《太清五十八愿文》

If one sees husbands and wives living at home with their children, may everyone soon be freed from the bonds formed by clinging to family affection, gather in and compose the mind, and faithfully observe the precepts. If one sees the drinking of wine, may everyone restrain themselves, not allowing wine to harm body or mind, lest it bring on misfortune. If one sees singing, dancing, and female musicians, may everyone guard their feelings and resolve, hold back sensual desire, and set their will on worthy virtue. If one sees people sunk in lust, may everyone cast out deviant thoughts and single-mindedly keep the prohibitions and precepts. If one sees women, may everyone find the resolve to give up vanity and display, delight in cultivating the Dao (the Way), and accord with what is natural.

If one sees a zhenren (a person who has succeeded in cultivation and attained the Dao), may everyone practice sincerity and good faith, set teaching and moral transformation aright, and gradually enter the gate of the Dao. If one sees the multitude, may everyone promote benevolence and love, refrain from contending with others, hold the great Dao in the heart, and bring peace to the world. If one sees good people, may everyone constantly keep their good deeds in mind and take them as models. If one sees wicked people, may everyone abandon evil conduct, turn toward the correct Dao, and not transgress the laws of the king.

If one sees the poor, may everyone restrain their own desires, bestow kindness, and aid others, so as to obtain great blessings in time to come. If one sees the wealthy, may everyone come to the aid of the myriad beings and enjoy blessings and emoluments life after life. If one sees the eminent and noble, may everyone follow their instruction, so that their conduct accords with the statutes and admonitions. If one sees those of low station, may everyone cultivate diligently and without slack, each accomplishing what they ought to do.

If one sees an emperor or king, may everyone revere and serve the royal Way, honoring the sovereign as one honors father and mother. If one sees chancellors and the other ministers who assist in government, may everyone accept their teachings and commands, so that the four quarters return to benevolence and virtue. If one sees weapons and armor, may everyone cherish benevolence and love, so that all under heaven yield to one another and honor the worthy. If one sees princes, may everyone daily sing the praises of great peace, so that the state flourishes and the family inheritance endures.

If one sees worthy people, may everyone practice their virtuous conduct and make the Dao the standard for the people of the world. If one sees Daoist priests and worthy scholars, may everyone thoroughly understand the teachings and the norms, attain the Dao, and become perfected. If one sees Daoist priests living in seclusion in the mountains and forests, may everyone come to understand the gate of the Dao and soon perfect themselves as flying immortals. If one sees teaching and moral transformation, may everyone personally receive the instruction of the sages, become broadly learned, and themselves become sages. If one sees sages, may everyone bow in reverent worship, draw near to seek instruction, and enable every land to look up to their virtue. If one sees immortals, may everyone accomplish the true Dao and ascend in flight to the heavenly realms.

If one sees a walled city, may everyone govern it and set it in good order, taking the Dao as its foundation. If one sees a great state, may everyone revere and admire virtuous conduct, as the hundred rivers return to the sea. If one sees a small state, may everyone know contentment and humility and dwell at ease within their own territory. If one sees the marketplace and the court, may worthy talents assemble and together promote the correct Dao. If one sees a jingguan (a place of pure and quiet cultivation), may merit and virtue stand lofty, so that heavenly beings and the human world may each have their wishes fulfilled.

If one sees fasting and the observance of precepts, together with the offering of incense, may everyone’s Dao and De (Virtue/Power) be renewed day by day, and their bearing accord with ritual propriety. If one sees the recitation of the Jing (scripture/classic), may everyone ascend the high seat and together hear the meaning of the Jing. If one sees the Jing and the teachings, may everyone be able to receive and recite them and reverently put them into practice. If one sees a louguan (a building for Daoist cultivation and worship), may everyone see with penetrating clarity into the ten directions, with nothing concealed. If one sees high mountains, may everyone establish virtuous conduct as a mountain stands, never turning back. If one sees the great sea, may everyone possess measureless wisdom and assist in accomplishing the affairs of family and state.

If one sees people of talent and learning, may everyone succeed in study, become masters of the Confucian tradition, instruct disciples, and transmit learning. If one sees the washing of the hands, may everyone constantly hold the books of the Jing and study without interruption. If one sees those skilled in speech, may everyone delight in chanting the Dongjing (Daoist scriptures), advancing day by day without growing weary. If one sees the taking of steps, may everyone pass beyond the Three Realms (the Realm of Desire, the Realm of Form, and the Formless Realm) and ascend in flight to the celestial realm of Shangqing (Highest Clarity). If one sees a quiet mountain, may everyone withdraw their traces from the dusty world, realize the true Dao, and rest in ease and purity.

