《洞真三天秘讳》

Anyone who receives the “Sanwu” transmission (a type of Daoist Jing method or Fulu (talismans and registers) transmission) should first visualize and memorize the true names of the Three Heavens and the true names of the Three Masters. When encountering emergencies, disasters, predicaments, or illnesses, one should loudly call out the names of the Three Heavens three times, then silently recite the names of the Three Masters in the heart, believing that in this way calamities and illnesses will be dispelled.

The upper Wei Heaven has the true name “Fang”; the middle Yuyu Heaven has the true name “Yuan”; the lower Taichi Heaven has the true name “Deqiu.” These are the true names of the Three Heavens.

The true name of the Left Yuanshang is \ldots ; the true name of the Right Xuanlao is “Ta”; the true name of the Central Taishang is \ldots . These are the true names of the Three Masters.

In the original text, no specific names are written after “the true name of the Left Yuanshang” and “the true name of the Central Taishang,” and therefore they cannot be supplied here.

Anyone who knows the true names of the Three Heavens and the Three Masters can attain immortality and never die. However, if one cannot continuously visualize them in ordinary times and has not fully accomplished the practice of goodness, one may still occasionally encounter calamities. At such times one may pace the Gang and the Dipper (treading the directional positions of the stars and Dipper according to specific steps), thereby dispelling the disasters. Even if one has not learned the “Divine Turtle Heavenly Jiao Straight Pace of Yu Pacing the Stars,” merely reciting the incantation and making a prayer will still prove efficacious. In addition, one should frequently visualize the taboo names of the Dipper lodges and the names of the Tai stars, and never forget them.

Whenever one opens a star chart, paces the Gang and the Dipper, performs Cunsi (concentrated visualization), or when rising in the morning and retiring at night, one must first knock the teeth nine times and then silently invoke the Nine Stars. The appellations of the Nine Stars and the corresponding prayers are as follows. The star essence of the first Tai Star is named “Xuanshu”; one prays to become a flying immortal, riding the void and soaring aloft. The star essence of the second Yuan Star is named “Beitai”; one prays to become a flying immortal, wandering through the Cavern Terrace. The star essence of the third Zhen Star is named “Jiuji Shangzhen”; one prays to become a flying immortal and obtain the governance of the Three Clouds. The star essence of the fourth Niu Star is named “Xuangen”; one prays that one’s name be entered among the ranks of the flying immortals. The star essence of the fifth Gang Star is named “Tianping”; one prays to become a flying immortal and ascend to Shangqing. The star essence of the sixth Ji Star is named “Mingji”; one prays that one’s name be inscribed in Taiwei. The star essence of the seventh Guan Star is named “Xuanyang”; one prays to become a flying immortal and receive the attendance of jade youths. The star essence of the eighth Di Star is named “Gaoshang Yuhuang”; one prays to become a flying immortal and ascend the hall of the Later Sages. The star essence of the ninth Zun Star is named “Taiwei Dijun”; one prays to become a flying immortal and enter the Cinnabar-Yao Jade Chamber.

After reciting the nine kinds of incantations listed on the right, knock the teeth together nine times. Thereafter, when performing the method, freely visualize fire arising from the mouth and allow this ball of fire to penetrate through to the Dao (the Way).

When encountering fierce ghosts or evil persons, visualize the Northern Dipper pointing toward the other party, hold the breath, and silently recite in the heart: “I am the Heavenly Eye, and also the Heavenly Minister; I drive out sprites and goblins, swift as thunder and lightning, my radiance illuminating the eight directions, perceiving all within and without, with nothing that cannot be subdued. In this way, the treacherous, wicked, and ferocious ghosts and all the kinds of beings that haunt and harm people will not dare to offend you.”

