence. Out of respect for the Heavenly Worthies, he dared not rashly open his mouth to speak; he felt only joy in his heart and ease in his spirit, and waited respectfully in silence for the words of precept and instruction.

Note: The scripture contains a number of repetitions and passages that appear to be corrupt. The above has been arranged and understood according to the coherent sense of the context.

The Most High Perfected Person of Mysterious Unity, Yuluoqiao (a revered deity of Daoism), said to the Left Immortal Duke of the Taiji (Supreme Ultimate): “You have passed through many kalpas, always cultivating with a devoted mind. You would rather injure yourself than fail to rescue all living beings, guiding and delivering sentient creatures, your kindness even extending to grasses and trees. Lodging yourself among mountains, forests, and hills, you have guarded your original mind, restrained passion and desire, and reverently paid homage to your teachers and lineage. Never wearied in cultivation, your resolve has been arduous yet firm, and thus you have accumulated the highest De (Virtue/Power). Because of this you were able to enter the Purple Orchid Terrace and the Golden Portal Palace of Shangqing, obtaining the jasper writings in purple characters (symbolizing the precious scriptures and name-registers of the Shangqing immortal realm). Your merit is lofty, and your cultivation already accords with the qualities of a superior immortal.

The Most High commanded the Perfected Person of the Taiji, Xu Laile, to recommend you as Great Ritual Master of the Three Caverns (Sandong; that is, the three major divisions of Daoist scriptural teaching). Now he has further ordered me to serve as your first master of deliverance, transmitting to you the method of attaining deliverance and entering the Dao (the Way). You may sit down once more. I shall tell you the essential admonitions for opening and turning the wheel of salvation (expounding the teaching and exhorting people to cultivate), so that you may understand your own destined lot, the sins and blessings of former lives, and how these bring about retribution in the present life. Are you willing to listen? Whoever can put these teachings into practice should attend to me with a quiet mind.”

The Second Perfected Person of the Most High Mysterious Unity, Guang Miaoyin, said to the Left Immortal Duke: “Turning through the cycle of birth and death, you have always formed affinities with goodness. Through many kalpas and successive lifetimes, generation after generation, this has never been broken. You cast aside glory, honor, and official stipend, threw yourself into remote mountains and wilds, and endured hunger, cold, and hardship, holding the Dao in mind without slackening. You revere your teachers and the Three Treasures, constantly as respectful as if facing divine beings. Your heart is benevolent, generous, and gentle; your bearing is serene and joyful. For a long time you have observed fasting and abstinence, earnestly contemplating the Dao without interruption. Your utter sincerity has reached and moved what is far away, and so your name is enrolled in the immortal realm of Shangqing.

The Most High has ordered me to serve as your second master of deliverance, and to tell you in detail the essential admonitions concerning the Three Paths and Five Sufferings (a Daoist teaching related to destinations after death and various kinds of hardship) and the root of life, death, and allotted fate, so that you may understand whence comes the suffering endured by the hun-soul and Shen (spirit). Do you wish to listen? I shall expound it for you, and you ought to put it into practice.”

The Third Perfected of the Most High’s Mysterious Unity, the Perfected of True and Settled Radiance, said to the Left Immortal Duke: “For seven generations your family has possessed good virtue. They once gave up their own food to relieve the poor and distressed, and their benevolence extended even to birds and beasts. These blessed merits have been passed on to later generations and also nourish you yourself. You have moreover cultivated diligently for a long time, personally serving your teachers and the precious treasures of the teaching. In the cold you gave no thought to furs and robes; when hungry you did not pick and choose your food. Amid mountains, forests, and secluded valleys you endured every hardship, devoting yourself to cultivation without ever growing slack. Because of this you were able to gather and contain purple Qi (vital energy), to resonate with and commune with the true Dao (the Way), and a strange radiance arose about your neck.