If one sees food and drink, may everyone set aside entanglements, enter purity and stillness, and savor the taste of cultivating the Dao. If one sees a place where fire is kept and used, may everyone dispel calamity and disaster and turn the deeds they perform into fields of blessing. If one sees illness, may everyone settle body and mind by means of the Dao and be freed from suffering and distress. If one sees death and funeral rites, may everyone study the Dao of enduring existence and save and deliver those in the Three Paths (the three realms of suffering: the hells, hungry ghosts, and animals). If one sees fishing and hunting, may everyone create no karmic offenses and in the end enter the realm of Wuwei (non-action). If one sees the Yi and Di (an ancient designation for outlying regions and the peoples associated with them), may they give allegiance to the central lands and honor the royal Way, and may they no longer be born in remote borderlands. If one sees the young, may everyone seek learning in good time and in the end achieve fine character and worthy undertakings.

If one sees the elderly and those burdened by illness, may everyone nourish life by means of the Dao and no longer decline into aged frailty and confusion. If one sees the sun, moon, and stars, may everyone send forth a numinous light that shines on all and dispel every darkness. If one sees clouds and rain, may grace pour forth in abundance, so that among the myriad beings there is none that fails to grow. If one sees white snow, may everyone ever preserve clarity and purity and roam free and at ease. If one sees the numinous wind, may the virtue stored in the heart unfold, so that its grace spreads far and near. If one sees clear water, may everyone wash away defilement, the mind pure, still, empty, and luminous, and treat all equally. If one sees precious aromatics, may everyone receive their fine fragrance, so that the many impurities disperse of themselves. If one sees fresh flowers, may everyone delight in scattering them as offerings before the sages and be fully endowed with majestic and auspicious marks. If one sees carriages and horses, may everyone attain the Dao and Wuwei, riding the phoenix and driving the dragon.

If one sees string music and song, may everyone take joy in studying the Jing and expounding the principles of the Dao. If one sees abundant foods set out as offerings, may everyone be fully satisfied and, life after life, partake of the fine fare of the heavens; may the grace of the patron household be as waters returning to the sea, the descendants of the clan continue without end, and they long occupy stations of honor and prosperity, being born life after life, together with the four classes (a general term in Buddhism and Daoism for different kinds of practitioners and devotees), into royal households. If one sees the giving of alms, may everyone remove grave calamities, so that blessings arise from the four directions, virtue is as vast as the Northern Sea, and every affair flourishes; may the ancestors of seven generations ascend to heaven, sons and grandsons be worthy, good, loyal, and sincere, the family be wealthy, noble, and illustrious, with every wish fulfilled, and in the end study the Dao, become immortals, and ride the clouds and mount dragons.

Whether sitting or lying down, a Daoist priest always holds this wish in the heart: that the Four Great Elements within our bodies—the four basic constituents of the human person—may harmonize and correspond with one another, merge as one with the true fundamental substance of the Dao (the Way), and abide forever in Xuandu, the immortal realm of which Daoism speaks; that we may take the Natural as teacher and companion, save and deliver living beings throughout the ten directions, and cause all under Heaven to receive grace; and that we may come and go freely between being and non-being, and discern the profound and subtle gate of the Dao.

Ten Exhortations to Goodness

The precept text says: One should exhort people to help in revering and honoring the Three Treasures—the Dao, the Jing (scripture/classic), and the Master—and in making offerings to the ritual master. One who can nurture life, teach and transform the many, and set a standard for others is a ritual master. To do this enables a person, generation after generation, to become a gentleman—worthy, filial, and of outstanding talent—and to enjoy a position of conspicuous honor; to be born as one whom others respect; and to see the family flourish.

The precept text says: One should exhort people to help in arranging and copying the scriptures. To do this enables a person, generation after generation, to be intelligent, broadly learned, and conversant with profound and subtle principles.

The precept text says: One should exhort people to help in building zhai halls and jing courts, the places where Daoism holds Zhaijiao (purification ritual) and other rites. To do this enables a person, generation after generation, to belong to a household of eminent standing, to ascend in person to the heavenly realm, to have clothing and food in natural abundance, and to dwell constantly in the state of Wuwei (non-action).

