《赤松子章历》Vol. 3

Establish purification through fasting (the practice of spiritual purity in a Zhaijiao ritual) and widely perform good deeds. The disciple prays aloud, stating the matters for which help is sought, and earnestly begs Heaven to bestow its grace and blessings and pardon all the sins of the disciples from past and present lives. In the past, the disciples helped men and women among the people avert calamities and recover from illness. In times of danger, they also submitted memorials, established purification through fasting, and performed good deeds and accumulated virtue. Now they state their requests once more and earnestly beg Heaven to look upon them with favor.

We earnestly ask the officials and troops under the command of the Celestial Officials, the Three Officials of Heaven, Earth, and Water (deities who govern the celestial realm, the earthly realm, and the waters), and the various righteous officials and deities who oversee the roads across land and water, the prefectures, counties, townships, postal stations, and villages. All who assist the Daoist teachings and advance their instruction are asked to report the merits of the Celestial Officials’ officials and troops who have served from the first through the tenth lunar month. In accordance with the ranks of the celestial bureaucracy, promote them step by step and increase their noble titles and stipends, from the first rank to the hundredth, and then from the hundredth to the thousandth. Please register and appoint them according to the celestial bureaucracy’s ranking system, so each may receive a secure position and none be left disappointed or resentful.

Once the Celestial Officials of Heaven, Earth, and Water have completed their work of receiving and recording merit, may each return to their proper station. May the lords, commanders, officials, and troops invoked from the first through the twelfth lunar month also have their merits reported. Register and appoint them according to the celestial bureaucracy’s ranks for each month, from the first through the thirtieth day, so each may receive a secure position and none be left disappointed or resentful. The lords, commanders, officials, and troops invoked for every day from the first through the thirtieth, and for every hour from Zi to Hai (the twelve traditional double-hours), are all asked to have their merits reported and to be promoted in accordance with the celestial bureaucracy’s regulations, so that none harbor worry or resentment. May the officials and troops bearing talismanic credentials, who act under orders, return to their stations at the appointed time and continue to protect the bodies of the disciples as before. We humbly pray that…

May the supreme Great Dao, the assembled honored deities, and the Celestial Master’s lord and lady send down the life-giving vital energy of Zhengyi and let it cover me, your servant. May my vital energy be abundant and my original spirit whole; may my old illness be cured, and my limbs become light, healthy, and strong. May the Three Corpses—the spirits said in Daoism to dwell in the human body and hinder cultivation—leave me, and may the Nine Worms, the creatures believed to harm the body, disperse. I wish to cultivate the Daoist teachings, calm my spirit and nourish my nature, gain clarity of mind and understanding of the Dao, foresee what is to come, enjoy long life, attain the Dao and become an immortal, transcend the world, and behold with my own eyes an age of great peace.

May I, your servant, and all the members of my household, young and old, remain safe. I also pray that calamities recede and life be prolonged, and that the Five Plagues and all poisons dare not approach. If, by a certain day in a certain month of the coming year, all is safe and as I have prayed, I will submit a memorial on behalf of the assembled officials, reporting these merits and not betraying the deities’ trust and kindness. I humbly beg for your grace.

Supreme Taishang deities, look upon me with discernment and pity my ignorance and incapacity. I respectfully dispatch two direct envoys of the Second Office, Zhengyi merit officers, left and right official envoys, Yin-Yang divine decision clerks, ritual carriage and red tally clerks, and relay officials who carry memorials on strong winds and swift horses, two of each. On this auspicious day of the Three Assemblies, I, your servant, pray for the officials and soldiers of Heaven and Earth and those within our own bodies, and join with the people, past and present, in seeking healing, the removal of calamities, and the blessings of divine grace. We respectfully submit one memorial to Heaven recounting our merits, to be delivered to the Three Celestial Offices—the Daoist heavenly bureaus that receive and process memorials—and await their reply.

I, your servant, am filled with awe and fear. I bow my head and prostrate myself twice, respectfully presenting this memorial.

I, your servant, belong to a certain palace and burn incense in devotional service.

The Supreme Dao of the Three Heavens, boundless and unsurpassed; the Taishang Laojun; the Taishang Elder; the Emperor of Heaven; the Elder Emperor of Heaven; the Lords of the Nine Elders’ Immortal Capital; the Elders of the Nine Qi; the myriad layers of Dao Qi; and the twelve hundred official lords respectfully receive this memorial beneath the seven-jeweled jade steps of the Golden Palace of Taiqing.

In the year of a certain reign era, the year marked by a certain heavenly stem and earthly branch, on a certain day of the first month of a certain month, at a certain hour, I respectfully bow and present this memorial at the purification altar in a certain place.

Leave three blank lines at the beginning of the document.

A whole sheet of paper may be used.

Write the following in order:

“Respectfully submitted to the Supreme Dao of the Three Heavens, limitless and supreme, the Mysterious Origin of the Great Clarity, and to the Seven Treasures Jade Steps of the Golden Palace of Great Clarity”—a celestial rank revered in Daoism.

Below this, write: “The ritual official empowered to present memorials, your servant [surname] [name], respectfully submits and carefully seals this memorial.” This identifies the ritual official presenting the memorial.

Next write “inner square envelope,” indicating the inner square cover, followed by “respectfully and reverently submitted.”

Then write: “The ritual official empowered to present memorials, [surname] [name], respectfully seals it again,” indicating that the official has sealed the memorial once more with due solemnity.

Next write: “The Palace of the Venerable One of Emptiness in the Great High One’s realm, [bureau], [administrative seat], [palace].” This identifies the divine palace addressed, its bureau and administrative seat, and the palace name. Then write “square envelope,” followed again by “respectfully and reverently submitted,” and the line “The ritual official empowered to present memorials, [surname] [name], respectfully seals it again.”

Then write “May it be admitted beneath the gates of the Three Heavens,” asking that the celestial authorities permit the document to be delivered. Follow this with “Memorial of the Three and Five, stating meritorious deeds,” indicating that the memorial recounts the petitioner’s cultivation and deeds.

At the head of the memorial, list the ritual official’s office, then write:

“Your servant respectfully submits: Having carefully reviewed the documents, we are as lowly as blades of grass, born amid the dust and turbid world. Relying on blessings accumulated in past lives, we have been able to encounter the teachings of the Great Dao and take refuge in the Great Dao…”

This passage presents the memorialists as humble and lowly, living in the secular world and encountering the Great Dao through blessings from past lives, after which they took refuge in it. The original text then repeats the wording for sealing, requesting admission, and opening the memorial.

The Great Dao is upheld, covered, and nurtured by Heaven and Earth. It is brought forth through the transformation of the Elixir Spirit and nourished by August Heaven. Stars guard it, the sun and moon shine upon it, and the four seasons enable it to grow. The August Elder, a revered Daoist deity, cherishes life and grants me Qi and years of life, allowing me to live until this day. By receiving the Qi of the sun, I have been able to take my place among the human world.

Though I am foolish, I love the Daoist teachings and have devoted my heart to the most true Dao. I have been granted instruction in ritual precepts, inner and outer Fulu (talismans and registers), the Three-Five offices and registers—a Daoist system of ranks and registers—and the golden books and jade writings of the Three Caverns, Daoist scriptures. Since receiving and wearing these registers, I have offered incense and lamplight in their service for many years. Yet the Daoist teachings are exalted, and my De is shallow; I fear I am unworthy to receive them. For this reason, I am anxious day and night and cannot find peace.

On the day we received the teachings, we vowed to do all we could: to bow and pay homage morning and evening, recite the scriptures, proclaim the Dao and De, and aid all living beings. We also vowed to cultivate ourselves in purity and stillness, hold the true Dao in contemplation, draw the refined essences of the sun and moon into the realm of the Mysterious Void, refine the Qi within our bodies, circulate it nine times according to the principles of Yin-Yang, and condense it into an elixir according to the Three-Five method. In the end, we would rise into the air and ascend to Heaven in broad daylight. Without practicing according to the orthodox methods, we cannot advance; without following the true Dao, we cannot attain the truth. I fear that I have committed grave offenses in past and present lives. I earnestly ask the many divine officials within my body—merit officers, clerks, soldiers, and others—to protect us, and to guard our families and our years of life as well.

I respectfully submit a petition requesting one General Who Protects and Guards, together with one hundred and twenty officers and generals, to bring me fine prescriptions and wondrous medicines, sweet numinous fungi and blossoms, and golden liquid and jade nectar. May these nourish the Red Child—the original Qi or root of life within the body—preserve the state, and calm the spirit, so that all may be safe and free from harm. May we study the Dao, ascend to immortality, and endure beyond the world. Whenever we come and go, we earnestly ask the divine officials to watch over us, so that we do not betray the trust and favor we have received. I humbly pray for your grace…

The Most High separately states as follows… This year, at the three assemblies of the month, it is said that merits will be reported and ranks advanced. I respectfully submit one petition, to be presented to

the Three Heavens’ Bureau…

Petition to Remove One’s Name from the Register of the Dead at Mount Tai

With the ritual rank stated, …

The memorial says: I respectfully submit this report in accordance with the prescribed documents. My name is [name], I am [age] years old, and I live in [place] in [province], [county], [township], and [village]. I was born into an ordinary human body and, through blessings and affinities from former lives, was permitted to enter the service of the Twelve Lords of Fate beneath the Emperor of Heaven, who govern human lifespans and registers of destiny. In accordance with ritual regulations, on one of the auspicious Three Assemblies days—the designated dates for Daoist prayer—I ask to have my name removed from Mount Tai’s register of the dead and the associated records erased.

I further ask the Lords of Cangsheng, the Eight Directions, the Five Qi, the Overseers of the Year and Fate, and the other deities to protect me and all the men and women, young and old, in my household. May we all live for thirty-six thousand years, have our names entered in the Jade Register of Heaven, and endure for a long time between Heaven and Earth. From this day onward, may I receive divine favor and report my merits to the heavenly officials every three months at the appointed time. May I be granted promotion, with my rank and title raised, so that I may repay divine grace and labor and prove worthy of the trust placed in me. May I and all the men and women of my household, within and beyond the family, of higher and lower rank, enjoy longer lives and remain forever among the living in this world. I have committed countless offenses; I humbly ask for pardon and absolution. I await your gracious decree.

The Most High issues the following distinctions: let the flying-dragon mounted clerks and the Lords of the Left and Right Dragons and Tigers, eighteen in all, come forward carrying one copy of the memorial I submitted on this day, in this month and year. Let them carry out the removal of my name from Mount Tai’s register of the dead, then deliver the memorial to the administrative office of [name] Palace, one of the Most High’s own palaces.

Memorial Reporting the Merits of Deceased Forebears

Enter the ritual rank, the title held by the Daoist ritual master:

The memorial says: I respectfully submit this report in accordance with the prescribed documents. My name is [name], I am [age] years old, and I live at [address] in [province], [county], [township], and [village]. I was born into an ordinary human body, through the birth of flesh and blood. After passing through the cycles of a thousand years, I was fortunate to encounter the era in which the Most High opened the way to transformation and to receive the Orthodox Teaching of Covenant Might, the ritual tradition of the Zhengyi lineage, which dispels impurity and rebellion. Yet my [name] received a dull and clouded nature; my senses and thoughts are obstructed, and my conduct has often been at fault. I have no small merit with which to repay Heaven and Earth for their great kindness. I have heard that Daoist ritual regulations provide that on the auspicious days of the Three Assemblies...

The blessings of the Most High Lord Lao, a revered deity of Daoism, extend to all directions and flow without limit. The living and the dead alike receive his grace. Thus peace and purity prevail in the human world, spirits and deities are settled, and both the living and the dead may attain well-being.

Today I, your servant, submit this memorial, reporting to the Three Officials of Heaven, Earth, and Water, the Earthly Court, the Water Emperor of the Nine Rivers, the River Earl, and the officials under their command. I respectfully ask them to bestow their grace far and wide and pardon all the former sins and grave offenses committed by the ancestors of seven generations, the parents, and the relatives who died before us and were later transformed. May they receive special clemency, bathe and wash away their sins, and ascend to the Office of Eternal Life in the Mysterious Capital, the immortal realm of long life described in Daoism. May their spirits rise to the Purple Portal, the celestial palace, where food and clothing are naturally abundant. May our entire family and Daoist temple inherit the blessings left by our forebears, and may those blessings be endless. May the names of the living also be entered in the Jade Register’s Azure Record, the celestial roster, so that the living and the dead may both be at peace and forever become seed people of the Daoist tradition, upholding faith in the pure and tranquil True Dao. We respectfully ask that this petition be granted.

The Most High makes distinctions as set forth above. The officers of the Yin-Yang divine registers, together with the Lords of the Left and Right Dragons and Tigers, eighteen in all, shall step forward to attend to their duties. On a propitious day selected by us, they shall respectfully deliver one memorial requesting the release of deceased relatives and forebears from their imposed penalties, and submit it to the office of a certain palace under the jurisdiction of the Most High.

Memorial Reporting Merit in the Third Month

After entering the ritual rank, submit the memorial and say: “Respectfully, in accordance with …”

This is a document in which a Daoist official reports his duties and achievements to the Celestial Master (Tianshi). It states: According to the Arcane Regulations—the Daoist precepts and ritual procedures—I am now able, through a certain cultivation, to be born into this world. Though I am a vulgar and impure being, I have been fortunate to encounter the Most High, a revered Daoist deity, who transformed me through the Dao’s primordial Qi. His grace extends in all directions; he puts the Daoist methods into practice and nurtures all living beings.

I have been fortunate to enter the Daoist tradition. The Celestial Master, a revered Daoist deity and the head of the tradition, took pity on me and granted me an office in the local Daoist parish. Yet my abilities are humble and my senses clouded; I cannot serve the Daoist community. For this reason, I worry day and night and find no peace of mind.

I respectfully follow the system established by the Celestial Master for official documents: three auspicious assemblies are held each year, and on the fifth day of the tenth month, achievements are gathered and reported. I respectfully submit the directives listed in the Fulu (talismans and registers) entrusted to me, together with an itemized account of the people under my jurisdiction and the living beings I have nurtured. This includes men and women, people of high and low status, registers of life and destiny, household and population records, ages, and names, all as specified in the document.

Since the seventh day of the seventh month this year, I have received the following from my superiors…

The teachings of the Three Heavens’ boundless Great Dao (the supreme Way), the lords and elders of the various ranks, and the Celestial Masters instruct the people and heal their illnesses, support the state and protect life. They lead ordinary people away from evil and toward goodness, from rebellion back to what is proper, from old habits toward renewal, and from falsehood toward truth.

I, your servant, respectfully call upon the officers, troops, merit-recording clerks, and messengers within my body, together with the officials who oversee the Yin-Yang spirit courts, to notify and petition the twelve hundred ruling officials. I further petition the celestial officials, generals, and troops; the central ranks of the Fire Star and Metal Star; the Qi clerks of the Dipper, Ghost, and Ladle constellations; the Mysterious Lords of Shangqing; the Lords of the Five Qi Scriptures; the hundred officials of the Vermilion Bird; the celestial physicians of the sun and moon, the Harmonizing Physicians, the resolute, martial, bold, and vigorous clerks of the Great Beginning, the Lords of the Hundred Insects, and the divine men and women, Mysterious men and women, Jade men and women, Pure men and women, Immortal men and women, and transformed spirit clerks and lords. May they heal illness, settle public and private disputes, protect journeys and roads, relocations, marriages, funerals, gatherings, and all matters of prayer and protection.

I ask them to inspect, investigate, and summon the spirit lords and officials of the villages where I and the people live, as well as the officials and lords of the Two Mysterious, Three Origins, and Four Beginnings along the roads; the Lords of the Level Plains of the Four Wildernesses, Five Wildernesses, and Seven Wildernesses; and the guardians of fields, silkworms, and the six kinds of livestock. May they grant protection twice over. I also call upon the twenty-four administrative centers and thirty-six quiet lodges established by the Celestial Masters; the lords, generals, officials, and troops who govern and transform the nine provinces and eight directions; and the expelling lords, generals, and officials of the Five Directions. May they all come to protect us, including the eastern Nine Yi, southern Eight Man, western Six Rong, northern Five Di, and central Three Qin; the male and female officials, twenty-four officials, male and female functionaries, and twenty-four functionary posts in the systems of the Yellow Book contracts and decrees and the Lords of the Twelve Months; and the superior officials and troops corresponding to the registers received by the men and women listed in the household rolls. I ask the Three Generals, twenty-four officials, and three hundred thousand troops who guard the home, together with the Three Generations of Ancestors, Five Grandfathers, Five Generals, and Five Spirits, to protect ordinary people’s households so that their homes remain peaceful and well ordered.