The Formula for Reposing in the Dipper

The Northern Dipper is the purple floral canopy of Taiji (Supreme Ultimate), the numinous palisade of Xuanzhen (the mysterious true Dao revered in Daoism), the seating place of the spirit-beings of the nine stars, and also the resting chamber of the Celestial Worthy. Practitioners of the Dao who have received this method transmitted by the Celestial Worthy may rest and sleep peacefully within the Northern Dipper.

Each night, visualize the Northern Dipper located upon the mat on which one lies, and according to the diagram, orient the head toward the highest point among the nine stars. Visualize true Qi (vital energy) entering the Niwan (the upper Dantian [energy center] in the head), with both feet treading upon the Zun Star and the Di Star. In the mind contemplate the “Flying Immortal Command,” requesting the High Sovereign to restrain one’s seven po souls and Taiwei to subdue one’s three hun souls; the left hand grasps the Northern Terrace, the right hand holds the Xuanji. In the original text this content concerning the two feet, the mental recitation, and the hand gestures is repeated once.

Cultivating in this manner for eighteen years, one’s appearance will be restored to that of an infant. The Jing (essence) Qi of the nine stars of the Northern Dipper will transform into nine elders, who come together to welcome the practitioner and enable ascent to heaven in broad daylight.

All those who respond to requests to dispel calamities for others should perform this method with solemnity. After taking three steps out the door of one’s home, stand still, knock the teeth three times, secretly call the names of the hun and po souls of the seven stars, and silently recite the incantation according to the stepping method. While reciting the incantation, slightly close both eyes and concentrate on visualizing the divine stars; even if the matter is urgent, one must walk, recite the incantation, and visualize at the same time. When the recitation is finished, perform the grasping-solid (a Daoist protective gesture of interlocking the fingers) and do not release it.

When one has walked to a distance of thirty steps from the home of the person seeking help, visualize in the mind that flames completely burn that house to ashes; then proceed forward another twenty-five steps, visualize the kidneys transforming into water that extinguishes the previous fire and newly constructs a complete new house. Upon arriving at the doorway, knock the teeth twenty times, then perform the Yu Pace of nine traces (a nine-step ritual in Daoist ceremonies walked according to a specific stepping pattern). After entering the door, visualize the three generals and their troops, announce their names, and cause them to encircle oneself.

First visualize the Five-Direction Five-Star Generals (the divine generals who garrison the five directions and correspond to the five stars), then visualize the Four Great Ones and Seven Stars (stellar deities employed in Daoist ritual), allowing the Huagai (a canopy-like protective Qi) to cover the crown of the head. Then enter the chamber directly without fear. When seated, face the Yuejian and Suiwang of the current month (the directional deities of the present month and year). If facing that direction is inconvenient, first turn toward it and hold the breath before taking the seat; once seated, facing the Star Generals is also acceptable. The same visualization of the Four Great Ones, Seven Stars, and Huagai covering the head applies equally. After being seated one may also face the Jianwang of the current day and hour (the directional deity corresponding to that time). Only avoid selecting a Breaking Day or a Closing Day. In rising, pausing, entering, and exiting, constantly maintain the visualization (cunxiang) and proceed with caution.

After sitting firmly, recite the incantation. When the recitation is finished, instruct the host (the person who established the altar or commissioned the ritual) to sweep the hall and courtyard: hold the ceremony in the courtyard if the weather is clear, or inside the hall if it rains. Arrange the seating mats and prepare incense and fire. Face east by day and north by night. Place a basin of water before the mat and rest a large knife across the basin. Calculate according to the position of the Dipper mansion (the seven stars of the Northern Dipper); when the hour of the Ghost Gate arrives, the host presents the prayer petition. Then perform the ritual obeisances and invite the Daoist priest to bind his sash, take his seat, rinse his mouth, burn incense, and pinch incense while proclaiming the memorial text.