“Thereupon the highest spirits specially descended and bestowed upon you the honored rank of Immortal Minister, in recompense for your former virtue. Is this not truly exalted? The Most High now commands me to serve as your master at your third ordination. Now I shall tell you the admonitions and essential instructions of boundless wondrous penetration and of turning the Shen (spirit) into settled concentration. Are you willing to follow and practice them? I will expound them for you; you must keep your mouth closed and cultivate with careful restraint.”

The Most High Perfected of Mysterious Unity said: When heaven and earth were first established, the Primordial Beginning (the original root of the myriad things) divided Yin-Yang. Yin-Yang transformed and gave birth to the myriad things, and the Five Phases (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water) each settled into their proper places. Whether above or below, heaven or earth, great or small, and whether within the realm of visible form or beyond the formless, all things receive the Qi (vital energy) of the empty void and take Qi as their root. The root arises from the “Beginning,” the “Beginning” arises from the “Origin,” and the “Origin” arises from the “Mystery”; from this the myriad things are generated. The myriad things succeed one another, holding together heaven and earth in the eight directions, so that heaven and earth may long endure.

The many Perfected who have attained the Dao (the Way), the lofty immortals, and the Perfected who have come from afar out of the boundless worlds of the ten directions have, through countless kalpas, never lacked a lineage of teachers. All of them received from their masters the precious scriptures (jing) of Supreme Clarity and the Three Caverns (important Daoist classics), and thus became lofty immortals and supreme sages, teachers of the ten directions. The master is a precious support. If one seeks learning without a teacher, the Dao is hard to bring to completion; without a teacher, one cannot cultivate, cannot obtain life, cannot attain deliverance, and cannot become an immortal. Therefore the master is like my father. If a disciple does not revere and love the master, the Dao will not descend, and demonic obstructions will harm your body. The dragon carriage of the Eight Effulgences (the vehicle ridden by immortals)—how could you drive it? The jade portals of Taiji (Supreme Ultimate; palaces of the immortal realm)—how could you ascend them?

The Confucians have ancient texts such as the Three Tombs and Five Canons, the Eight Cords and Nine Hills, and even these must be taught to scholars by teachers; even so, one must still receive instruction from a master in order to penetrate and clearly understand principle. How much more so now that you are cultivating the Dao of Supreme Clarity, hoping to ascend in flight to the realm of immortals and forever enjoy measureless blessings and merit? To slight the master yet wish to cultivate the Dao and attain ascension in the flesh is like casually throwing away a night-shining pearl; you will only lose this one and only treasure.

Yet you have passed through many kalpas of diligent cultivation, toiling without cease. Even when your merit is complete and, after your practice is accomplished, your name is entered among the jasper texts and purple characters (the rolls of the immortal registers), you ascend the Mysterious Terrace (a divine platform of the immortal realm), and you are appointed Immortal Duke of Taiji—if the three masters are not yet all in place, and the methods of admonition have not been fully learned, this still does not accord with the regulations, and you cannot ascend directly to the Palace of Taiji. The Most High values the merit you accumulated in former lives, and therefore commands us to serve as your three masters, transmitting important essential instructions, helping you accomplish the work of the Dao, so that you may soon ascend in flight beyond the Three Realms, roam freely in Supreme Clarity, come in person to the Golden Portals (palaces of the immortal realm), and receive the title of Immortal Duke.

The Immortal Duke answered again and again, reverently accepting the teaching and the command, and said: “I only wish that the Heavenly Worthy (Tianzun) take pity on me and now expound this for me; I will certainly carry it out.”

The Perfected One of Supreme Mysterious Unity declared that the Wondrous Scripture of the Supreme True Unity’s Admonitions and the Dharma Wheel is a classic transmitted only once every forty thousand kalpas, by mandate of the Nine Heavens. In former times the Supreme Void Sovereign passed it to the Supreme Lord of the Great Dao (the Way); the Lord of the Great Dao then passed it to the Heavenly Thearch Lord of Grand Tenuity; and the Heavenly Thearch Lord in turn passed it to the Latter Sage, the Supreme Lord of the Golden Portal. Thereafter the scripture was entrusted to immortal ministers, immortal dukes, and immortal kings—those who had already attained perfection—and was not transmitted to the middle-rank immortals or to the immortals of the Five Marchmounts.