May the diligent spirit lords and officials report their merits truthfully and receive promotion. I acknowledge that my reports have been obstructed and that I cannot clearly discern the ghosts and Qi. I therefore respectfully ask the Lord of Nanchangduji in Hannan, the Lord Who Rewards Merit, and his one hundred and twenty generals and officials to assess each of the officials and generals in turn. All who have rendered merit should be promoted in accordance with their achievements. May they investigate, summon, and regulate the ghosts and Qi, advancing them from the ranks of ten and a hundred, step by step to the ranks of a thousand and ten thousand, then transferring them to the Central Palace—the administration of the spirit realm—and assigning each to the proper station according to merit. May the merit-recording clerks be honored and those who receive merit be granted secure appointments, so that none is left disappointed. If anyone bears resentment, let them be recommended for promotion according to the statutes on the fifth day of the first month next year.

May the household registers and population records of me and the Daoist people for whom I pray be clear and in proper order, and may this serve as proof. I humbly ask that mercy be shown and every kind of offense forgiven. May we receive grace.

The Most High Lord Dao said: I, your servant So-and-so, in accordance with customary rites, hold the grand Three Meetings ceremony on the fifth day of the tenth month and formally report, as prescribed, on matters of advancement. The names, number, and standing of those who pray alongside me have all been properly recorded as proof. I humbly ask forgiveness for our countless sins and myriad failings. We look up to Heaven’s grace…

The Most High Lord Dao said: I, your servant So-and-so, in accordance with customary rites, hold the grand celebration of the Three Meetings on the fifth day of the tenth month, state my merits and deeds, and orally present one written petition…

Petition on Merits at the Three Meetings

A Daoist of So-and-so County, So-and-so Prefecture, named So-and-so, of such-and-such an age and born in such-and-such a month, bows and respectfully submits:

To the Most High Lord Lao, the Celestial Master, the Successor Master, the Lineage Master, the Three Masters, their consorts, and the officials serving under them who oversee their affairs:

By good fortune, I, disciple So-and-so, encountered the wondrous influence of the Dao and entered the Daoist path. I wear the proper robes and brown garments, have received instruction and transformation from my master, and have been granted Fulu (talismans and registers) to protect me. Though I have been privileged to enter the first ranks of the Zhengyi (Orthodox Unity) tradition and have advanced to the highest realm of Shangqing, I know myself to be careless and undisciplined, while the laws are exacting. I have committed many violations: I am often lax in my morning and evening practice, and often neglect the rites of homage on the first and fifteenth days of the month. On the Three Origin days and Three Meetings days, I have sometimes failed to burn incense and practice; on the Eight Seasonal Festivals and Gengshen days, I have not performed the purification rites according to procedure.

At times my body has been defiled, offending the spiritual officials; what I say aloud has not matched what I think in my heart, violating precepts and transgressing prohibitions. Sometimes my thoughts are scattered and delusions arise one after another; sometimes my joy and anger are out of balance, and I have lacked restraint in drinking and eating. These sins and failings are beyond measure. As the days and months have passed, I have had no opportunity to cleanse them. Now, on this auspicious day of the Three Meetings in such-and-such a year, I respectfully submit one Great Petition on Merits and one Petition on Merits with the Miscellaneous Registers of the Three and Five, reporting them in order and humbly requesting…

The Three Supremes (Daoist honored deities) and the many saints of the Celestial Masters have bestowed abundant grace and boundless compassion. May they cleanse my former faults and pardon my past transgressions. I humbly ask that the merits of the Zhengyi Dongyuan registers and other registers that I wear (talismans and registers conferred by Daoism as credentials for holding ritual office), together with the ranks of the Shangqing, Shangxian, and Shangling, and the clerks and soldiers, immortal youths and jade maidens, and civil and military officials attached to the Two Offices, all be reported in a memorial. May their stipends be increased and their ranks advanced, so that each receives a reward. Once rewarded, may they each return to my body, pacify the offices under their charge, and protect me.

May disasters dissipate, decline and danger be dispelled, and disputes and slander cease. May enmities be reconciled. May memorials, Zhaijiao rites, and talismanic water all prove effective; may the community of disciples flourish, and may the places where Daoist affairs are conducted be peaceful and pure. May I be safe when coming and going, and may my petitions be granted. Relying on the wondrous power of the Dark Mystery’s creative transformations, I respectfully present this petition.

Memorial to Fengdu (a memorial petitioning the divine offices of Fengdu to deliver the dead)

Submitted by the holder of ritual office:

I respectfully report: As set forth in this document, a certain person from a certain county in a certain prefecture today bows and prostrates to seek grace, humbly asking that a memorial be submitted to release the deceased from guilt and redeem their transgressions. I have heard that the Most High has methods for delivering the dead, and so I respectfully submit this memorial to the Great Dao. Yet I do not know which realm the deceased’s soul entered after death. I fear that, while alive as an ordinary person, they ate living creatures and cooked beings, and that their actions therefore incurred unavoidable guilt. I now submit one Memorial to Fengdu for the Release from Guilt, and respectfully prepare ritual offerings as credentials. I, so-and-so, submit this memorial and humbly ask…

May the supreme Dao, the Celestial Master, the Compassionate Father and Holy Mother, and all the deities who govern these matters extend their boundless compassion and forgive the sins the deceased has committed since former lives: grave offenses of body, speech, and mind, and of the various emotions; or violations of the prohibitions and regulations among the 180 precepts. Because of these offenses, the deceased has passed through countless kalpas of rebirth and long remained sunk in darkness. We do not know what the deceased’s soul is now compelled to do, or which divine official it is under. We also fear that the deceased may still be suffering punishments such as wind-blades in the twenty-four prisons above, below, and in between, or in the Three Rivers and Nine Streams, confined within the three evil paths.

We earnestly ask that the deceased’s offenses be explained and that deliverance be granted. I now submit this memorial on behalf of the deceased, praying for blessings: may the soul of the deceased, [name], ascend to the Three Heavens—the high celestial realms described in Daoism—and may the po-soul leave the dark netherworld forever, be freed from suffering, and dwell at ease in a blessed land, with clothing and food naturally provided and peace and joy in the heavens. I further pray that every member of [name]’s household, young and old, enjoy lasting peace and good health, that their wishes be fulfilled, and that they remain auspicious; may this serve as proof that the prayer has been answered. We respectfully make this petition.

Honorifics such as “Most High” are omitted below.

Memorial to Remove Defilement and Purify a Residence in Matters of Birth and Death

The ritual master, duly authorized, submits this petition: Having reviewed the documents, I note that all the members of the household of [name], in [county], [prefecture], young and old, numbering [number], bow together today and entrust themselves to the Most High. As someone has given birth or died in the residence, they fear that defilement remains and may affect the household. The hours within the residence, as well as the family members’ annual fortunes and birth destinies, may all be exposed to harmful influences. They have now come to me to request that I submit this memorial, cleanse the residence and courtyard, dispel the defilement, and make the inside and outside pure and bright. They also ask that divine dragons guard the home and protect its people, so that all in the household remain safe. With single-minded devotion, they look up in reliance upon …

The Great Dao above, your disciple respectfully submits this petition, seeking to dispel miasmic impurity and cleanse the dwelling, so that the household may be peaceful and free from trouble and all the requests set forth may be fulfilled. I, your disciple, am ordinary and ignorant, and do not understand the seasons and weather. Yet, following the words of this petition, I bow low, knock my head to the ground, and present this memorial to be delivered to the Celestial Bureaucracy.

I respectfully beseech the Lords Who Dispel Miasma, spirits charged with banishing impurity, of the Five Directions: the Azure Emperor of the East, the Red Emperor of the South, the White Emperor of the West, the Black Emperor of the North, and the Yellow Emperor of the Center. May each lead one hundred and twenty officers and generals to descend and cleanse mortal bodies, dispelling filth and impurity. I also beseech the Jade Maiden messengers and their one hundred and twenty officers and generals. May each bring water of true essence, sacred water for purification, and the fragrance of the Five Harmonies, and use water and incense to cleanse the well, the ao, and other places belonging to the household of so-and-so. May great miasmas be sent into the sea, lesser miasmas into the rivers; may every kind of miasma and every form of pollution immediately disperse.

I further beseech the one thousand two hundred Immortal Flower Jade Maidens, and the five water envoys: the Azure Dragon of the East, the Red Dragon of the South, the White Dragon of the West, the Black Dragon of the North, and the Yellow Dragon of the Center. May each bring water of true essence to cleanse the spirits in the dwelling of my disciple, so-and-so, and make the inside and outside of the house clean and free of impurity. I also ask that orders be issued to the River Earl, Lord Lü; Commandant Ying; and all water officials, generals, and clerks. Let them pass the order among themselves to dispel the miasmic impurity affecting the spirits inside and outside the home of so-and-so, make them all pure, and protect the members of the household.

May all the household, young and old, numbering so-and-so many people, be spared disaster and pestilential vapors, and may the dwelling be peaceful. In all journeys away from home from this day forward, may they escape infection by the Five Epidemics and remain safe and free from harm through all four seasons of the year. May this serve as proof that the prayer has been answered. I respectfully beseech the Most High to show compassion…

Petition for a Grand Jiao Offering at the Residence (a memorial for conducting a grand Zhaijiao purification ritual at a residence and praying for the home’s protection)

Holding the ritual rank, …

I respectfully submit this petition: I, [name], of [county], [prefecture], beg today for divine protection. With single-minded devotion, I bow and state in person: I believe in the gods, yet have earned no merit; instead, I have brought misfortune upon myself. Since beginning construction of my residence, I have never reported it to the gods.

I respectfully submit this petition again: I, [name], of [county], [prefecture], beg today for divine protection. With single-minded devotion, I bow and state in person: I believe in the gods, yet have earned no merit; instead, I have brought misfortune upon myself. Since beginning construction of my residence, I have never performed a Zhaijiao rite of thanksgiving—establishing an altar, conducting the liturgy, and offering thanks and prayers to the gods. I fear that the earthworks and construction may have disturbed the gods dwelling in the house, and affected my family, our silkworm room, and each person’s annual fate and natal destiny, calculated from the year of birth. The petition officer, a ritual official responsible for transmitting memorials, dare not decide this matter on his own. I now respectfully request a sheet bearing the twelve prohibitions for protecting the residence, to safeguard the peace and safety of all who live there. Its details are as follows.

May I devote myself wholeheartedly, rely upon the Great Dao, and humbly petition those below to present this memorial, praying that the gods descend and bear witness to this teaching. I respectfully put this method into practice as proof of protection for the residence, showing reverence for the divine officers who guard the Five Directions.

I respectfully invite the Celestial Officials, together with the gods who oversee the interior and exterior of the residence on all four sides, the twelve two-hour periods, and the twenty-four kinds of prohibitions. These include the Great General Tai Sui; the Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, and Black Tortoise; the Hidden Dragon of the residence; the gods of sunrise and sunset; and all the gods who govern the annual fate and natal destiny of the household. Since the residence was built, no memorial has been submitted and no Zhaijiao rite performed. Now, having selected an auspicious time and date, I respectfully establish a protective ritual seat at the center of the courtyard and lay out offerings and ritual objects as tokens of sincerity. In this way, I address the prohibitions associated with the residence’s twelve two-hour periods and dispel the misfortunes connected with them. I humbly prostrate myself and submit this memorial to the celestial administration.

I pray that the officials who govern the heavens will take special notice and examine this petition. Should it receive their gracious approval, I respectfully request five clerks assigned to this matter, five officials who govern residences, five Lords who regulate the land, and one hundred and twenty officers and generals to present it on my behalf.

With reverence, we pray that the senior officials of the Celestial Court (the government of Heaven) will look favorably upon this petition and attend to it. If we are granted their favor, we respectfully ask that the five Yuanli Lords, the five Residential Officials, the five Earth-Forming Lords, the 120 officials and generals, and the 100,000 generals all descend together to the human realm. We also ask the 24 generals, officers, and soldiers, the 300,000 troops, the household gods who each oversee their own duties, and the true officials governing this district to come together and protect the residence.

We pray that they jointly guard the residence in all directions, inside and out, and keep watch over the twelve two-hour periods and the Earth Lords, the Great General Tai Sui, the Lady Taiyin, and the directional spirits—Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, and Black Tortoise—as well as the spirits and baleful influences associated with Hidden Dragon, Hook and Entanglement, the years and months, the Great and Lesser Losses, the Three Dukes and Nine Ministers, and Theft in One’s Birth Year. Among the twelve periods—Zi, Chou, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, Wu, Wei, Shen, You, Xu, and Hai—all the spirits within and around the residence should, at this hour today, present this petition to the Heavenly Court according to protocol, gather up the harmful influences of the twelve periods, each keep its appointed place, and seize the calamities that may come upon the residence from the east, west, south, or north. We pray that the residence remain peaceful and secure, untouched by harm.

Once construction of the house is complete, may the merit be reported and the labor repaid, so that all the gods within the residence of the [family name] are pure and at peace, guarding the home and its official halls, and so that wealth gathers and fine silks fill the halls. We pray that the whole family remain safe and secure, untouched by harm. When the work of repairing the house is complete, may the merit again be reported and the labor repaid, so that all the gods of the [family name] are purified and guard the residence. Following the instructions of the talismans and liturgy, may they dispel calamities from all four directions and ensure that disaster never intrudes. This intention remains constant; it serves as proof that the prayer has been answered. With reverence, we pray…

Thus the Most High (a Daoist honorific for the supreme deity) proclaimed…

Petition for Opening and Clearing the Road

Holder of the ritual rank, …

I respectfully submit this report: Upon investigation, it was established that every member of a household in a certain county of a certain prefecture, young and old, sincerely bows in prayer and begs for your gracious approval and pardon. The family’s graves and dwelling, however, have fallen into ruin and ill omen. Spirits and ghosts harass and oppress them, bringing disaster upon the household and affecting those who have already died. The deceased, aged [number] years, fell ill at [hour] on [day] of [month] in [year]. The illness was severe and could not be cured with medicine, and the person therefore passed away. Following customary rites, the family prepared the body for burial and placed the coffin in the main hall. The funeral rites were then completed.

It is still unknown where the newly deceased person’s soul will be reborn. The family fears that the deceased may have killed living beings and harmed creatures while alive, and so may be trapped in the Three Paths—the Buddhist realms of suffering: hell, hungry ghosts, and animals—without yet attaining release. The family does not know what merit-making deeds might rescue the deceased and redeem them from suffering and guilt in the underworld. We have respectfully heard…

The Great Dao above establishes liturgical rites and procedures for dispelling calamities and rescuing the souls of the dead. We now respectfully prepare ritual offerings and present them to the numinous officers of the Five Directions—the divine generals who guard the five directions—praying that they guide and deliver the deceased’s soul, so it may pass unobstructed along the hidden road to its destination. Today, with a single-minded heart, we pray and copy this petition for presentation above. Mere mortals do not understand the workings of Heaven’s timing and vital forces, so we humbly ask the gods to extend their mercy and take heed.

On behalf of the deceased, we respectfully petition for one General of the Plain Carriage and White Horse and one Lord of Great Mystery, together with the 120 officers and generals under their command. We also ask the Talisman-Bearing Officer, who conveys the commands of the talismans, to issue orders to the Three Officials of Heaven, Earth, and Water, the deities who govern those three realms; to Nüqing’s Rescript; to the Earth’s Underworld Officials of Two Thousand Measures; to the Mound Magistrates and Tomb Lords; to the Twelve Mound Marquises; to the Twenty-Four Prisons of Mount Tai; to the Nine Levels of Prisons of August Heaven; to the Northern Prison of Tianyi; and to the prisons of the Eastern Peak, Mount Tai; the Southern Peak, Mount Heng; the Western Peak, Mount Hua; the Northern Peak, Mount Heng; and the Central Peak, Mount Song; as well as to the Cold Otherworld Prison of the Northern Capital and all other prisons. We further ask the Water Emperor of the Nine Rivers, the River Earl and River Marquis, and their subordinate officials to release the deceased together.

We humbly ask the gods to remove the offenses the deceased accumulated during life and wash away transgressions after death, allowing the deceased to bathe in purity, dwell in the Hall of Blessings, move into pure palaces, and enter a cavern for studying the scriptures. We also pray for peace and safety for the disciple’s entire family, young and old, as proof that divine grace has been answered. We humbly pray for your mercy.