This method may be used to expel nightmares, strange lights and shadows, deaths and funerary matters, lingering illnesses that fail to heal, vicious persons, as well as encroachments, humiliations, licentiousness, and theft in both public and private affairs. At the beginning of the year it may also serve to cut off plagues, heterodox ailments, and severe epidemics, and through the refining practice to alter the circulation of Qi, pray for blessings, and disperse residual old Qi. For the performance, fill a large basin with water and add fine sand, pebbles, and several dou of red beans, taking a sufficient quantity according to the size of the dwelling. Pack these purifying substances and place them in the direction of the Ghost Gate, then select six auspicious days on which to carry out the rite according to the prescribed liturgy.

Within the Jia-Yin decade (the ten-day stem-branch cycle beginning with Jia-Yin), the Xin-You and Ren-Xu days are inauspicious, while all remaining days are auspicious.

After completing one's affairs, whether sitting down, eating leftover food, lying down to rest, using the toilet, going out, or returning, there are corresponding incantations for each.

If the illness is critically urgent and there is no time to expel the pathogenic evils, one goes before the patient and recites the incantation. Take a bowl holding numinous water, rinse the mouth and spray the water out, doing so three times. Then visualize the deities within one's body, adjust one's clothing and cap, and facing the Nine Stars, silently recite the yin incantation.

During visualization, cause the Lady of the Sun, Lord Lao, and other deities to manifest within the body; then visualize oneself closing the eyes and pacing the Dipper, walking to a position beneath the stars, with the body about one chi above the ground, gazing with closed eyes. The joints throughout the body all appear red, as if newly born; the left eye transforms into the sun, the right eye into the moon, the Azure Dragon, White Tiger, and other spirits of the five directions are all present, with seven stars above the head and seven below the feet.

Then, pointing to the ground with the left hand and gazing at the Northern Dipper with the eyes, silently recite the fifteen-character yin incantation. After the incantation, visualize the transformation of the bodily form: the two ears become jade gates, the hair turns into a host of stars, the mouth becomes the Envoy Who Beheads Evil; the left hand transforms into the Envoy of Annihilation, the right hand into the Envoy Who Punishes Rebels, both envoys in the form of five heads and one body. By this means one treats illness and subdues disasters.

After the ritual is finished, facing the star of the Perfected, one reports one's title and name, and respectfully announces: "I respectfully declare: ..."

To the Most High Lord Lao (Taishang Laojun), the Most High Elder, the Celestial Master (Tianshi), the Female Master, the wives of the three venerable masters, the Seven Stars of the Northern Dipper, and the Three-Five Generals: I respectfully present this matter on behalf of so-and-so, a man or woman who shares with me the fellowship of the Dao (the Way).

So-and-so, while carrying out the methods of the Dao, failed in loyalty and thereby incurred disasters and trials. Now they come to report because of a certain affair; please set it forth according to the origins of the matter. So-and-so’s parents and siblings have encountered illness or misfortune, the circumstances being as follows... So-and-so kowtows and comes seeking my help, the circumstances being as follows...

Please refine and drive out fierce evils, pestilential and poisonous qi, ghosts, spirits, thieves, and other calamities. I and so-and-so are as close as brothers and sisters and do not wish to see these disasters again. I respectfully carry out the cultivation according to this method transmitted by the former masters. So-and-so kowtows and comes seeking my help, the circumstances being as follows... Please refine and drive out fierce evils, pestilential and poisonous qi, ghosts, spirits, thieves, and other calamities. I and so-and-so are as close as brothers and sisters and do not wish to see these disasters again. I respectfully carry out the cultivation according to this method transmitted by the former masters.

For all accepted vows and requested matters, please make them take effect; for those summoned, please make them arrive; for those suppressed, please make them submit; for those arrested, please capture them; for those to be executed, please make them perish; for those treated, please make them recover; for those averted by ritual, please make the disasters recede. I earnestly request that the various venerable deities of the Most High bestow their grace and protection, sheltering ordinary people. This I respectfully report. The report concluded, I bow once more.