The precept text says: One should exhort people to help in offering incense and lamp oil. To do this enables a person, generation after generation, to enjoy a fair reputation, purity and radiance, an outstanding appearance, and an innate endowment of elegance and beauty.

The precept text says: One should exhort people to help the ritual master provide ritual robes, the garments worn when Daoist rites are performed. To do this enables a person, generation after generation, to enjoy long life and well-being, to live at ease in the Central Plain, and not to be cast out into remote and desolate lands; men and women alike will be upright and fair of form, properly robed and capped, and adorned with jade.

The precept text says: One should exhort people to help rulers, parents, and the common people fulfill loyalty and filial piety. To do this enables a person, generation after generation, to have many descendants, sons and daughters who are worthy and learned, and no longer to suffer hardships of every kind.

The precept text says: One should exhort people to help in reciting the scriptures in the zhai halls and jing courts. To do this enables a person, generation after generation, not to fall into hell but to ascend to heaven, to pay homage to the host of sages, soon to cast off the former body and be reborn into the household of kings and marquises; the place of rebirth may be as the heart desires.

The precepts say: To urge people to assist in keeping the fast, in calming and purifying body and mind, and in reciting the scriptures (Jing) enables a person, life after life, never to fall into hell, but to ascend to the heavens, to worship and come into the presence of the host of sages, soon to cast off the former body, and to be reborn in the household of kings and marquises. Whatever is desired will be granted; clothing and things for enjoyment will be fully provided; the ancestors of seven generations will rejoice together; every good affinity will gather; and from beginning to end of a lifetime there will be glory, ease, and happiness. When the moment arrives in the turning of the methods of the Dao (the Way), one will be able to cultivate and attain the way of the immortals.

The precepts say: To urge people to help everyone study the scriptures enables a person, life after life, to be intelligent and penetrating in understanding, to conduct himself in accord with ritual propriety, and often to become a teacher to others.

The precepts say: To urge people to help others practice charitable giving, and to admonish and correct improper conduct, enables a person, life after life, to enjoy long life, wealth, and ease, and often to be free of resentment and vexation.

The precepts say: To guide all the people to cast off jealousy, restrain desire, and observe the various precepts enables a person, life after life, to dwell in peace and happiness, so that calamity and disorder do not arise; the sick recover of themselves; those who hold office rise in rank, receive the reverence of the multitude, and find every matter under auspicious protection; the household remains pure, upright, and distinguished; celestial deities and the benevolent spirits of the human world cherish and nurture them; spirits and the hosts of demons honor and guard them; and they are often reborn in places of blessing.

This is the Chapter of the Essential Precepts of the Most High’s Wisdom for Exhortation and Advancement. All of the foregoing comes from the upper scroll of the Scripture of Great Wisdom. This method was transmitted to the Perfected of Taiji (Supreme Ultimate), who uses it to order and carry out the methods of the Dao. Only if you possess blessings accumulated in former lives will you encounter this writing; you should treasure it and put it into practice. If you rashly show it to those who do not believe, calamity will descend at once. After death you will become a low-ranking ghost, confined in hell, revolving through the five sufferings, and in a later rebirth you will also lose the human form. Those who slander the scriptures and the precepts meet the same fate.

The Perfected of Taiji said: Of the evils in cultivation, none is more grave than jealousy, the taking of life, greed, extravagance, pride, and lust. If the heart harbors even one of these, it will certainly diminish one’s lifespan. To harbor such evil thoughts and yet still wish to cultivate and study so as to become an immortal—is this not deeply lamentable? For a Daoist priest to keep the fast, burn incense, purify body and mind, and recite the scriptures is the finest thing under heaven. If one is unwilling to see these things, then even if one sees them, it is as though one had not seen them at all.

The Perfected One of Taiji (Supreme Ultimate) says: People of the world are truly muddled. They stay far from the way of the immortals, yet vie with one another to worship ghosts and spirits; they even kill living beings in the hope of gaining long life. Does this not carry them ever farther from the way of longevity? While alive they neither cultivate goodness nor nurture body and mind, nor will they restrain their own desires; only after death do they bury the remains with lavish care, failing to understand that the hun and po souls, together with the self, are bound by the five poisons—greed, anger, delusion, and the other vices that drag a person down—until at last they are shut away in the dark prison of hell, suffer in the three paths of woe (the hells, hungry ghosts, animals, and other places of suffering), and wander through the five destinies (the destinations through which sentient beings pass in the cycle of rebirth).