May the Most High—the revered deity—grant this, and all that follows.

Petition for Deliverance from the River

List in full the ritual master’s religious offices and titles.

The petition states: Respectfully, according to the document, so-and-so, born in such-and-such year, month, and day, in such-and-such province, county, township, and village, now makes this statement in his own name: I am a person of the mortal world and a descendant whose lineage was passed down through the bones of my ancestors. After a thousand years, I am fortunate to be able to practice the Great Dao and receive its grace. My heart is filled with gratitude. Born in such-and-such year, month, and day, I now make this statement in my own name…

The Great Dao has always bestowed blessings, its kindness vast and boundless. Yet ordinary people in the world often go against the Great Dao when they profess faith in it, and so invite misfortune and suffer many calamities. Their dreams are inauspicious, and what they see bodes ill. Divining my fate, I learn that I am in danger of encountering calamity from the River Deities. I fear I may fall ill and grow weak, or even be plunged into mortal danger.

Now I rely on the Great Dao and lay my wishes before the deities. I ask that a memorial be submitted on my behalf to dispel the misfortune of my declining years and unlucky months, and to spare me calamity from the Three Rivers. I humbly state my wish aloud, prostrate myself in homage, and present a memorial. I respectfully beseech the Three Rivers, the Four Seas, the Water Emperors of the Nine Rivers, and all the divine lords to remove the calamities of my declining years and unlucky months. If my name is entered in any register in the Water Palace, the mythical abode of the water deities, may the gods open a way for me to be released and delivered, and not confine me in any of the prisons.

I also ask the River Lords and Water Officials of the Azure Emperor of the East, the Vermilion Emperor of the South, the White Emperor of the West, the Black Emperor of the North, and the Yellow Emperor of the Center to each lead 120 subordinate deities to descend and oversee the removal of my calamity from the Three Rivers. I respectfully beseech the Three Officials of Heaven, Earth, and Water—the Three Great Officials who govern their respective realms—and the Edict of Nüqing, a proclamation conveying divine commands, to remove punishments and calamities, so that I may remain safe and unharmed for a long time, as proof that divine grace has been fulfilled. I humbly hope the Most High, a Daoist high deity, will bestow mercy, and so forth.

Memorial for the Protection of Silkworms

State the ritual rank and office, to be completed with the petitioner’s Daoist identity and title.

Memorial: As recorded in this document, a certain person comes today to seek benevolent protection and state their wishes. For many years, silkworm cultivation has yielded no harvest. Fearing that some past offense or discourtesy may be to blame, I have chosen an auspicious day and hour this month to perform a rite as a token of my plea. I humbly hope the Most High will bestow mercy, and so forth.

Memorial for the Protection of Silkworms

State the ritual rank and office, to be completed with the petitioner’s Daoist identity and title.

Memorial: As recorded in this document, a certain person comes today to seek benevolent protection and state their wishes. For many years, silkworm cultivation has yielded no harvest. Fearing that some past offense or discourtesy may be to blame, I have chosen an auspicious day and hour this month to make a petition from within my home to the Silkworm Chambers of the Azure Emperor of the East, the Vermilion Emperor of the South, the White Emperor of the West, the Black Emperor of the North, and the Yellow Emperor of the Center; the ancestors of silkworm families; the ancestral spirits known as the Grandfather and Grandmother of Silkworm Families; the descendants of silkworm families; the Heavenly Silkworm Chamber; the Earthly Silkworm Chamber; and the Thirty-Six Silkworm Chambers, the abodes of deities who govern silkworm matters. I earnestly ask all the deities to take notice of this person’s plight: their sorrow day and night, and their lack of anyone to turn to for help. Now there is nothing for me to do but wholeheartedly rely on the Great Dao…

The Great Dao above: With care, I set forth this petition through heartfelt intent and a token of faith. I petition the Five Directions’ Lord and Lady Dai, divine beings who preside over prayers; the ancestors of the family; parents and descendants; and the strongmen who guard the four quarters. I petition the Divine Lords above, and below, the goddess who protects silkworm raising and the young bride goddess of silkworm raising.

May the black silkworms be like dragons and the white silkworms like tigers. As they move, may their sound be like wind; as they feed, may their sound be like rain, with thunder rumbling. For anything that violates no taboo and is caused only by impurity, may it be removed. I respectfully prepare the ritual tokens of faith and lay them before the altar. I invoke the silkworm-raising maidens of the Five Directions, and the silkworm-raising matrons of the Five Directions; I also invoke the Lord of Northern Yang, father of the silkworms, and the daughter of the Lord of the North, mother of the silkworms.

For anything that violates no taboo and is caused only by impurity, may it be removed. I respectfully prepare the ritual tokens of faith and lay them before the altar. I invoke the silkworm-raising maidens of the Five Directions, and the silkworm-raising matrons of the Five Directions; I also invoke the Lord of Northern Yang, father of the silkworms, and the daughter of the Lord of the North, mother of the silkworms. Protect this household’s silkworm raising this year, so that after the eggs are spread and hatched, the silkworms continue to grow and flourish. Drive away pestilence, insect infestations, rats, and losses; let every calamity be dispelled. I respectfully pray for a harvest of ten thousand dan of cocoons and one thousand jin of silk. I know that the Dao is true and that petitions have divine efficacy. I respectfully prostrate myself and bow before the altar on behalf of a certain person, submitting one petition to the Three Celestial Bureaus, the offices in Heaven that oversee the transmission of documents. I respectfully pray:

May the Great Lord of the Dao’s attendants, superiors, and document officers give this matter their special attention. If your gracious favor grants protection, I will devote myself wholeheartedly to serving the Dao in return. I respectfully pray to the Most High…

Petition to Restore the Register

List the ritual offices held:

Petition: According to the document on record, a certain person today states their circumstances in their own words: “I was born of mortal parents, yet encountered a fortunate opportunity such as comes only once in a thousand years, and was able to serve the Great Dao, long receiving its beneficence. I am truly beyond measure in my gratitude. But as an ordinary person, I do not understand the celestial calculations of the Longitudinal Pivot and the Dipper’s positions, nor the method of the Earth Lodging’s arrival at the punitive position…”

Petition: According to the document on record, a certain person today states their circumstances in their own words: “I was born of mortal parents, yet encountered a fortunate opportunity such as comes only once in a thousand years, and was able to serve…”

The Great Dao has always protected and blessed all living beings, with boundless and profound grace. Yet ordinary people do not understand the divinatory signs of the stars’ movements, the direction of the Dipper’s handle, or the approach of the Earth Lodge’s execution day. They fear that grave calamity is about to befall them: that their Yuanchen (natal star) will be struck and broken, that they will fall into the snares of Heaven and Earth, and that their allotted years will soon end. They fear, too, that the Nine Ugly Days (days that signify calamity in Daoist divination) will cling to them. So they live in constant dread, unable to secure peace and good fortune, even fearing that after death they will descend to the Yellow Springs.

Therefore, they must devote themselves wholeheartedly to the Great Dao and take refuge in it. With reverence and sincerity, they must prepare the offerings and credentials used in Daoist petitioning rites and present them to the Spirit Officials of the Five Directions (deities who guard the five directions). On that day, they must make their request to me and ask me to submit a petition. The petition will be sent to the Celestial Bureau (the heavenly office responsible for documents and divine affairs) to plead for calamity to be dispelled and misfortune averted, and for their lives and destinies to be redeemed.

Although I am unfamiliar with the workings of the heavens, the weather, and the related arts of divination, I have accepted this commission. I prostrate myself, bowing to the ground, and respectfully write a petition to present to the Celestial Bureau. With reverence, I pray…

May the Most High Lord Lao, the various revered deities, the ladies of the Three Masters, the officials in service under them, the inspectors and officials of every rank, and the officials in charge of the Yin and Yang bureaus extend their boundless compassion and bestow limitless grace. We respectfully request that five Lords of Longevity, five Lords Who Preserve Life, five Lords Who Dispel Calamity, five Lords Who Scatter Misfortune, five Lords Who Support the Frail and Carry People Through Adversity, and five Lords Who Free People from Bonds and Nets be summoned for [name], together with one hundred and twenty officers and generals of various kinds, to descend as one.

We respectfully ask the deities to redeem [name] from the twenty-four prisons and from the charges recorded in the Celestial Bureau and the Underworld, at ancient temples and numinous altars, by the officers of the altars of soil and grain, and in the bureaus of the Directorate of Fate and other offices. Let them investigate all of [name]’s offenses. If [name]’s name of death is entered in the black register, we respectfully ask that it be erased, so that [name] may escape calamity. May illness be cured, decline give way to renewal, the dead return to life, and those in hardship be freed and carried through adversity. May the misfortunes of each month and the calamities of each year all be dispelled.

If [name]’s life is short and the allotted years few, we respectfully ask the Great Dao to show boundless compassion and open a path to renewed life. We, your servants, have copied this earnest memorial and submit it to the Three Celestial Bureaus, requesting that [name]’s body and life be redeemed, life prolonged, and the name removed from the register of the dead and entered once more in the register of the living.

After this memorial is submitted, may all the young and old in the household pass through adversity and enjoy lasting health and peace. May the residence be purified and tranquil, the ancestral grave at rest, and the forebears of the nine generations live freely and at ease. May all join in one purpose, taking this as proof that the prayer has been answered. We respectfully await approval.

The Most High shall judge each matter according to its circumstances. We now submit one memorial to avert the afflictions of the stars, increase the allotted years, and prolong life, and send it to the bureau of the Most High’s [name] Palace.

Memorial of Litigation Concerning a Great Tomb

The holder of the following ritual office:

The memorial states: A certain person, [name], of a certain hamlet in a certain township, county, and prefecture, has submitted a petition explaining that the fortunes of the household have declined, family members have fallen ill one after another, their undertakings have gone badly, and their dwelling has become unsettled. They therefore request that a memorial be submitted to resolve a dispute concerning the ancestral grave. From the circumstances they have described, the matter can largely be investigated; we fear that…

I report the following to the authorities above: A certain person, A, from a certain district, county, township, and village has submitted a document describing his circumstances. He says his family fortunes have declined, his relatives have fallen ill one after another, his affairs have gone badly, and his home is unsettled. He asks that a memorial be presented to remove the misfortunes caused by his ancestral graves.

From the circumstances he describes, the underlying causes can generally be traced. Perhaps his seven generations of ancestors and nine generations of forebears—a broad term for distant and successive ancestors—as well as close relatives and family members, committed many wrongs while alive and were examined and punished after death. Their descendants have not prayed on their behalf for release from these debts, so the dead lament in the underworld. Or perhaps the ancestors’ burial sites violated taboos: the graves were built over a water source or near a shrine; they were dug into or damaged, or the coffins were harmed; or old and new graves overlapped or intruded upon one another. As time passed, later generations may have forgotten these causes. It is also possible that the ancestors suffered flooding or fire, pests or poison, warfare or imprisonment, or illnesses such as plague, paralysis, sores, or abscesses. Misfortunes among uncles and brothers, or aunts, nieces, and sisters, may also have become entangled with one another. Any of these things may be the source of calamity. If even one such condition exists, the dead will be called to account and punished. Deng Gong judges each case according to its offense, so that the guilty receive their due. Yet the Mysterious Law, the Daoist law of the underworld, also grants mercy, allowing descendants to repent and make amends.

I therefore follow the “Rituals of the Twelve Hundred Officials” and the methods for curing illness and dispelling evil transmitted by the Orthodox Unity Perfected One and the Masters of the Three Heavens. I respectfully petition the Lord of Heavenly Prosperity: send one hundred thousand Yellow-Robed Soldiers to deal with the one hundred and twenty kinds of calamity spirits in A’s household, along with the evil influences inside and outside the home and the ghosts of the twelve forms of punitive death, and destroy them all.

I also petition the Supreme Lord of the High Granary to send ten thousand soldiers to deal, for A’s family, with the ghosts of the Five Graves. These are spirits associated with graves that harm the dead and entangle their descendants. They linger in the home, bringing omens of calamity, misfortune, and illness, and may even cause injury or death. May all these spirits be destroyed.

I further petition the Lord Who Turns Qi and Dispels Misfortune to send ten thousand soldiers to remove, for A’s family, the Reversed Infusion—the calamity Qi that intrudes in a contrary course—as well as the punitive afflictions, the twelve forms of punitive death, and the one hundred and twenty kinds of calamity and punitive retribution affecting A. May the stagnant calamity Qi disperse, the spirits be subdued, misfortune be eliminated, and the Six Heavens Qi—the baleful influences said in Daoism to bring disaster—be prevented from entering.

I also summon the Great General of Heaven, the troops, the Twelve Punishments and Slaughters, and the forces that test people through the one hundred and twenty kinds of calamity. May they all disperse and cease to linger. Subdue the ghosts and spirits, dispel disasters, and prevent the Qi of the Six Heavens, regarded as a source of calamity and evil, from intruding.

I also summon the Great General of Heaven, commanding ten thousand soldiers, the Five Lords of Myriad Blessings, and one hundred and twenty officer-generals. I further summon Lord Shi’an and his one hundred and twenty officer-generals, and Lord Shuoping and his one hundred and twenty officer-generals, to guard the Palace of Primordial Beginnings, where divine generals conduct their duties. On my behalf, drive away old, lingering evil Qi; seize the ghostly bandits who cause trouble through food and drink and roam everywhere harming people, along with every kind of spirit and malevolent entity. Subdue and eradicate all who harm me or any member of my household, young or old, man or woman. Cut them down and destroy them at once, so that calamities collapse and vanish, death is turned into life, and disasters are dispelled and blessings obtained.

I also summon the Immortal Lord Shi and his one hundred and twenty officer-generals to drive the vicious ghosts and spirits from my household, suppressing and cutting off spirits and malevolent entities so that they can do no harm.

I also summon the Five Lords of the Four Directions and their one hundred and twenty officer-generals. These deities are associated with the order of the four directions and the four seasons, among other things. On my behalf, disperse the calamities, lawsuits, and all unrighteous Qi in my household that have been caused by ghosts and spirits. Whatever intrudes upon the dwelling and disturbs the household must be subdued and cut down at once. Resolve the lawsuits and calamities, and distinguish clear Qi from turbid Qi.

I also summon the Red Heaven Lord of Qi-Eating and his one hundred and twenty officer-generals to drive away lawsuits and disputes between my relatives, near and far, and between them and people of other surnames. Put a complete stop to all vicious accusations and grievances, to those who harass one another and refuse to withdraw, and to anyone who uses these conflicts to cause trouble and harm.

I also summon the Lord of Gathering Spirits and Supreme Clarity and his one hundred and twenty officer-generals to put an end to disordered nightmares, unsettled souls and spirits, and a mind that is dazed and scattered. Restore calm to body and mind, and let past calamities disperse and cease.

I also summon the Supreme Dark Lord and his one hundred and twenty officer-generals to guard the Palace of the Waterless Canal, where divine generals conduct their duties, and take charge of removing the dangerous calamity Qi in my household. Whoever is thereby left dazed in spirit, afflicted by recurring illness, or disturbed by frightful evil Qi until their awareness is clouded must be freed from these harms and never again suffer calamity.

We also respectfully summon the five Earth Lords and their 120 officials and generals to descend to the Palace of the Nether Springs, where the deities beneath the earth dwell, and take charge of affairs there. For a certain person and the young and old throughout their family, they are to dispel harms arising from the year’s influences, one’s birth destiny, the Grand Duke of Jupiter, the Earth King, the tomb’s cyclical day, the Establishment Day, the Destruction Day, and other such clashes. Let every ghost that causes trouble and harms the family because of these clashes, whatever its rank or age, be made to vanish utterly.

We also respectfully summon the Supreme Heavenly-Born Lord, commanding ten thousand soldiers, and the Supreme Direction-Facing Lord, commanding ten thousand soldiers. Together, they are to gather in the deceased relatives connected to a certain person’s family, those who died at different times, and dispel the calamities associated with them.

We also respectfully summon the Lord of the Land of Calamity, commanding 120 officials and generals, to guard and govern the Taiqing Palace; and summon Lord Zhangshi, commanding 120 officials and generals, to guard and govern the Taiqing Palace.

We also respectfully summon the General Who Aids and Protects and his officers and troops. Carrying the True Talisman of Great Mystery and acting under the edict of Nüqing, they are to deliver orders to the two-thousand-picul officials of the underworld and the Twenty-Four Prisons of Mount Tai. For a certain person, they are to hunt down and dispel the harmful ghosts whose troubles arise from the grave and pursue the family. They are also to inform the underworld’s officials of every rank, the mound commissioners, the tomb elders, and other divine functionaries, ordering them to deal with the matter together.