Here “chen” is the practitioner’s self-reference when addressing the deities; “qike” means performing the kowtow salute; “rang” refers to seeking the elimination of disasters through ritual. “Yunyun” indicates that specific details are to be filled in here according to the actual circumstances.

If one encounters lawsuits, calamities, illness, or sudden disasters, first establish the Seven Stars sacrifice. Facing north, raise the head and visualize the Northern Dipper (Beidou) appearing and emitting a bright red light, then call out loudly seven times: “True esoteric name of such-and-such star of the Northern Dipper, Lord Kuigang (Kuigang Fujun).” Call in this manner seven times.

Next, make the report: “I now encounter such-and-such a matter, and the situation is urgent… I earnestly request aid, that the matter may be fulfilled.” Then set up offerings for Lord Kuigang of the Seven Stars and the various officials of the Seven Stars, presenting wine of Highest Clarity (Shangqing), fragrant cakes, fresh fruits, and suitable offerings, in order to repay their merit and not violate the vow. Afterward, depart without looking back. The words of report and petition may be repeated in this manner.

The offerings consist of seven cups of clear wine, seven portions each of dried dates and chestnuts, ten liang of aloeswood, and one incense burner for each of the five directions. The altar must be arranged according to the regulations for a purified altar space. At midnight, quietly set up the altar in a place where no one is present. When the arrangement is complete, call out loudly seven times to invite the Lord to descend, then perform seven bows, kneel, and make the report and petition. When presenting the wine, one may each time state one’s heartfelt wishes, for a total of seven times. After the ritual is finished, consume all the offerings on the mat; they must not be left remaining, nor given to others. If they cannot be eaten at the time, bury them on the altar, taking care that chickens and dogs do not see them.

If one encounters urgent disasters, distress, or serious illness, then hold a Great Offering (Dajiao), a larger-scale Daoist sacrificial ritual. Facing north, call out loudly three times, inviting Lord Kuigang of the Northern Dipper, the Left and Right Three Departments Great Generals, the Tang, Ge, and Zhou Generals of the Five Directions and Three Primes, and the Golden Armor Great General who can invert heaven and earth, cut down rebellious evil, and eliminate calamities; and also pray for the Three Generals, the Strongmen, the Ghost-Catching Envoys, the Three-Five Officials, the Red Qi (vital energy) clerks and soldiers, and other spirit generals and officers. Then report the matter encountered, request aid, and set out the items for the Offering (Jiao) liturgy, in order to repay the spirits for their labor and not violate the vow. Once the matter has been fulfilled as wished, dissolve it according to the ritual recorded later in the text. In the original, the phrases concerning the prayer to the Three-Five Officials and the Red Qi clerks and soldiers are repeated once.

If one encounters a major emergency, then hold the “Three-Five Kitchen” (Sanwu Chu), a sacrificial ritual for offering to the Three-Five spirit generals. Facing east, call out loudly three times, inviting the Red Heaven Three-Five Left and Right Great Generals and the Three Honored Ones of the Most High (Taishang Sanzun) to come. Report the matter and request aid, while stating how many persons’ kitchen offerings (food prepared for the spirits) will be provided, in order to repay merit and give thanks, without violating the vow. The length of the pledge tokens may be determined according to the severity of the disaster and the wealth or poverty of the household: fifty chi as the Gang-head pledge, with other measures of twenty chi, forty chi, five zhang, seven zhang, nine zhang, and so forth, the longest reaching fifteen zhang; once the matter is fulfilled as wished, it may then be dissolved. In this passage of the original text there is a lacuna, so that the names of the pledge tokens and some of the ritual contents cannot be exactly deciphered.

The “Ten Precepts of the Highest Grade” are now established, in order to save the people of the world, widely instruct all sentient beings, and guide them into the gate of the Dao (the Way). Those who diligently put them into practice will obtain natural blessings and walk the path of Wuwei (non-action).