Human life is brief, yet people hoard treasures and never know contentment, turning wealth into a heavy burden upon themselves. When their store of blessings is exhausted and their offenses come due, the body dies and the name is wiped out, and the treasures scatter like dust blown apart by a fierce wind.

The Perfected One says: In seeking the Dao (the Way) and in learning how to be a person, one must first be filial toward one’s kin, loyal to one’s sovereign, and considerate of those under one’s command, and deal with friends in good faith, keeping one’s word; one should urge others to turn from evil and praise good deeds, draw no distinction between self and other, harbor no selfish mind, and not go against the ethical norms proper to the world—first doing well the work of being human. Next, one must give up wine and sensual indulgence, jealousy, and killing, as well as extravagance, greed, pride, and slackness. After that, one must abstain from the five pungent plants (generally the sharply scented acrid vegetables such as scallion and garlic), from rich, greasy, and raw foods, and from a diet that craves fine flavors. Then one should let the mind and Shen (spirit) rest in contemplation of the profound and hidden realm, so that inner awareness becomes clear, still, empty, and luminous. Going further, through the ingestion of elixirs and xiuliang (a practice of reducing or stopping the eating of grains), one observes the great precepts, steadies body and mind, cultivates with diligence, and practices daoyin, taixi (embryonic breathing, a Daoist method of regulating the breath), and tuna, harmonizing the Qi (vital energy), and so accumulates merit.

The Perfected One says: One must endure what others find hard to endure, relinquish desires that others find hard to relinquish, do what others find hard to do, rest content in circumstances that others find hard to accept, wear clothes that others find hard to wear, eat food that others find hard to swallow, keep precepts that others find hard to keep, and study methods of the Dao that others find hard to learn. Nourished then by numinous medicines and by eating yunya (what Daoist texts call the food of the immortals), the corpse-worms within the body—worm-spirits that Daoism holds injure body and mind and bring a person to decline—sink away; filth and depletion gradually clear; the six palaces (the inner abodes of spirit and Qi) are washed clean; and the five viscera come to rest in peace.

If one can long maintain purification and fasting, quiet the mind in reflection, softly recite the Dongjing (the Cavern Scriptures, the Daoist classics), enter into their many mysteries, and along with this take the elixir fluid—if one’s resolve can truly reach so far—how could one fail to attain the way of ascending to immortality?

The Zhenren (Perfected Person) said: If a person does not cultivate the conduct proper to a human being, shows no filial respect to the ruler or to parents, and remains forever addicted to drink and craving for sensual beauty, delights in killing, is greedy and cruel, extravagant, arrogant, and self-indulgent, deceives and entices the worthy and the good, and borrows money without repaying it—if, having done these things, one long refuses to reform and still feels in the heart that it does not matter, yet hopes by means of ritual fasting and cultivation of the Dao (the Way) to obtain the supernatural power of ascending in the flesh, is this not deeply lamentable?

Such a person will remain for a long time in hell, suffering the Five Poisons (the various bitter punishments of hell), passing through mountains of knives and trees of swords, boiled in scalding liquid and burned in fierce fire, the five parts of the body scalded and cooked, wishing to die yet unable to die. When hungry, one eats iron; when thirsty, one drinks fire. Emerging from hell, one then faces cold ice that freezes the skin and pierces the bones with pain. Afterward one is handed over to the Three Officials (deities in Daoism who govern the affairs of heaven, earth, and water and examine good and evil in the human world), banished to labor at sea, bearing earth and stone upon the back, whipped and interrogated, and must also pass through the Three Paths and Five Ways (places of suffering in hell), going back and forth among the Ten Sufferings and Eight Hardships. The pain endured is endless and cannot be told in full, one by one.

The Zhenren said: Such a person would do better first to awaken and become an ordinary mortal who upholds human relationships and whose conduct is worthy and good, who reveres and has faith in the Daoist scriptures (Jing), and who does whatever is good. Accord with the changes of worldly affairs and the turning of time, live at ease in the world, and keep a state of clarity, quiet, and ease. After death one may also enter the Hall of Blessings and need not suffer torments like those of a prison; or one may become a ghost or spirit. When later reborn as a human being, one will not lose the original aspiration, will gradually give rise to a heart that believes in the Dao, form karmic affinities with the worthy and the sages, day by day cast off defilement and karmic burdens, and in the end enter the way of the immortals.