We also respectfully summon the General Who Aids and Protects and his officers and troops. Carrying the True Talisman of Great Mystery and acting under the edict of Nüqing, they are to deliver orders to the two-thousand-picul officials of the underworld and the Twenty-Four Prisons of Mount Tai. For a certain person, they are to hunt down and dispel the harmful ghosts whose troubles arise from the grave and pursue the family. They are also to inform the officials within the earth, the mound commissioners, the tomb elders, Lord Canglin, Lord Wuyi, the Lords of the Tombs on the left and right, the Director of Tomb Disturbances within the Earth, the Right-Rank Elder of Haoli, and the deities who govern each locality. They are to command them all to sever the baleful forces that bring persecution and repeatedly implicate the family, and make those forces vanish entirely.

If, within a household, people of every age and gender have died over the generations and, at burial, violated taboos calculated by the month—such as Jian, Po, Wang, Hao, the Eight Generals, the Six Pairs, Injury, and Extinction—or if a tomb faces the wrong direction or the burial order was improper, this may create baleful forces such as the Hidden Corpse or Old Wound. If these disrupt the directions and dwellings of the household’s men and women, bring punishment and calamity, unsettle the home, or cause illness among the descendants, each problem must be resolved and harmonized. Remedies should address their source, turning ill fortune into good and calamity into blessing, so that the living and the dead, the underworld and the world of the living, no longer remain entangled with one another.

With reverence, invite Lord Duxing to lead 120 officers and generals in guarding Huagai Palace; Lord Zhuyang to lead 120 officers and generals in guarding Cangming Palace; and Lord Taibai Zhongzhenming to lead 120 officers and generals together in freeing the men and women, young and old, of a certain household who have died or passed away since the seven generations of ancestors. Let them sever the entanglement with the star officials and gather in the baleful forces that, across the twelve double-hours, cause punishment, calamity, obstruction, and violent death. Let all these forces be eliminated so that they neither attach themselves again nor return.

If evil influences left behind by officials of the lower realm assume forms and images, lead ghost troops, and drive or torment the dead; or if ghosts and monsters that cause injury or illness enter and leave the household, coerce the living, seize their souls, and make them sick, then capture and punish them according to the laws governing ghosts, and destroy all these malign spirits.

Also, with reverence, invite the Supreme Heavenly Lord Xuanjun to lead 12,000 soldiers in treating the men and women of a certain household, near and far, of every rank and status. Let all evil influences involving plots to harm, disputes and quarrels, slander, curses, and the like lie concealed and subdued, unable to harm anyone.

Also, with reverence, invite Lord Chisha, a Daoist divine general, to lead 120 officers and generals in guarding Nanchang Palace and treating the Five Gu and Six Mei—malign spirits of the gu and mei kind—as well as the 120 kinds of calamity and the Spirit of Empty Loss, which causes the loss of property, in a certain household. Let all such malign spirits that repeatedly bring expense, damage, and misfortune upon the household be destroyed.

Whenever a petition is submitted requesting the Twenty-Four Celestial Lords and their subordinate officials, generals, clerks, and troops, they all descend together that same day. Each carries out the duties of their office to release a certain person from calamities and censure, dispel misfortune and harmful spirits, bring matters into balance, and put an end to the intrusion of baleful Qi.

This applies to those who died before or after, and to members of the clan or family who suffered violent deaths, were unjustly accused, died far from home, or became homeless wanderers, as well as to the spirits of those who have no descendants to make offerings to them. All matters belonging to the eighty-one categories of litigation mentioned earlier, together with every kind of calamity and afflicting Qi, must each be brought to an end. They must cause no further trouble and must all dissipate. Any that still intend to stir up resentment, secretly watch for an opportunity, or exploit a person’s weakness to provoke harm must also be captured and eradicated. May they be swiftly destroyed and never again become entangled with that person.

The living and the dead dwell in different realms, and each has its own share of fortune and misfortune. May that person and their family henceforth enjoy free-flowing Shen and Qi and receive the protection of heavenly spirits. May the Five Organs be in harmony, the Six Bowels function freely, and true Jing—the body’s vital essence—be abundant. May all illnesses recede, all undertakings come to a successful conclusion, merit and virtue grow day by day, and blessings descend together. May harmful spirits disperse, public and private affairs prosper, and both the living and the dead receive protection.

The requested celestial officials, lords and generals, clerks and troops, and all civil and military officers must establish merit and drive away the harm caused by ghosts. We ask that their achievements be reported and that they be promoted and rewarded, with increases in rank and title. Let these matters be handled according to the Heavenly Court’s usual regulations and in proportion to their merit, so that they do not harbor resentment.

The offerings presented by that person comprise forty feet of purple-patterned silk, one shi and two dou of life rice, twelve hundred coins, one set of clothing worn close to the body, one hundred and twenty petition sheets, two sticks of ink, two brushes, one liang of cinnabar, one writing knife, one clean mat, and one clean towel. These are offered in recompense for the labor of the celestial officials, lords and generals, clerks, and troops.

We respectfully beseech the Most High… I, your servant, hereby present, on behalf of a certain person afflicted with illness, a copy of the Great Tomb Litigation Petition to release them from the baleful Qi left behind by those who died before or after, and submit it to…

Another text, the Great Tomb Litigation Petition.

The Seven Perfected Ones of Mount Mao, seven perfected beings in the Mount Mao Daoist lineage, began using this form of petition. Xu Changshi (Xu Mi, a Daoist of the Eastern Jin) said: “If you wish to ascend to immortality, you must petition the Most High on behalf of yourself, seeking redress for the wrongs and calamities suffered by your three preceding generations.” I now respectfully submit, on behalf of a certain person who is ill, a Great Tomb Litigation Petition, asking that the baleful influence of the qi of the deceased—entanglements caused by departed relatives and those who died later—be removed. I respectfully present this petition to the Celestial Court.

Another Great Tomb Litigation Petition, a memorial for the dead to plead their case and resolve debts arising from past wrongs.

The Seven Perfected Ones of Mount Mao began using this form of petition. Xu Changshi said: “Those who wish to ascend to immortality, if they have been harmed by enemies or entangled in lawsuits because of wrongs suffered by their three preceding generations, will be told by the Lady of Western Numinous Power, a Daoist divinity, to petition Heaven with a Tomb Litigation Petition, thereby releasing and clearing away debts arising from past wrongs.”

This petition is accompanied by a complete set of ritual instructions. If it is to be submitted the next day, five bathing places must be prepared the previous evening for the deceased to bathe in, with every effort made according to one’s means. Three sets of small garments and silver money must also be prepared in advance and offered to departed relatives, to cover the expenses of cleansing impurities and resolving debts arising from past wrongs. After the petition has been submitted the next day, it is to be burned. The garments and money must be burned along with it; everything must be prepared in full and kept clean and solemn.

The text also says: “If a household’s fortunes decline and its members’ official careers go poorly; if it suffers death and illness, endures years of hardship, sees its livelihood fail, and its descendants dwindle, all this is because earlier generations were entangled in lawsuits and the spirits of the dead have not found peace. The calamities then spread to their living descendants. Repeatedly submitting this kind of petition over the course of three years can be of great help. Its wording may be adjusted to suit the circumstances, but it should be concise and conform to the proper form; it must not be made complicated or tedious.”

Filling in the section for official standing, where identity, rank, and other details are entered in a Daoist petition:

The petition states: “I respectfully report that a certain official, named So-and-so, is so many years of age, born in such-and-such a year, month, and day, and registered in such-and-such province, county, township, and village. I am the head of a household registered under such-and-such a name. Today I bow and kowtow as I set forth my circumstances. I have long been fortunate, through birth and across many lifetimes…” The text continues with “fortunate to have been able to serve…”

Filling in the section for official standing:

The petition states: “I respectfully report that a certain official, named So-and-so, is so many years of age, born in such-and-such a year, month, and day, and registered in such-and-such province, county, township, and village. I am the head of a household registered under such-and-such a name. Today I bow and kowtow as I set forth my circumstances. Through birth and across many lifetimes, I have long been fortunate to serve…”

The Great Dao receives the blessings of Heaven and Earth and nurtures the myriad beings, allowing me to live until this day. I now respectfully submit: someone may have acted in defiance, made a request, sought an official position, or suffered illness or calamity, and may therefore have come to confess wrongdoing and pray for blessing. Anyone in such circumstances may state their case here.

Most such misfortunes arise when one’s cultivation and conduct go astray, when one acts against what is right, or when one falls short in making amends through good deeds and accumulating virtue. Thus, misfortunes from the departed ancestors above are implicated, while the failings of the living below are brought forth. So-and-so often has strange, inauspicious dreams; wherever they go, things go poorly. Their resolve to cultivate is deficient, calamities arrive one after another, and they fear they cannot preserve their life, yet do not know that these troubles have been brought on by their own offenses. They are therefore deeply concerned that, from generations past, the departed—both those who died long ago and those who died later—have faced accusations from within their tombs, that events are inauspicious and all goes badly, that their resolve to cultivate is lacking, that calamities gather, and that life cannot be preserved, yet the cause of these troubles remains unknown. They also fear that the accusations within the departed’s tombs cannot be dispelled, and that the graves are entangled in lawsuits against one another. They have therefore come to report this to me, asking me to intercede and resolve the matter.

I respectfully consult the records: people are born receiving the proper Qi of Yin-Yang, while their physical forms, Qi, and blood are inherited from their parents. Their bloodlines are connected, and kinship may extend through seven generations; collateral branches include paternal uncles, down to brothers. Their good and evil deeds have a common source, and their prosperity and decline affect one another. The authorities in the world above administer rewards and punishments only within this range of kinship. How, then, could the authorities of the netherworld—the courts that judge the dead—punish people by implicating an endless number of others? Once kinship has grown distant, the misfortune should naturally cease. Moreover, each family has its own line of succession, and these should not be mixed together or entangled. In the records I rely on, there are many accounts of the souls of the dead appearing in response to external influences. But the ordinary person’s eyes are limited by obstructions and cannot see them; what spirit mediums see may not be enough to investigate the matter fully.

This is because, after a person dies, body and voice are separated, and voices and forms can no longer communicate with one another. Yet the light, shadow, and image in which the dead appear remain as they were in life. Their intentions, however, may no longer be the same, and their former relationships need not continue as before. Resentment therefore often arises, repeatedly bringing calamity and punishment. If the dead are not now helped to escape suffering, and the living are not freed from the entanglement of resentment, profound harm will ultimately result, and calamities will follow. For this reason, the scriptures teach earnestly and repeatedly, always taking the deliverance of the dead from suffering as their foundation. Their admonitions and guidance are also tactful and thorough, seeking first to bring people to liberation. Yet while alive, no one is without many offenses and little good fortune. With many offenses, one must endure suffering for a long time.

Little merit and good deeds have been accumulated, so there is little to rely on in principle. As a result, harmful karma becomes entangled and builds up, and calamities continue without end.

We are now concerned about the deceased relatives of a particular household, including ancestors and those who died in later generations. Their circumstances in the underworld are difficult to determine, and not all of them may have received pardon. Some of the dead may still be detained, held to account, or punished, giving rise to legal proceedings in the underworld. Seven generations reach far back in time, and the circumstances of their descendants are difficult to know; the good and bad deeds of each person cannot be investigated one by one. Since these matters cannot now be known with certainty, we can only prepare the rites with due care, explain the situation to everyone, and pray that it be investigated.

We are concerned that among the ancestors of a particular household from the past seven generations, some may have been implicated after death in cases brought before the Three Offices and Nine Courts—the bureaucracies of the underworld in Daoist belief—on account of many kinds of death: drowning, burning, injury, hanging, dying in confinement, being buried or crushed, falling, being kicked or beaten, being poisoned, being harmed by venomous creatures, dying in childbirth, starvation, freezing, heat and thirst, demonic affliction, plague, sudden severe illness, cholera, or illnesses such as paralysis, sores and abscesses, and swelling. All who ultimately died of any kind of illness may each have become the subject of an inquiry in the underworld.

Disputes may also arise from deaths and funerals of many kinds: when an elderly person, a young person, an orphan, an unmarried person, a widower, or a widow dies far from home or while staying as a guest; when the dead are left naked or exposed, buried without a coffin, or placed in a coffin without an outer coffin; when the coffin or outer coffin is damaged, the body is left unburied, the remains are incomplete, or birds and beasts have pecked at them; when the bones have been burned, soaked by water, crushed beneath carts or horses, or disturbed and defiled by digging. Whether the deceased has been buried or not may itself become a matter of dispute. Other disputes concern burial in a graveyard that does not belong to the family, funeral rites that violate taboos, an unstable grave, or the grave’s elevation and its position to the east, west, south, or north.

Disputes may also arise among ancestors, parents, wives and concubines, brothers’ wives, relatives on both sides of the family, children and grandchildren, and among brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, and nephews. They include disputes over raising children without supporting them, having a son but refusing to take him in and thereby forcing him into servitude, conflicts between people of the same or different surnames, and quarrels arising from having no home or no descendants. Also included are disputes involving resentment, scolding, grief, or sudden death.

There are further disputes arising during one’s lifetime from affection, support, resentment, lawsuits, killing or saving someone’s life, and wrongful accusations or excessive punishment. After death, a person may be punished for being called to account by others, feeling indebted, breaking an agreement, or cursing someone. Punishments may include beatings, imprisonment, banishment, and forced labor, as well as retribution in the “Twenty-Four Prisons” brought about by the pull of one’s sinful karma.

Next are petitions seeking pardon, permission to return home, substitution by another person, withdrawal of a case, and other legal claims. Each kind has its own corresponding entry. For example, a petition concerning someone who drowned must state that the deceased sank into the underwater realm of the dead (the Daoist underworld beneath the waters), and that both clothes and body were soaked. One who burned to death must be described as having scorched hair and skin and damaged flesh. For someone who died of injuries, it must state that the body was mutilated and the wounds bled without stopping. One who hanged himself must be described as tightly bound by the rope, with the breath cut off. For someone who died under penal imprisonment, it must state that the instruments of torture were fastened to the body, the hands and feet were curled up, and there was no way to free himself. For someone who died in confinement, it must describe the prison as dark and forbidding, where the grounds for his appeal could not be heard. For someone who died through forced labor, exile, or detention, it must state that he wore an ochre-colored garment and iron shackles, and suffered severely under punishment.

For someone crushed to death, it must state that the limbs were pressed out of shape and could not be straightened. One who died in battle must be described as having been separated from his head. For someone who fell to his death, it must state that the sinews and bones were shattered. For someone trampled to death, it must state that the body’s channels and vessels were congested. For someone beaten to death, it must state that the head was split and the arms broken. For someone who died by taking poison, it must state that the stomach and intestines were corroded. For someone killed by a tiger or wolf, it must state that the flesh and bones were gnawed. For someone killed by a venomous creature, it must state that the skin and flesh were swollen and rotted. For someone who died in childbirth, it must state that the abdomen was torn open and that the stench was unbearable. For someone who starved to death, it must state that the internal organs were empty. For someone who froze to death, it must state that the body shook and the jaws were clenched. For someone who died of scorching heat and thirst, it must state that breathing had become labored. For someone who died through demonic affliction, it must state that the vital spirit was terrified and under the control of ghosts. For someone who died of an epidemic, it must state that chills and fever alternated and the illness lingered, and record whether death was caused by strangulation or poison. For someone who suddenly succumbed to a malign influence, it must state that the onset was rapid and the pain severe, leaving no time to appeal for help or receive treatment.

Those who die of cholera say that they ate too much, causing their Qi channels to fall into disorder. Those who die of skin diseases such as sores say that pus and blood flowed from their skin and that their internal organs were also damaged and ravaged. Those who die of swelling, abdominal masses, stroke, asthma, or other illnesses each describe the severity of their condition and the unbearable pain. Those who die of old age speak of their sinews and bones growing weak and exhausted; those who die young say that their aspirations remained unfulfilled.

Orphans who die say that they lost their parents in childhood; those who die in old age without children say that no descendants were at their side. Widowers say after death that they had no wife; widows say that they had no husband. Those who die away from home say that they were not in their native place; those who die while lodging elsewhere say that it was not their own home.