The ten precepts are as follows. First, one must not envy those who surpass oneself, nor suppress or cut off “shenming” (the original wording; the meaning of the term is unclear). Second, one must not drink wine and give oneself over to license, causing the Three Palaces (Sangong, the three palatial offices spoken of in Daoism) to be defiled and disturbed. Third, one must not violate another’s wife or lust after beautiful appearances. Fourth, one must not abandon or despise the aged, the ill, the poor, or those of lowly station. Fifth, one must not slander the good or attack fellow disciples. Sixth, one must not greedily accumulate precious treasures while refusing to give them away. Seventh, one must not kill living beings in sacrifice to the ghosts and spirits of the Six Heavens. Eighth, one must not discuss or defame the scriptures, taking them to be absurd and untrue. Ninth, one must not turn one’s back on the teacher’s kindness or deceive newly initiated students. Tenth, one must treat others equally, set the heart wholly toward goodness, and extend benevolence and filial respect to all people.

These ten precepts universally instruct the boundless worlds of the ten directions and save all who are able to observe them. The merit of those who keep the precepts is recorded in the Ten Heavens; their blessings extend to nine generations of ancestors, enabling them to leave the dark and profound netherworld, ascend to the Southern Palace, and enter the light. Fortunate affinity continues without interruption, and they finally succeed in becoming divine immortals.

All forms of cultivation must be complete; at the same time one ought to avoid the Ten Evils and stay far from the path of delusion. The original text then records only the first of the Ten Evils: “One must not drink wine, indulge the passions, or greedily pursue desires.” After this it repeats the earlier passage from “merit recorded in the Ten Heavens” through “succeed in becoming a divine immortal.” The content appears disordered or incomplete.

For all forms of cultivation to reach completeness, one must stay far from the “Ten Evils,” just as a blind person avoids dangerous roads.

The Ten Evils are drinking alcohol and indulging in lust, with greed that knows no end; secretly harming others and slandering Daoist priests in the world; looking down on teachers and elders, being negligent toward the scriptures and methods, and treating the Three Treasures—Dao (the Way), Jing (scripture), and the teacher—with arrogance; stealing scriptures and arbitrarily proclaiming the essential teachings of the Dao; borrowing things or exchanging items and then not returning them, deceiving and tricking the common people; killing living beings out of greed for food, and being duplicitous in word and heart; being unfilial, failing to repay kindness, not observing righteousness, and violating various taboos; reciting scriptures absent-mindedly and perfunctorily while considering oneself in the right; harshly criticizing others, forcing others to one’s own will, and directing anger toward the four classes of practitioners and believers of different statuses; interpreting the scriptures according to subjective conjecture, arbitrarily adding to or deleting from the sacred canons, not believing in destiny, acting according to desire, desecrating the Four Greats (the four basic elements that constitute all things), and not taking to heart the way of cultivating the Dao and seeking life.

Practitioners should constantly keep these ten precepts in mind. Those who violate them will encounter all manner of sudden disasters, suffer harm from ghosts and spirits, endure prolonged and painful torment, and rarely find peace; even when they do good, they will be thwarted at every turn. After death they will fall into hell, confined in dark prisons where the long night makes it hard to see the sun, moon, and stars, and they will suffer in various ways: clasping copper pillars, treading knife mountains, climbing sword trees, entering boiling cauldrons, swallowing fire and eating charcoal, undergoing five kinds of bitter punishments, sinking for a long time in the depths of the netherworld, with little chance of escape. Even if they finally obtain liberation, they may be reborn as livestock and unable to become human again.

Evil actions bring evil results, and good actions bear good fruit. The retribution of sin and blessing is as clearly visible as the sun and moon shining down; the cycle of birth and death does not cease of itself, just as a shadow follows the form, and cause and effect continue in succession and accumulate layer upon layer, like a turning wheel. These true teachings are now proclaimed in order to protect and save the heavenly beings and the living beings of the human world. May people understand and sincerely receive them, cultivate diligently, and never forget.