The text is recorded in the jade writings of the Three Pure Ones (Sanqing) and the Taiji (Supreme Ultimate), and is entered in the Mysterious Register of the Imperial Charts. Unless one possesses the endowment of an immortal duke, one may not take part in hearing it. Its meaning is lofty and profound. It is a classic treasured by the Most High, kept within the Purple Chamber of the Six Harmonies, where immortal lads and immortal maidens cherish it year after year in attendance upon the perfected immortals.

Merely to see the titles of this scripture can lengthen the years of seven generations of ancestors and bring them blessing, and can cause the souls of the dead to ascend to heaven. Its favor extends over the whole clan; the household flourishes, and worthy persons continually appear in later generations. To cultivate this scripture can summon cloud carriages and dragon teams, so that one ascends in broad daylight. If one rashly divulges, slights, or slanders this sacred classic, punishment will follow; both transgression and blessing receive their due recompense. One must therefore treat it with the utmost care.

The Supreme Mysterious Unity Perfected (Taishang Xuanyi Zhenren), a revered deity of Daoism, told the Immortal Duke (Xian’gong): “Long ago I received from the Supreme Lord of the Limitless Great Dao (Dao, the Way) the transmission of the Wondrous Scripture (jing) of the Exhortations of True Unity and the Wheel of the Law (Zhenyi Quanjie Falun Miaojing). Thereafter I cultivated the Way and served my teacher, burning incense six times each day and, morning and evening, paying homage and walking in circumambulation. Each time I first paid homage to my teacher, concentrating my mind in visualization of him as if I saw him with my own eyes. Without a teacher’s guidance I could not understand the scriptures; once I grasped their meaning, the teacher seemed present before my eyes.

“I endured hunger and thirst, following my teacher wherever he went, listening to his instruction and diligently studying the classics. The pain of receiving teaching was like the cut of a knife, and its severity like a poisoned awl. I served my teacher with reverence and dared not slacken in the least; however great the pain, I did not refuse it, and however hard it was to bear, I did not speak of it. After passing through four hundred million years in this way, I at last achieved the True Dao and was ranked as the Supreme Mysterious Unity Perfected. Now, once more at my teacher’s command, I serve as your Ritual Master of the Three Transmissions (sandu fashi), the title of a master who transmits scriptures and methods in Daoism. Are you able to cultivate as I have done? If you are, I will expound the scripture for you.”

The Immortal Duke knocked his head in thanks and addressed the Supreme Mysterious Unity Perfected, the Ritual Master of the Three Transmissions: “This disciple is fortunate to behold your honored countenance, and further blessed by your instruction and the transmission of essential words. This kindness is immeasurably profound and truly difficult to express in speech. Reflecting on my own endowment and conditions, I was able to enter the gate of the Dao. From youth I delighted in the Great Dao, admired the immortals, long practiced fasting and purification, and lived in seclusion in the mountains. In my heart I constantly thought of the supreme sages, yet I never saw the Celestial Worthy (Tianzun) in person. Seeking the Great Dao in quiet valleys and receiving the teachings of the True Dao, I felt all the more my own foolishness and was overcome with shame.

“Yet looking back on the past, I also urged myself and made a vow: to revere the sun, moon, and stars, to follow in person the teachings of the lineage masters, and never to slacken; through ten thousand kalpas my resolve would not turn back. I honor the teachings of the law and obey my teacher in all things. May the teacher long extend compassion and pity, point out what I have not yet understood, reveal the profound doctrine, expound the scriptural methods, and admonish me, so that I may leave delusion and obtain salvation. I respectfully await your instruction and vow to carry it out.”

The passages above are the preface to the original Jing (scripture). The Ming-dynasty Daozang (the comprehensive collection of Daoist classics) mistakenly treated this preface as a separate book on its own. It is now combined with the other three texts.