Those who die unclothed say that they had no garments; those left exposed outdoors say that they had no covering. Those without coffins say that their bodies lie directly against the earth; those without an outer coffin say that their bodies are exposed as they decay. Those whose coffins and outer coffins are damaged say that rain seeps in and leaves their bodies unprotected. The unburied say that they hope someone will bury them; those whose bones are incomplete say that they hope their remains can be gathered together and made whole. Those pecked at by birds and beasts say that their flesh has been damaged; those whose bones have been burned say that they hope to be restored to their former state; those whose bones lie in damp places say that they hope to be moved to dry, elevated ground. Those whose remains have been crushed by carts and horses say that they hope to be moved; those whose graves have been dug up and defiled say that they hope to be reburied and cleansed of the filth.

Those already buried say that they hope their graves will be repaired; those not yet buried say that they hope to be given a tomb. Those buried in a grave that is not theirs say that they are not in the place where they ought to be buried. Those who have violated burial taboos say that they have offended the spirit’s seat. Those whose graves are unsettled say that the Qi of the earth is in conflict and that the grave should be repaired. Those whose graves are in unsuitable directions or at unsuitable elevations each say that their position is improper and that they need to be moved and adjusted.

The deceased among the six close relations and nine clan groups—relatives and members of the lineage—each say that their living kin have violated the bonds of gratitude and the proper relations of human conduct. Those who bore children but did not raise them are accused of violating their nature and heartlessly harming their offspring, preventing them from growing up.

Disputes among people of the same surname often arise from failures of proper etiquette; disputes among people of different surnames often arise from mutual disrespect and tangled grievances. Disputes over the lack of a home arise because there is nowhere to turn for shelter; disputes over having no descendants arise because the ancestral rites have been cut off. Disputes born of resentment and frustration stem from thwarted wishes; disputes of blame and anger stem from having been wronged. Disputes born of grief arise from many hardships and injustices; disputes caused by sudden death arise because the deceased had no chance to speak in their own defense.

In addition, the enmities people form with others while alive can give rise to all kinds of lawsuits. These are all lingering grudges: even after death, they continue to be pursued without end, entangling both the dead and the living. Broadly, disputes can be grouped into eighty-one categories, but in finer detail they take countless forms.

People may also commit offenses in life and be punished after death: boiled in scalding water, burned by fierce flames, torn apart by blades of wind, struck and shattered by thunder and lightning, made to carry stones and carve mountains, or made to transport water and dam rivers and seas. There are hundreds or thousands of such punishments, taking countless forms. These lawsuits can also implicate descendants, who are called to account and made to confront one another.

Some people harbor resentment in secret and carry hidden anguish in their hearts. Once they form an intent and speak, they may trigger lawsuits between the netherworld and the world of the living. If injustice prevails and disaster closes in, grief may become unbearable, leading them to utter bitter and violent words: calling on Heaven and Earth, cursing the light of the sun and moon, or showing disrespect to the spirits. Whether these words and deeds occur at dawn or at night, they may all become grounds for interrogation and punishment.

Vile and rebellious conduct, the creation of harmful karma, and violations of the various precepts and prohibitions are also matters subject to investigation and punishment. The offenses accumulated over a hundred years, fifty years, thirty years, or even a year, a month, a day, or a single hour are layered together and gathered in one place. After a person dies, any unresolved offenses continue to be pursued; they cling and accumulate, generation after generation without end.

Who can know what wrongs the deceased of a given family, from seven generations past down to the most recent dead, committed in these various matters, or what reckoning they should face? Some people refuse to accept their fate as death approaches, blaming Heaven and Earth and calling on ghosts and spirits. This, too, can leave behind calamity that entangles their descendants, who remain unable to escape.

Some people have governed the people and handled public affairs, yet wronged the innocent. Knowing that among a family’s dead across seven generations each had committed different faults, they pursued all those cases together: What crimes had they actually committed, and what punishments should they receive? Others, at the moment of death, could not calmly accept their allotted fate. Instead, they resented Heaven and Earth and called upon the ghosts and spirits, leaving calamities in their wake that continued to entangle others and could never be dispelled.

Some officials were needlessly harsh, killing people and seizing their property, imprisoning others and taking bribes, using public business for private gain, and acting with cruelty and violence. Within a household, wives and concubines might also fail to judge matters clearly and instead trust wicked claims, indulging slanderers and evildoers. This allowed those in higher positions to oppress those below, building up resentment and cruel harm. Some asked ghost mediums to cast curses, shorten another person’s life, seize their Hun and Po souls, and kill them to repay a debt of guilt. This gave rise to lawsuits against one another, with no end to the disputes.

There was also fear that a family had accumulated various crimes over seven generations: crimes committed in secret and in public, and faults from both before and after death. Guilt within and without had become intertwined and piled up; resentment and filth were everywhere. The family had neither virtue nor kindness, was neither humane nor filial, and was deceitful and cunning. If people were killed again to repay these crimes, the result would be lawsuits against one another without end.

There was further fear that a family still bore these crimes across seven generations: secret and open offenses, and guilt from life and death, layered upon one another, with resentment and filth filling every part of the household. Its members lacked virtue, righteousness, kindness, and grace; they were inhumane and unfilial, deceitful and crafty, defied all proper order, severed their roots and destroyed their sources, and reversed right and wrong. Such people were rejected by Heaven and Earth and universally condemned by human society. After death, they would enter the Three Offices, the Daoist divine offices that govern and assess the affairs of Heaven, Earth, and Water, and suffer the punishments they deserved. Their guilt would also implicate their descendants, who would face severe investigation and assessment without end.

The souls of the dead, trapped in misery and distress, found their suffering harder to bear with each passing day. Unable to endure these torments, they went to the ghost officials to lodge complaints, asking that the living be implicated and made to suffer in their place. Though the authorities of the netherworld might investigate clearly, they too could show favoritism and curry favor. If the ghost officials believed the ghosts’ accounts and issued documents summoning the living to confront them, a family might suffer illness for many years and calamities year after year, along with strange lights and dream omens. Its wealth would steadily dwindle, and even rites of deliverance and methods of ritual suppression could not dispel these troubles.

Your servant respectfully reports to the Mysterious Master: I have again consulted the imperial decrees and transmitted scriptures, and believe that the matter requiring the most urgent attention is to resolve the lawsuits and calamity-infusing qi arising from the graves. I have therefore studied their intent carefully and considered with due caution how to carry them out. I wish to uphold the hidden and subtle methods, making the protection of all beings my achievement, and to follow the prescribed procedures diligently, without daring to slacken.

However, the rules handed down by the sages of old date from a distant age, and errors have entered them in the course of transmission. I am perplexed and troubled, unsure which version is authoritative. I have therefore done my utmost to examine and collate the texts, setting out my sincere intentions in full and respectfully observing the liturgical procedures prescribed in the scriptures. In accordance with the rules, I have carefully prepared one hundred and twenty feet of cloth; eighty feet each of five-colored patterned silk and plain white silk; five brooms; five manure baskets; one liang and two fen of cinnabar; one sitting mat; two hundred sheets of writing paper; two sets each of brushes and ink; one writing knife; five thousand cash; one jin of oil; three liang of incense; and two dan and four dou of rice. I have also prepared in advance the supplies needed for bathing and washing.

I respectfully prostrate myself and present one memorial, especially requesting that the heavenly officials in charge of this matter look upon it with care and resolve, for a certain household, the entanglement of the graves of its ancestors and descendants with lawsuits and calamity-infusing qi. May these calamities be brought to a complete end, and may their hidden harms fade away. Let the living return to the realm of the living, the dead to the realm of the dead, and let each find its proper place.

I respectfully request the Lord of the Heavenly Officials and the generals and clerks under his command to carry out their duties, each according to his office, and work together to suppress the grave qi and dispel calamity for this household, descending also to the site of its graves. I further request that the places responsible for punishment and forced service—Fengdu, Mount Tai, the rivers and seas, the hills and ridges—and the Three Officials and Three Offices investigate and inspect each matter at its source, ensuring that guilt and calamity are cleansed and pardoned.

In accordance with the rite of the Twelve Hundred Officials’ memorial, and the methods taught by the Perfected of Zhengyi for Lady Wei of Mount Heng to heal illness and control ghosts, I submit this petition on behalf of the household. I request that the Five Lords of Great Mystery each bring one hundred and twenty officials and generals; that the Left and Right Commandant Officials, together with their generals and clerks, also bring one hundred and twenty, and proceed to govern the Great Bright Palace. I further request that the Generals of Protection, with their clerks and troops, employ the true talismans of Great Mystery and carry out the methods for seizing and subduing, resolving grave calamities, healing illness, and controlling ghosts.

Then invite General Youyou and his officers and soldiers to wield the Taixuan True Talisman, restrain and disperse calamities drawn from the ancestral graves, ghosts encircled by baleful qi, and ghosts that cause trouble in secret. Apply the talismanic seal and issue orders to the branches of the family. The orders assign responsibility according to the five pitch categories of surnames: disputes concerning the graves of surnames in the Jiao pitch category fall under the jurisdiction of the spirit Goumang; surnames in the Zhi category fall under the spirit Zhurong; surnames in the Shang category, the spirit Boshou; surnames in the Yu category, the spirit Xuanming; and surnames in the Gong category, the spirit Gouchen.

Also summon the divine officials Qiu Cheng, Mu Bo, the Underground Minister of Two Thousand Piculs, Canglin Jun, Wuyi Jun, the Lords of the Tombs on the left and right, the Underground Supervisor of Tombs, Ji, and You Zhi, as well as the elders of Haoli. All spirits in charge of the local graveyard must sternly put an end to the contentious qi and the ghosts that attach themselves again, both arising from the family’s ancestral graves.

If, from the family’s great-grandparents, grandparents, and other forebears onward, the location of their ancestral graves violated calendrical taboos concerning the Twelve Monthly Establishments, Destruction, Prosperity, and Loss, or taboos concerning the Eight Generals, Six Oppositions, Injury, and Extinction; or if the graves faced the wrong direction, the burial hour was inauspicious, or the grave positions were improperly placed to the left, right, front, or rear—causing the buried male and female dead to occupy inauspicious positions and bringing punishments and calamities, long-term loss to the family, and harm to descendants—then these calamities must also be dispelled, and the situation harmonized and repaired, so that both the living and the dead may be at peace.

Next, summon the Great Dark Lord and his 120 officials and generals to take up residence at the Wanqu Official Residence; then summon the Lord of the Nine Earths and his 120 officials and generals to take up residence at the Maoli Palace. Together they shall issue orders specifically to resolve, for the family, violations at the time of burial of taboos concerning the Twelve Monthly Establishments, Destruction, Prosperity, and Loss, as well as the ghosts behind twelve kinds of disputes at hills and graves, so that all these troubles are completely eliminated.

Then summon the five Lords of the Dipper Stars and their 120 officials and generals to take up residence at the Cangming Official Residence; also summon the Lord of the Bright Star in the Central Formation of Venus and his 120 officials and generals to descend together. They shall sever the ties between the family’s deceased of the past seven generations and the stars and their officials and generals; remove the twelve kinds of punitive calamity and the lingering, dispersing qi of violent death; strike ill omens from the dead’s registers of names; bring killing and warfare to an end; and eliminate calamities.

We also invite the Lord Who Feeds on Qi of the Red Heaven, who governs the expulsion of evil and ghosts, to lead 120 officers and generals. He is charged with driving out wicked ghosts summoned by lawsuits among relatives, distant kin, neighbors, and people of different surnames, and capturing all manner of fierce ghosts.

We also invite the Unsurpassed Lord of the High Granary to lead his soldiers, erase names from the register of the dead, halt killing and warfare, and quell calamities.

We also invite the Lord Who Feeds on Qi of the Red Heaven, who governs the expulsion of evil and ghosts, to lead 120 officers and generals. He is charged with driving out wicked ghosts summoned by lawsuits among relatives, distant kin, neighbors, and people of different surnames, and capturing all manner of fierce ghosts.

We also invite the Unsurpassed Lord of the High Granary to lead 100,000 soldiers, capture the ghosts of the Five Tombs—spirits associated with graves and death—and seize evil entities that harm the dead, haunt the living, and make them ill.

We also invite the Lord of the Four Hu to lead 120 officers and generals, dispel ghosts and malign influences brought on by examinations and lawsuits, and remove afflictions that rob people of peace.

We also invite the Lord Who Gathers the Spirits, the Lord of Supreme Illumination, to lead 120 officers and generals and subdue evil entities that disturb people’s minds, cause chaotic nightmares, and prevent their souls from resting securely.

We also invite the Lord of Heavenly Prosperity to lead 100,000 soldiers in yellow, subdue the 120 kinds of calamity and anomaly in a certain household, as well as the evil forces within and around the home and the ghosts of punitive death in the twelve months.

We also invite the Great General Who Covers Heaven to lead 100,000 soldiers, drive long-standing malign influences from a certain household, and put an end to ghostly harassment. May the dead be reborn and calamities be transformed into good fortune.

We also invite the Lord of Venus to lead a million soldiers, together with the Assistant Officials of the Metropolitan Bureau, the Lord Who Examines and Judges Killings, and troops of all kinds of ghosts and spirits. May they descend together to guard a certain person and household; remove their names from the register of the dead and add them to the register of the living; and sever the deathly entanglements affecting ancestors and the deceased within and around the household. May no ghost of calamity summoned by pure or turbid influences, or by the killing of a corpse, spy on or ensnare them, nor may such influences spread or entangle them with one another.

If malign influences from officials of the lower realm assume bodily or shadowy form and command ghost troops to coerce the dead, entangling the household through deathly bonds, then they too must all be arrested, punished, and utterly destroyed in accordance with the laws and decrees of the Edict of Nüqing.

May the fifteen divine lords invited here, together with their officers, clerks, and troops, descend as one and each fulfill their appointed duty: release a certain person from the examinations, accusations, and punishments brought by the dead; treat every kind of suffering, distress, and illness; and bring peace to all. May lawsuits cease, and may the chain of calamities be brought to a complete end.

As for the deceased members of a family’s successive generations, as well as deceased relatives by marriage, friends, servants, and concubines: whether they died violently, unjustly, far from home, or in a foreign land, or whether they are wandering spirits with no descendants, let each and every one of them rest in peace. This includes all those involved in the eighty-one kinds of litigation mentioned above, as well as the countless calamities, misfortunes, and claims for retribution. Let them no longer stir up trouble or harm the living. If they still harbor resentment and wait for an opportunity to cause mischief and foment calamity, then let them all be apprehended and swiftly destroyed forever, so that disaster may never rise again.

After this memorial has been submitted, I pray that blessings be bestowed upon the deceased of this family’s successive generations: may their offenses be pardoned, and may their souls ascend to the Three Heavens, the levels of the celestial realm in Daoist thought. May their tombs be at peace, and may claims for retribution and litigation in the underworld come to an end. May blessings descend upon the present generation, and celebrations continue among their descendants. May the family prosper, its descendants flourish in official careers and studies, and all plans proceed smoothly; may public and private affairs thrive, illnesses be cured, strange occurrences disappear, and dreams return to normal. May the living and the dead alike receive blessings, as proof that this petition has been answered. May the celestial officials to whom this request is addressed record the merits according to the instructions in the comprehensive memorial, without violating their solemn pledge. May your grace be bestowed.

Most High One, please resolve each of these matters and have mercy on me, your ignorant servant. I respectfully dispatch the two direct envoys, the Zhengyi Merit Officer, the left and right official messengers, the Yin-Yang divine attendants, the Red Talisman officers of the ritual carriage, and the swift horse couriers who bear memorials on the fierce wind. Each relevant bureau shall send two officials to carry this memorial. I respectfully pray on behalf of a certain official, a certain person: whether he is serving in government or under forced labor, his post is stalled and his rank cannot advance; alternatively, it may be stated that his family has declined over generations and his descendants have fallen into ruin, or that he is obstructed and beset by difficulties in both public and private affairs, or has become embroiled in disputes without cause. The details may be phrased according to the person’s wishes and adjusted at the time of the ritual.

I bow and pray.

I respectfully request that the celestial officials resolve matters concerning the deceased’s tombs, claims for retribution and litigation, calamities, and harmful spirits; pacify the dead and benefit the living; restrain and destroy calamities; and bestow grace. This memorial is submitted to the bureau of the palace of the Most High. I respectfully await a report. I, so-and-so, am filled with awe and trepidation; I knock my head to the ground and bow twice as I submit this memorial.

End of Volume Five of the Register of Petitions of Master Chisong.

“Submitting one memorial to resolve matters concerning the deceased’s tombs, claims for retribution and litigation in the underworld, calamities, and harmful spirits; to pacify the dead, benefit the living, restrain and destroy calamities, and request grace” means: submitting a memorial to the celestial officials, asking them to resolve matters concerning the deceased’s tombs, claims for retribution and litigation in the underworld, and harmful spirits; pacify the dead, protect the living, eliminate calamities, and bestow grace.

The Bureau of the Supreme One’s [Name] Palace (the administrative office belonging to the Supreme One’s [Name] Palace).

Respectfully awaiting the report. I, your servant [name], am filled with awe and trepidation. I bow my head and prostrate myself twice, and respectfully submit this memorial.

End of The Register of Memorials of Master Red Pine, Volume Five.

The Register of Memorials of Master Red Pine, Volume Six

Bathing Memorial (a memorial text for performing a bathing ritual for a departed soul)

Enter the ritual office and rank.

Memorial: In accordance with the matters listed in this document, I bow my head today and make this report. I fear that the deceased accumulated many offenses during life and, after death, has been imprisoned among the Three Officials (divine offices governing the affairs of Heaven, Earth, and Water), where they remain trapped and suffer without yet finding release. Now, relying on the power of the Great Dao, I seek to aid the departed soul and cleanse it of past offenses and transgressions. I have respectfully prepared the deceased’s clothing from life, along with paper money, rice, incense, oil, colored silk, writing brushes, and ink for protection and for sending messages. In a clean courtyard, I have set up a bathing hall and assembled all the bathing supplies, keeping everything pure, so that the departed soul may be spared the torments of the underworld.

I now prostrate myself and submit this memorial, requesting that the Lords and Ladies of Bathing, together with the twelve hundred Jade Maidens of Washing and Rinsing (divine attendants who wash the departed), descend to inspect the deceased and bathe their body. May they wash away grime and dispel foul influences, release the deceased from bonds and restraints, and enable them to behold the light, wander freely in joy, and have clothing and food in natural abundance, without further want. May they also bring peace to the tomb and protect the living, so that this may serve as proof of the efficacy of the ritual. I beseech the assembled perfected beings of the Supreme One to look upon this matter with understanding and compassion. I, your servant [name], respectfully present one red memorial to the Celestial Officials of Bathing and submit it to the Bureau of the Supreme One’s [Name] Palace, and so forth.

Memorial for Release from Punishment (a memorial text for lifting punishments imposed for offenses)

Enter the ritual office and rank, so that the tomb may be brought to peace and the living protected, serving as proof of the efficacy of the ritual. I beseech the assembled perfected beings of the Supreme One to look upon this matter with understanding and compassion. I, your servant [name], respectfully present one red memorial to the Celestial Officials of Bathing and submit it to the Bureau of the Supreme One’s [Name] Palace, and so forth.

Memorial for Release from Punishment (a memorial text for lifting punishments imposed for offenses)

Enter the ritual office and rank.

The memorial states: I respectfully make this report today, bowing my head in accordance with the contents of the document. I fear that the deceased committed many transgressions during life, thereby inviting misfortune and calamity, which ultimately brought about their death. The suffering involved is profound, and neither the human nor the heavenly realms can fully comprehend it. The deceased’s offenses have accumulated in the Office of the Mysterious Realm, which oversees the affairs of the underworld, while their transgressions are recorded in the Heavenly Bureau. During life, the deceased committed many offenses through the three karmic actions of body, speech, and mind, and through the six faculties of eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind. Above, they violated heavenly prohibitions; below, they broke earthly taboos; and between the two, they incurred enmity among humans and spirits. Their guilt is grave and difficult to measure. Now, not knowing where the soul is bound, the deceased wholeheartedly entrusts their life to the Great Dao, the fundamental principle revered by Daoism, and has laid this matter before me, requesting that I submit a memorial and pray on their behalf. The matter is as set out in the document.

I respectfully prostrate myself and present this memorial. I reverently summon the General of the Plain Chariot and White Horse and his one hundred thousand soldiers, as well as one Lord of Great Mystery and one hundred and twenty officials and generals. May they descend together to take charge of the deceased’s soul, so that it may forever escape the Three Paths of Suffering, the three kinds of evil and suffering realms described in Daoism, and have its name entered in the registers of the Six Heavens, the divine offices associated with the underworld. May they help the deceased escape grave punishment.

I respectfully request the True Talisman of Great Mystery, to be issued to the offices of the Three Officials of Heaven, Earth, and Water. I also request an edict from Nüqing, to be conveyed to the Underworld’s Two-Thousand-Picul Officials, the Mound Wardens and Tomb Masters, the Twelve Tomb Spirits, and the twenty-four prisons of Mount Tai; the hells of Mount Tai in the Eastern Peak, the Great Prison of the Central Capital, the Northern Prison of Tianyi, the Nine-Level Prison of the August Heaven, the hell of Mount Heng in the Southern Peak, the hell of Mount Hua in the Western Peak, the hell of Mount Heng in the Northern Peak, the hell of Mount Songgao in the Central Peak, and the prison of cold pools in the Northern Capital; as well as the Water Emperor of the Nine Rivers, the River Earl, their generals, assistants, and subordinate officials. May they all release the deceased, so that they may forever leave the sufferings of the underworld and ascend to the Hall of Blessings, where clothing and food are naturally abundant. May no inquiry or accusation ever again be pursued against, or implicate, those still living. I earnestly beseech the Most High, the supreme deity of Daoism, to render judgment and grant this request.

Memorial for a Long Illness or Great Calamity: Golden and Purple Substitutes for the Person’s Form (a memorial seeking relief for someone with a long illness or facing great calamity, in which golden and purple substitutes take the person’s place in bearing the disaster):

State the petitioner’s ritual rank and office:

The memorial states: I respectfully fill in the relevant particulars in accordance with the document. So-and-so, aged such-and-such, was born on such-and-such a day of such-and-such a month and year. This year, their annual fortune, calculated according to age, has reached a particular position. At present … I earnestly beseech the Most High to render judgment and grant this request.

Memorial for a Long Illness or Great Calamity: Golden and Purple Substitutes for the Person’s Form:

State the petitioner’s ritual rank and office:

The document should be completed as follows: [Name], who lived to the age of [number], was born on [year, month, day]. Calculating by age, [his/her] allotted span has now reached [age]. From the monastery in [prefecture], [county], [township], [Name] respectfully submits this memorial, using gold and purple silk in place of [his/her] own body.

From childhood until now, [Name] has shown little virtue or merit, yet has received high rank and generous stipends. As the years passed, [his/her] faults accumulated. Charged with caring for the people and governing the region, [Name] sometimes let personal feelings influence official decisions and acted out of favoritism; at other times, [he/she] imposed punishments arbitrarily. Reflecting on these matters now, [Name] is deeply ashamed before the True Sage. The errors may seem slight, yet the guilt they have incurred is as heavy as a mountain. [Name] has often feared punishment in the underworld, but has never truly awakened to the need for change. Since [month], [Name] has suffered calamities, illness, and other afflictions, which are respectfully set forth here.

The Great Dao, the supreme Way revered by Daoists, bestows its grace in secret; when a response is sought, communication is assured. With humble sincerity, [Name] submits this petition above and begs the Great Dao to look kindly upon it. In accordance with ritual, [Name] prepares one gold figure and several feet of patterned purple silk, in quantities determined by [his/her] allotted years; one shi and two dou of rice; 1,200 cash coins for protection; one dou and two sheng of oil; 120 sheets of paper; two brushes; two inksticks; 120 feet of blue silk thread; 120 counting sticks; and one clean cloth. These are offered to the Great Dao as ritual tokens, the offerings that serve as credentials accompanying a petition in a purification rite.

[Name] prays that a memorial may be submitted on [his/her] behalf, removing [his/her] name from the register of the dead and entering it anew in the register of the living. In respectful observance of the rules of the ancestral lineage, and with reference to the celestial registers and charts, [Name] prepares 120 counting sticks and one clean cloth as ritual tokens, and offers them to …

To cultivate the Great Dao, one must offer petitions—prayer documents presented to the celestial realm—to seek deliverance and protection, so that one’s name may be removed from the register of the dead and entered in the register of the living. I respectfully follow the methods handed down by my lineage and consult the celestial records: A certain person was born in the Nine Heavens and endowed with the Five Constant Virtues—benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness. The Nine Palaces surround them, the Eight Trigrams converge, and the sun, moon, and stars shine upon them. The Seven Stars of the Northern Dipper protect them; Heaven covers them and Earth supports them; the Five Qi sustain their body, while Yin-Yang nourishes their life, opening their spiritual awareness and bringing them light. Their destiny corresponds with Heaven and Earth, and their name is listed in the Central Origin. The Spirit of Fate records their life register, and the Great One examines their allotted years. Mysterious talismanic registers record them among the Purple Orchids of the Upper Palace of Nanchang, and their name is written on a jade register kept in a seven-jewel casket. They received Heaven’s grace and follow the way of Earth, endowed with the Qi of the Mysterious Heaven. Their lifespan, determined in the unseen realm long ago, was never meant to end in untimely death or injury.

Now the times have fallen into decline, and the Three Origins—the divine realms governed by the Officials of Heaven, Earth, and Water—have fallen into disorder with one another. True Qi rises, while the evil spirits of the Six Heavens roam abroad. Thousands of goblins and myriads of baleful forces unjustly harm the people, leaving grievances unredressed and wrongs without vindication. The Three Corpses, the souls of those who died unjustly, and scattered spirits fill Heaven and Earth. Grieving ghosts cry out and plead their cases, telling the Three Officials of their resentments. Yet Heaven is high and Earth far away, and no one in the underworld hears their cases; the wronged spirits therefore entangle the living. Departed ancestors and the dead from both sides of the family injure the living’s Jing and Qi, binding themselves to one another and bringing disaster.

I consult the methods of the Celestial Master’s Ninefold Examination Classic and the Yuanchen method for enclosing, hooking, and determining fate: human destiny may be fortunate or inauspicious, and each person’s lifespan has its appointed limit. Those born under auspicious virtue may enjoy the Five Blessings for a long time; those who violate the prohibitions of punishment and baleful forces, or encounter calamity, may ultimately fall into the Six Extremes—the six kinds of dire misfortune. I respectfully examine the case of a certain person, whose birth destiny belongs to a certain category and who now faces a certain year. Evil spirits are at work, and the calamity is grave. The circumstances are as follows…

I have heard that the Great Dao’s compassion extends to all: it cherishes life and abhors killing. There is no calamity it will not relieve, no danger it will not dispel. Once a life has been born, it should be protected; once a situation has taken shape, it should be sheltered. I beseech the Great Dao to pity this family and take compassion on the calamities and illnesses they have suffered. What I, so-and-so, report concerns a person whose birth destiny belongs to a certain category and who now faces a certain year, with evil spirits at work and calamity weighing heavily upon them. The circumstances are as follows… I respectfully submit this petition.

The Great Dao embraces all beings with universal compassion. It cherishes life and abhors killing; there is no calamity it will not relieve, no hardship it will not dispel. Once someone has been born, they should be allowed to live; once they have reached adulthood, they should be protected. I pity this family’s circumstances and sympathize with the calamities and illnesses they have suffered. I am honored to serve in a governing post, administering affairs in one region and upholding and spreading teachings of compassion. Having witnessed this matter with my own eyes, I am overcome with sorrow and pity. Daring to approach amid the solemn authority, I lay bare my sincere heart and, prostrate on the ground, respectfully submit a Golden-and-Purple Substitute-Form Petition—a prayer for protection and deliverance presented in place of the petitioner through tokens of a golden figure and purple markings.

I humbly pray that the Supreme, Infinite Great Dao; the Most High Lord Lao; the Lords and Elders; the Celestial Masters and Celestial Mistresses; and the Three Masters and all revered beings will bestow their great kindness and grant this person special pardon, releasing them from the offenses and many faults accumulated through longstanding grievances from a previous life. May the Dao’s Qi extend its protection far and wide, bestow anew the grace of nurturing, succor all beings, grant an extension of life, and bring this person into good fortune and virtue. May the divine officials who oversee the celestial registers also take heed and attend to this matter, dispelling the old and new calamities attached to this person’s year, month, and day of birth, along with baleful forces, so that every misfortune is resolved as it arises.

I now submit this petition on behalf of this person. I ask the Lords of the Thirty-Two Heavens and the Sima Officials of Long Life to bear the bodily calamities in my stead and prolong this person’s life. I ask the Primordial Lady of Nanchang, who oversees longevity and deliverance, and the thirty-two companies of envoys who watch over births to come riding in flying dragon feathered carriages. May each of the Lords of the Thirty-Two Heavens lead nine hundred million troops in descending together, carrying this person’s golden figure and purple-marked token to the Thirty-Two Heavens. Let them inspect, one by one, the star registers, stellar degrees, and records of the various celestial offices; change this person’s name and form; and then have the True Spirits send the dark, primordial life-giving Qi into this person’s body. May they register the person’s name anew in the register of the living, so that life may continue without end.

I respectfully invite five Lords of Prolonged Life and five Lords of Longevity, together with one hundred and twenty officials and generals, to descend carrying this person’s golden figure and purple-marked token to the Palace of the Dark, Primordial Life-Giving Qi in the Great Clarity Heaven. I further respectfully invite the Lords of Star Degrees and Calculation, who govern the stars and the span of life; the Lords of Bartering Names and Changing Forms, who change names and forms; and the Lords of Leaving Death and Rising to Life, who guide people away from death and into the path of life, to issue their commands and carry out this matter. I also ask the Merit Officers and Envoys within this person, together with the officials of the Great Yin who summon and examine the dead, to carry the golden figure and purple-marked token to the many dark underworld palaces governed by the Northern Dipper’s Maidens of the Great Yin. In the Great Yin’s storehouses and jade cabinets of death registers, may they change this person’s name and form and enter the person’s name in the jade calendar of the living, so that life may be without limit.

I further invite the five divine lords, including □□ Lord, and their subordinate officials and generals, one hundred and twenty in all. I also invite the five divine lords, including the Grand Emperor’s Lord of Ten Thousand Blessings and Relief from Affliction, together with their subordinate officials and generals, one hundred and twenty in all. I further invite five Lords of Relief from Calamity and five Lords of Relief from Harm from the Three Heavens. May they descend together and remove the calamities that afflict me because of the day, month, year, and hour of my birth, and the fate allotted to me in the womb: disasters associated with the sun and moon, the Five Planets, the Twenty-Eight Lunar Mansions, and the inauspicious stars and baleful mansions. May they also release me from the prohibitions imposed by the Earth Spirits, and from the harms known as the Five Calamities, Six Harms, Seven Blames, Eight Hardships, Nine Afflictions, Ten Torments, and Twelve Punishments and Killings.

May the Seven Stars of the Northern Dipper erase my name from the register of the dead. May Tanlang and Jumen sever the roots of death; Lucun and Lianzhen transform death’s form; Wenqu and Wuqu remove my name from the death register; and Tiangang and Pojun keep the force of killing and injury from harming me.

May the Lords of the Three Platforms release me from illness, death, and other calamities caused by the Six Harms during my current year of life. May they also free me from afflictions arising from the year, month, day, and hour; from Heaven and Earth; from imprisonment; from warfare and banditry; and from the four seasons and the Five Phases—Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth. Whatever the countless dangers and myriad calamities, I earnestly ask that I be allowed to pass through them and escape unharmed.

I further beseech one each of the Azure Emperor of the Nine Mysteries, High Official of the Eastern Pole and Green Radiance; the Lord Who Oversees Birth and Grants Life; the Lord Who Exchanges Names and Transforms Forms; and the Lord Who Guides the Immortals to Transcend the World. May each lead nine million troops, ride a feathered carriage through the blue clouds for ten thousand miles, and descend together, bringing a golden figure and purple-patterned silk to serve as my substitute. May the divine generals escort them into the Palace of Long Life, change my name and form, and enter my name anew in the jade register of life, the record that signifies longevity and the right to live. May the Azure Emperor crown and gird me, so that my lifespan may continue without end.

I further beseech one each of the Red Emperor of the Palace of Nanchang at the Southern Pole; the Lord Who Oversees Birth and Grants Life; the Lord Who Exchanges Names and Transforms Forms; the Lord Who Receives Life from Primordial Qi; and the Lord Who Guides the Immortals to Transcend the World. May each lead nine million troops, ride a feathered carriage through the red clouds for ten thousand miles, and come together to extend my lifespan without limit.

Once again, we respectfully invite the Red Emperor, the Celestial Emperor of the South, from the Southern Chang Palace at the South Pole, together with one Lord Who Oversees Birth and Grants Life, one Lord Who Trades Names and Changes Forms, one Lord Who Receives Life from Primordial Qi, and one Lord Who Transcends the World as an Immortal. Each leads nine million soldiers. Riding a feathered chariot amid red clouds, they travel ten thousand miles and descend together. They bring a golden effigy carved in the likeness of “So-and-so” as a substitute, along with a purple document, and deliver them to the Palace of Long Life at the South Pole. We ask that they change So-and-so’s name and appearance, and enter the name anew in the jade register of the living, the immortal register that records the lifespans of the living. The Red Emperor places a cap and sash on So-and-so, so that their life may endure without end.

Once again, we respectfully invite the White Emperor, the Celestial Emperor of the West, from the Plain White Palace at the Western Pole, together with one Lord Who Oversees Birth and Grants Life, one Lord Who Trades Names and Changes Forms, one Lord Who Receives Life from Primordial Qi, and one Lord Who Transcends the World as an Immortal. Each leads nine million soldiers. Riding a feathered chariot amid white clouds, they travel ten thousand miles and descend together. They bring a golden effigy carved in the likeness of “So-and-so” as a substitute, along with a purple document, and deliver them to the Palace of Plain Clouds. We ask that they change So-and-so’s name and appearance, and enter the name anew in the jade register of the living. The White Emperor places a cap and sash on So-and-so, so that their life may endure without end.

Once again, we respectfully invite the Black Emperor, the Celestial Emperor of the North, from the Palace of the Dark Dipper and Great Yin at the Northern Pole, together with one Lord Who Oversees Birth and Grants Life, one Lord Who Trades Names and Changes Forms, one Lord Who Receives Life from Primordial Qi, and one Lord Who Transcends the World as an Immortal. Each leads nine million soldiers. Riding a feathered chariot amid black clouds, they travel ten thousand miles and descend together. They bring a golden effigy carved in the likeness of “So-and-so” as a substitute, along with a purple document, and deliver them to the Palace of Deep Darkness, governed by the Imperial Maidens of Great Yin, and to the storehouse and jade cabinet where Great Yin keeps the register of the dead. We ask that they change So-and-so’s name and appearance, and enter the name anew in the jade register of the living. The Black Emperor places a cap and sash on So-and-so, so that their life may endure without end.

This ritual text separately petitions the Celestial Emperors of the South, West, and North, along with their associated divine lords. By presenting a golden substitute effigy, changing the person’s name and appearance, and re-entering them in the register of the living, it seeks to prolong their life.

We respectfully invite once more the Yellow Emperor, the Lord Who Oversees Birth and Grants Life, the Lord Who Exchanges Names and Alters Forms, the Lord Who Receives Life from Primordial Qi, and the Lord Who Transports Immortals Beyond the World, each from the Purple Tenuity Palace of the Mysterious Capital in the Central Emperor’s Thirty-Two Heavens, together with the nine million troops under their command. Riding yellow-cloud feathered carriages, may they fly ten thousand li and descend together. They bring a golden figure and purple writ to stand in for a certain person, and present them to the Palace of Primordial Qi, the Beginning of Life, in the Thirty-Two Heavens. They request that this person’s name and appearance be changed, and that the person’s name be entered in the jade register of births in the upper realm, so that the Yellow Emperor may bestow upon them the rite of cap and sash, prolonging their years and making their life endless.

We respectfully invite the Star Lord of this person’s birth destiny and the accompanying officials to lead a thousand chariots and ten thousand cavalry in protecting this person’s blessings, emoluments, and lifespan; restraining the Three Hun souls and dispelling the Nine Qi; altering their appearance and nourishing their original spirit; and stabilizing and guarding the palaces within their body, so that their life may endure without end. We also request that this person be entered in the jade register of births and receive the Yellow Emperor’s cap and sash, with their life span extended.

We respectfully invite the Star Lord of this person’s birth destiny and the accompanying officials to lead a thousand chariots and ten thousand cavalry in protecting this person’s blessings, emoluments, and lifespan; restraining the Three Hun souls and dispelling the Nine Qi; altering their appearance and nourishing their original spirit; and stabilizing and guarding the palaces within their body, so that their life may endure without end. We also ask the Star Lord of this person’s annual destiny and the accompanying officials to lead a thousand chariots and ten thousand cavalry in extending this person’s blessings, emoluments, and years of life; gathering in their soul and spirit; striking their name from the register of the dead and raising it to the register of the living; calming their spirit and breath; and guarding the palace of life forever.

May the Perfected Lords and the gods of the parents remove for this person the calamities brought by the stars in the four directions of Heaven, and avert the troubles arising in the eight directions of Earth. May they each protect this person’s blessings, emoluments, and lifespan, and escort them to the Three Heavens’ Celestial Administration, releasing them from the inspections and summons imposed by the true officials within the body. May this person escape the snares, have their name struck from the register of the dead and raised to the register of the living, and receive a changed name entered in the jade register of births. May calamity turn to blessing and danger to good fortune; may virtue dissolve punishments, and blessings dispel misfortune. Though the Four Seasons and the Five Phases—Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth—may overcome one another, may they turn instead to generating one another. May the Qi of Wu and Ji be harmonized, so that the Way of the immortals may be fulfilled. May the Primordial Qi of the Mysterious Origin on the left and right protect this person and enable them to live.

If this person has violated taboos governed by the Officials of Heaven, Earth, and Water, suffered calamity and examination, or been entered in the ranks of ghosts—the registers of those commanded by spirits—may the Lords of the Three Terraces release them. Whatever the root causes of examination, the countless transgressions, or the calamities, may the Primordial Qi of the Mysterious Origin on the left and right protect this person and enable them to live. If this person has violated taboos governed by the Officials of Heaven, Earth, and Water, suffered calamity and examination, or been entered in the ranks of ghosts, may the Lords of the Three Terraces release them.

When misfortune overtakes someone, guilt and calamity intertwine, and danger and disaster strike again and again, prayers are offered especially on that person’s behalf: to deliver them from harm, extend their life, and enter their name anew in the register of the living.

May the spirits who clearly inspect the celestial offices’ records investigate the entangling sins this person committed in the past, the decline of their fortune, and the causes of the calamities that have befallen them. In accordance with the circumstances, may they absolve this person of guilt and redeem their transgressions in the Three Rivers and Four Seas, the Nine Rivers and Eight Directions, the Three Officials of Heaven, Earth, and Water, the 120 offices, the Six Tones and Nine Statutes, the Twenty-Four Prisons of Mount Tai, the Northern Prison of the Dark River, and all other such places. May they rescue the person’s three Hun souls and seven Po souls; if the person is a woman, may they rescue her fourteen Po souls, so that the souls may return to dwell in her body.

May the Twelve Lords of Rescuing Life from the Three Heavens, the Lords of Deliverance from Adversity, the Lords of Deliverance for Life, and the Lords of Aid in Adversity; the Thirteen Lords who Dispel Calamity and Scatter Misfortune; the granary and grain officials, the stewards of trees, the Twenty-Eight Lunar Mansions, the 365 celestial degrees, the Twelve Lords of the Eight Extremities of the Circumference of Heaven, the Twelve Lords who Enforce the Law on the Left and Right, the 120 official generals, the Six Riverbank Offices, the River Earl’s Water Office, and the 360 clerks who resolve adversity and entanglements all come to assist. Then may a million elite soldiers of the Central Palace be summoned to descend together and enter this person’s body, dispelling disaster and calamity…

Remove the twelve prohibitions associated with the year’s course and one’s birth destiny. Break through restraints, obstacles, damage, and failure; dissolve the Great Assembly and Small Assembly, the Five Punishments, Nine Calamities, Five Misfortunes, Six Harms, Nine Disgraces, and decline and adversity. Stabilize the five viscera and harmonize the six bowels, so that every illness may be dispelled and cured.

I also summon one Lord Zhou Ding to reside and govern in the Palace of the Great Official. Let him harmonize the calendar and destiny of a certain person, travel throughout the eight directions, remove that person’s name from the register of the dead, and enter it in the register of the living. Let this person surpass the allotted limit of vital energy of one hundred and twenty years, prolong life, and live forever without aging.

I also summon one Lord Nan Shang and his subordinate officers and officials, one hundred and twenty in all, to reside and govern in the Palace of the Ranks. I summon one Lord Zhou Yu and his subordinate officers and officials, one hundred and twenty in all, to reside and govern in the Palace of Geography. They shall wear colorful vermilion robes and red sun kerchiefs and crowns reaching to heaven. I also summon one thousand two hundred Jade Maidens of Zhou Ding, along with one Lord Zhou Yu and his subordinate officers and officials, one hundred and twenty in all, to reside and govern in the Palace of Geography. They shall wear colorful vermilion robes and red sun kerchiefs and crowns reaching to heaven. I further summon one thousand two hundred Jade Maidens of Zhou Ding, dressed in colorful garments, to descend together and bring a certain person the vital energy that sustains life, lengthen that person’s years, dispel calamities, and call back the hun and po souls, so that they return and attach themselves to that person’s body. Enter that person’s name in the register of the living, remove it from the register of the dead, and petition for the preservation of their life.

The twelve hundred officials, lords, officers, and soldiers summoned in this memorial are also all commanded to descend to the place where a certain person lives and to that person’s village. The True Officials charged with overseeing this matter; the Lords of Peace of the Four Wilds and Nine Fields; the Two Mysteries, Three Origins, Four Beginnings, and Jiazi officials of the Way; the Twelve Water Emperors and River Marquis of Peace; and the local spirits and gods of the soil and grain are all summoned. After receiving this memorial today and carrying out what it requests, let them bring a certain person’s calamities to an end, extend their years, grant health and good fortune to the body’s four great elements, and support them with the power of the Dao, keeping them safe and secure. Let this serve as proof of efficacy. I earnestly beseech them to bestow their compassion.

The Most High distinguishes and examines all. I, Yichen, am ignorant and unenlightened. I respectfully dispatch two each of the Direct Envoys of the Two Offices, the Zhengyi Merit Officers, the Left and Right Official Messengers, the Yin-Yang Spirit-Deciding Clerks, the Liturgy Cart and Red Talisman Clerks, the Strong Wind Relay Riders who carry memorials on horseback, and the Flying Dragon Riders. I entrust to them one memorial, the Great Memorial in Gold and Purple for Taking the Place of the Body, Dispelling Calamity, and Prolonging Life, which I have respectfully prepared for a certain disciple of the Great Dao. Let them deliver it to the Most High’s Administration of [name] Bureau.

Memorial for Collecting Nightmare Dreams

The ritual office and rank are listed in full.

I respectfully submit this document: So-and-so states that they have been fortunate to enter the Daoist tradition several times and have been able to rely on Daoist methods to protect themselves. Now they specially present a memorial for “Overcoming Misfortune and Prolonging Life,” to be submitted to an administrative office under the authority of the Most High.

Memorial for Dispelling Nightmares

[Enter the ritual rank: the identity and title of the person conducting the Daoist ceremony.]

I respectfully submit this document: So-and-so states that they have been fortunate to enter the Daoist tradition and have been able to rely on Daoist methods to protect themselves. They have also received blessings and protection, and their whole family has remained safe and well. For this, they are often grateful and joyful. Yet they are, after all, an ordinary person, and have practiced the Dao for only a short time; mistakes continue to arise. Recently, they have often been unable to sleep peacefully. Once asleep, they suffer terrifying nightmares, as if oppressed by demonic forces. Sleep and waking become entangled, and they often dream of deceased relatives coming and going. They are repeatedly jolted awake, leaving the whole family, young and old alike, fearful and unsettled. Therefore, relying on the Great Dao, they ask that Daoist methods be applied to address this affliction. They lay their plea before the authorities within the Daoist tradition and submit this memorial, seeking to save and protect themselves. They now respectfully perform the rite of presenting a memorial and submit this document, humbly beseeching…

The Great Dao takes pity on ordinary people in the world, removing the calamities and injuries they suffer. If there are baleful influences from the past; the Grand Year, Great Yin, or Great General; the Director of Fate for this month; the Twelve Monthly Generals; or the Eight Spirits before and after, bringing confinement, punishment, ruin, or deadly harm; if there are dragons lurking beneath the house, functionaries of the Seven Prisons, lingering forces of rebellious killing, baleful influences flying in from the four directions, the Six Harms of Hanging Corpses, the twelve kinds of bewitching influences, or the influence of wandering ghosts dwelling in the home, may they all be made to disperse.

With due reverence, I petition the Five Lords of the Ten Thousand Spirits and the one hundred and twenty officials and generals to drive away the peril of death afflicting a certain person, enable the deceased to be reborn, and turn calamity into good fortune. May they expel baleful influences from the past, spirits and demons, and possessing ghosts, and make all the influence of wandering ghosts dwelling in the home disperse.

I again petition Lord Tianchang and his one hundred thousand soldiers in yellow robes to gather up the strong, baleful influences within and around a certain household, the twelve kinds of punishment and calamity, and the ghosts that disturb people in dreams and while awake.

I again petition the Lord of the Sun and his one hundred and twenty officials and generals, assisted by the Orchid Officials, to subdue the ghosts that keep people from sleeping peacefully and frighten them, and make them all withdraw.

If a tomb brings the twelve kinds of tomb disputes and strong, baleful influences, or calamities that entangle and recur, may the Three Qi dispel them and undo these entanglements, so that they no longer involve the living in later generations or bring disturbances from spirits and demons.

I again petition the Lord of the Heavenly Center’s Daring and Able Officers and Soldiers, together with his one hundred and twenty officials and generals, to seize the ghost of a deceased member of a certain household—a lingering spirit that has not departed and brings harm through rebellious killing—and escort it to the Northern Prison of Nüqing for punishment. May all the illness and suffering afflicting a certain person likewise be removed, so that they may sleep peacefully without waking in fright or suffering nightmares. I humbly petition…

May the Most High examine and decide this matter, and grant an auspicious time.

This is a memorial submitted on behalf of the deceased, confessing and atoning for sins and seeking release from condemnation.

The ritual offices are listed in full.

The memorial states: In accordance with the documents, a certain Yi has always…

…so that they may sleep peacefully without waking in fright or suffering nightmares. I humbly petition…

May the Most High examine and decide this matter, and grant an auspicious time.

This is a memorial submitted on behalf of the deceased, confessing and atoning for sins and seeking release from condemnation.

The ritual offices are listed in full.

The person submitting the memorial says: “I respectfully consult the documents on record. A certain person, B, was descended from a family of officials for generations. Amid changes in the times and the movement of the cycles, B observed the covenants and regulations and held to them in order to find security and make a way in the world. B received the protection of your beneficence, and the whole family, young and old alike, felt fortunate. But B was dull-witted and often failed to cultivate the self and honor the Dao, thereby bringing on examination and punishment. Recently, circumstances have been difficult and nothing has gone smoothly. B has also fallen ill, as follows…”

I have considered this again and again, seeking to discover the cause of the malevolent spirits’ disturbances. Perhaps the deceased committed offenses while alive: failing in loyalty and filial devotion, lacking benevolence and compassion; harboring jealousy toward sisters-in-law, slandering them with malicious words, cursing and invoking curses; calling upon Heaven and Earth and summoning the spirits; or coveting money, stealing, appropriating property, acting unjustly, and altering what had been done. These and other unwholesome acts may have brought down severe examination and punishment, even punishment by Houtu, the deity who oversees the land and the affairs of the dead.

I also fear that after death the deceased was severely demoted and banished, with the soul interrogated and confined under the Three Officials, the Daoist divine system overseeing Heaven, Earth, and Water, and made to endure penal labor and every kind of suffering, in unbearable distress. The deceased’s offenses may also have implicated the living family, causing a certain household to be entered once more among those subject to examination and punishment, with calamities following one after another. This severe posthumous banishment, interrogation of the soul, confinement under the Three Officials, and penal labor may have continued repeatedly, leaving both the living and the dead distressed and humiliated, unable to free themselves.

The suffering of the people can only be entrusted to the sacred power of the Dao. Now a certain person sets out the offenses committed by the deceased, a certain person, while alive, and goes to the administrative seat to submit a report. A token of faith is also prepared to show sincere intent and to plead for pardon for the many offenses the deceased committed. I am ignorant and know nothing of the affairs of spirits and gods. I respectfully follow the account given by a certain person, bow low, and submit this memorial. I humbly beg…

May the Great Dao of the Most High and the clerks serving under the Celestial Master bestow exceptional kindness and forgiveness, examine my memorial, and, in accordance with the Most High’s rite of confession, which sets out one’s offenses before the Most High and seeks repentance and release from calamity, reconcile the offenses of the deceased, a certain person of a certain household, according to the circumstances, and remove the examination, punishment, and banishment. May the Merit Officer envoy, the divine functionary who carries memorials and carries out assigned duties in Daoist rites, accept this person’s token offerings of faith and travel far to…

The Three Heavenly Offices, following the offenses a person committed during life, remove and strike out the corresponding punishments in accordance with the relevant provisions, erasing the case completely. We respectfully ask that the Great Mystery True Talisman (Tai Xuan Shenfu) transmit the decree of Nüqing (the heavenly edict issued by Nüqing), commanding the Underground Two-Thousand-Picul Officials, the Mound Magistrate, the Tomb Earl, the Twelve Primordial Agents, and all others to strike out and remove the charges, extinguish the records of offenses, and release the souls of so-and-so. This includes the Twelve Tomb Spirits, the Twenty-Four Prisons of Mount Tai, the Great Prison of Zhongdu, the Northern Prison of Tianyi, the Nine Equal Prisons of the August Heaven, the Three Officials of Heaven, Earth, and Water, the River Lords and River Earls, and officers and officials of every rank. Let them all release the souls of so-and-so, allowing them to return to their bones, escape imprisonment and suffering, and ascend to the realm of harmony and joy in the Heavenly Offices. Let the registers of calamities be closed and the death records canceled.

If someone during life violated the Five Covenants and Seven Curses—prohibitions involving oaths, curses, and the like—becoming entangled and bound with others, pursued and detained without release, I respectfully ask that all these bonds be undone and dispersed. From this day on, may the living and the dead of so-and-so’s family be secure, may the household prosper and thrive, and may illness be dispelled. Let this serve as proof that the prayer has been answered. Matters of grace and virtue are to be judged solely by the Most High; we earnestly beseech compassion.

“Petition for Selling a Deceased Person’s Clothes to Release Them from Guilt and Transfer Their Sentence”

The legal offices are fully listed.

The petition states: In accordance with the documents on record, so-and-so declares that they were originally a person born of the womb and embodied in flesh, a descendant of officials in the lower realm. By fortune granted over a thousand years, they were able to serve …

The Great Dao extends its grace far and wide, nurturing all beings. It bestowed on me and on the officials, young and old, in my household important registers—credentials of religious office granted by Daoism—allowing us to take part in inner and outer ritual services and to wear talismans and registers. This honor far exceeds my own good fortune; the grace I have received is profound and inexhaustible.

Yet we are all ordinary people, born and raised in the secular world. We have been unable to keep the precepts, and often transgressed when carrying them out. Thus we have incurred trials and punishments—the divine scrutiny and penalties spoken of in Daoism. The late [name] once fell ill and was not pardoned. On a certain day, month, and year, [they] returned their life to the Three Officials, the deities who govern Heaven, Earth, and Water. Since then, the Qi of illness has continued unabated…

I fear that karmic ties left over from [name]’s former life, together with the offenses committed in this life, both old and new, have seized the opportunity to take effect. Moreover, the guilt of the living and the dead is entangled: their souls pursue and confront one another, leaving the departed spirit trapped amid the sufferings of the Three Officials, overwhelmed by grief and distress, and in turn bringing affliction upon the living. The whole household is therefore filled with fear and anguish, not knowing what merit to establish to rescue the departed spirit and redeem its offenses. Accordingly, we respectfully offer as an act of atonement the garments worn by [name] during life, to redeem and save [name]’s spirit, spare it severe punishment, end its accusations of guilt, and allow it to return anew to its allotted life. The household of [name] informed me of this and asked me to submit a memorial on their behalf, setting forth the matter as stated above. I therefore…

The Great Dao teaches all beings through compassion, taking pity on the living and grieving for the dead. All who take refuge in the Great Dao, living or dead, receive its protection. In particular, spirits suffering deeply in the netherworld may attain the blessings of ascension, be delivered from hardship through the saving power of the Daoist rites, and be reborn among humankind. [Name] is filled with utmost sincerity and profound gratitude for this compassionate grace, and looks up to the Great Dao for its illumination and nourishment. I humbly dare to submit this memorial before the pure and righteous gods, respectfully setting forth the matter and beseeching them to look upon it with compassion…

O Dao, supreme and without limit (the Most High, Utmost and Perfect One): I, your servant, submit this petition and humbly ask that you pardon this person’s sins from past and present lives, and especially show them understanding and mercy.

On this person’s behalf, I pray to the General of the Plain Chariot and White Horse and his hundred thousand soldiers. I also petition the Lord of Great Mystery and his one hundred and twenty officials and generals to determine where this person’s soul has been detained and confined. If this person has long been sunk in the Three Paths—the realms of suffering such as hell, hungry ghosts, and animals—and their name has been entered in the Six Heavens, the celestial realm said in Daoism to govern the registers of ghostly offenses, may they be delivered from it completely.

I further petition the Immortal Official, Lord Dali, and his one hundred and twenty officials and generals to take up residence in the Western Water Palace. I also petition the True Talisman of Great Mystery to issue commands to the Three Officials of Heaven, Earth, and Water; to the Lady Qing’s Rescript, a talismanic document used in the Three Officials’ system to convey pardon orders; and to the Underworld’s officials of two thousand bushels, the Mound Magistrate, the Tomb Earl, the twelve tomb deities, the twenty-four prisons of Mount Tai, the Great Prison of the Central Capital, the Northern Prison of Tianyi, the Nine Level Prisons of the August Heaven, and the underworlds of the Eastern Peak Mount Tai, Southern Peak Mount Heng, Western Peak Mount Hua, Northern Peak Mount Dan, and Central Peak Mount Song. I also petition the prisons of the Northern Capital’s Cold Pool, the Water Emperor of the Nine Rivers, the River Marquis, the River Earl and their subordinate officials, generals, clerks, and attendants: command them all to release this person’s soul, erase the charges, lift the punishments, and let the prisoner leave confinement. Then bathe them, change their clothes, and restore their cap and sash; raise them to the Hall of Blessings, grant them rebirth and new life, and return them to the good path. Remove their name from the registers of the dead, enter it in the registers of life kept by the Six Officials, and record it in the cinnabar register, the Daoist register of immortals.

At the same time, may the illnesses and pains of this person and their family, adults and children alike, be dispelled and healed, and may everyone in the household remain safe and well. May what is prayed for accord with their wishes, and may this serve as proof of the rite’s efficacy. This person committed a thousand sins and ten thousand transgressions in life and after death; we ask only that they be pardoned. We humbly beseech the Most High to see clearly, and to show compassion and deliverance.

Petition for Deliverance from the Three Paths, the Five Sufferings, and the Refining of the Corpse, and for Rebirth According to One’s Wishes (a petition requesting the salvation of the deceased, release from suffering, and new life)

The rite is presided over by a ritual master holding the appropriate rank.

The memorial states: I have respectfully examined the documents and recognize that my nature is mediocre and my understanding limited, and that I have accumulated little merit in previous lives. Though born into the human world, I live amid a corrupt age and have been stained by worldly influences. I know that I cannot escape sinking into ruin, and scarcely dare hope for a path to the heavenly realms. Fortunately, through the Celestial Worthy’s compassion, punishment was not immediately imposed, and I was granted the chance to encounter the True Scripture of the Three Radiances (the Three Radiances refer to three heavenly visions or divine beings in Daoist teaching).

Though I resolved to encourage myself, I have been beset by the corpse worms (impure forces believed in Daoism to dwell in the human body, entangle people in desire, and deplete their lives). Again and again, cravings have weighed me down, and in my dealings I have violated the precepts. Now, too, the time of the Yang Nine calamity (a period of disaster in Daoist teaching) is drawing near, and the deadline for dispelling calamities is almost upon us. My merit remains incomplete, while my offenses have already become manifest, and I have yet to escape my predicament. I am constantly afraid that I may die suddenly, leaving no chance to reform. Though I wish to amend my faults, my bonds have not yet been loosed, and the conditions for doing good have not yet arrived.

Risking punishment, I set forth this foolish sincerity at the Gate of Three Examinations (a checkpoint associated with the underworld’s investigations and assessments), offending the Heavenly Perfected (divine beings of the heavenly realms). Even now, when I think back on it, my heart is full of fear. I, your servant, together with so-and-so, am filled with terror and trepidation; we bow our heads and confess our guilt.

I have privately observed that the scriptures clearly set out the precepts at their core, and also preserve a path by which one may rely on grace. The scriptures say: unless one accumulated good in previous lives and built up merit over many kalpas, with one’s name recorded on the Jade Registers (heavenly records of merit), one cannot simply come upon precious scriptures. Since someone has been able to encounter the scriptures, they ought to receive salvation. If their merit is still insufficient and their allotted span of life and death not yet complete, they may be unable to ascend to heaven in broad daylight, but may instead undergo corpse liberation (a process in which a Daoist adept’s body appears to die as the spirit leaves it), passing for a time through the Great Yin (the underworld). Their spirit is examined, while their body is lodged with the Earth Official (a divine office overseeing the affairs of the underworld). When the appointed period of karmic conditions has run its course, they can return to their former dwelling and ascend to salvation together with others. If the scriptures truly indicate this, then those who practice the Dao still have hope. Therefore, I, your foolish servant, dare to set forth my view.

There is now a person from such-and-such township, village, county, and prefecture, aged so many years, born in the year of such-and-such cyclical sign, whose registers are under the authority of such-and-such Emperor, born in such-and-such month and entrusted with their fate on such-and-such day. While alive, this person admired the Dao and went to the residence of the Daoist priest so-and-so. They ascended the altar, entered into an oath alliance, received the Three Radiances Cavern Scripture (a Daoist classic), venerated the scriptures, paid homage to the divine beings, and regularly performed Zhaijiao (purification rituals). Yet they lived amid the world’s dust and were burdened by its impurities; their merit remained incomplete, and their roots of evil had not been severed. According to the scriptures, although this person has died, their death may have been a case of corpse liberation.

I fear that this person’s karmic conditions are not yet settled and that their merit from previous lives has not yet sufficiently accumulated. They died of illness in such-and-such year, month, day, and hour, taking on the appearance of death while dwelling temporarily in the Great Yin, with their remains lodged in the care of the Earth Official. Their coffin now rests in the funeral hall, awaiting a suitable time to be moved and buried at Haoli (a general term for a cemetery or the underworld). Because their merit is insufficient, they cannot be moved too soon. I fear that the Earth Office (the underworld bureau overseeing matters such as land and graves) will press them, leaving them unable to rest in peace, so that their soul scatters and their body is disturbed. They may be subjected to agitation and interrogation, or even drawn into another rebirth.

This person and I share karmic ties from a previous life. We were granted kinship recognized by Heaven, and lived together in the secular world; I am deeply concerned for them. Though their covenant with the divine beings may already have been determined, I still cannot be at ease. When I took up this office, I made the salvation of departed souls my foremost duty. Now, relying upon…

Although the numinous covenant was long ago determined by the Celestial Worthy of Limitless Heaven (Wuji Tianzun), the Primordial Great Transformation, the Purpose of Illuminating the Truth, and right mindfulness, my heart remains uneasy. Since receiving this appointment, I have made the salvation of all beings my foremost concern. Now, relying on the Celestial Worthy of Limitless Heaven, the Primordial Great Transformation, the Purpose of Illuminating the Truth, and the Zhengyi liturgical regulations (the ritual standards of the Orthodox Unity tradition), I respectfully observe the purification rite and present this memorial to the powers above.

I earnestly beg for compassion and mercy, and for forgiveness of the sins committed by a certain person in past and present lives. If this person has cause to fall into the Three Paths of Suffering—the realms of hell, hungry ghosts, and animals—or has incurred the karma of the Five Sufferings, and is being tried and punished under the officials of the Three Offices and Nine Courts, who oversee the records of the human and netherworld realms; if divine troops and strongmen are chastising them with hammers and staffs, holding them among mountains of blades and trees of swords, or confining them in the hells of the Ninefold Darkness, then I beg that the memorial I present today be conveyed to the Three Offices. May they grant this person the merit of a life spent in good deeds, so that their soul and spirit may be delivered and their original form restored.

If this person’s soul has already dispersed and their corpse has decayed, may the august deities of the Five Emperors restore their flesh, nurture and gather in their soul and spirit, nourish them with the vital essence of the sun, moon, and stars, and infuse them with sweet spring water. May their body’s Qi, blood, and channels flow freely, and their vital fluids be nourished. Let those destined for rebirth be reborn, those destined for deliverance be delivered, and those destined for resurrection be restored to life. May the true spirits and righteous deities of the particular sacred peak and mountain to which this person belongs, acting under the authority of the talismanic command, instruct the nine land officials to provide what is needed within their respective jurisdictions, all in accordance with the directives of the Purpose of Illuminating the Truth. May this person’s body be made secure and their spirit and soul protected; may their soul no longer scatter, and the roots of their karmic offenses be eradicated at once. If their mind, spirit, and soul are restored, let them be brought back to life.

May the true spirits and righteous deities of the particular sacred peak and mountain to which this person belongs, acting under the authority of the talismanic command, instruct the nine land officials to provide what is needed within their respective jurisdictions, all in accordance with the directives of the Purpose of Illuminating the Truth. May this person’s body be made secure, their spirit and soul kept from dispersing, and their karmic offenses erased. If their mind, spirit, and soul are restored, let them return to their former dwelling. Once the memorial I present has been approved, I beg that this person be born anew and, through the ritual refinement of the corpse, have their original form restored, then rise to take their place among the perfected immortals.

I respectfully petition the clerks under the Most High, who manage documents and transmit memorials, to convey my earnest plea. May the matter submitted receive a favorable reply, so that the departed souls in the netherworld may be delivered. Above, may Heaven’s benevolence spread its power of transformation and bestow boundless grace; below, may my humble and sincere prayer not go unanswered. I await the gracious command.

The Most High (the supreme deity) has made a full inquiry: With humble entreaty for compassion … we submit, on behalf of a certain person, a memorial requesting that the person’s body and spirit be released from the cycle of death, the roots binding them to the Three Officials’ Nine Offices and the Three Paths be pulled out, the knots of the Five Sufferings be undone, the Ninefold Darkness opened, the soul and spirit returned, the corpse refined and transformed so it may receive deliverance, and the person reborn in peace. The memorial is to be delivered to the Office of the Most High’s Palace, where the responsible officials serve, and we await an official reply.

Memorial for the Funeral Procession and Burial

After listing the ritual offices and titles, the memorial states: In accordance with the documents on record, a certain person did not carefully observe the Daoist teachings and thereby brought calamity upon themselves. The deceased, a certain person, reached the end of their allotted lifespan on a certain year, month, and day, and by established procedure is assigned to the Office of the Most High’s Palace under the Three Officials, the divine authorities who govern Heaven, Earth, and Water. We await an official reply.

Memorial for the Funeral Procession and Burial

After listing the ritual offices and titles …

The petition respectfully reports: According to the records, a certain person’s improper practice of Daoist methods brought on trials from baleful forces. The deceased, a certain person, died at the end of their natural life on a certain year, month, and day. The body has been placed in a residence at a certain location and has not yet been buried. It is now proposed that on a certain day and at a certain hour this month, the coffin of a certain person be moved temporarily from a certain place and buried at another.

Since this person has joined the pure and tranquil true Dao and sincerely believes in the Dao’s Qi, they no longer consult a ritual master for divination about good or ill fortune. They are, however, concerned that the reburial may bring harm from General Tai Sui, the Twelve Monthly Establishers, Gou Xing Po Sha, the residual Qi of subordinate officials, and various prohibitions. They therefore ask me to submit this petition on their behalf and seek protection.

I have determined that this person is a Daoist adherent whose conduct differs from worldly custom. Sending off and burying the deceased are not subject to these prohibitions. This person devotes themself wholeheartedly to the Dao and deserves compassion. I respectfully request that the Five Lords of Great Simplicity and Great Beginning, together with their 120 officials and generals, and the twelve burial officers, jointly issue talismanic orders and summon the Edict of Nüqing—a sacred Daoist document—to notify the underground officials of rank two thousand shi, the Mound Assistants and Tomb Lords, the Twelve Mound Marquises, and the spirit officials who govern prohibitions in the districts and along the roads traversed during the reburial: they must not disturb this household. Let the deceased be at peace below and their Jing and spirit remain settled; let the Kui Gang and all other prohibitions be entirely dispelled.

May this household’s future safety in life and death, and freedom from further calamity, serve as proof that the petition has been answered. Once the matter is completed, I will report its effects. I respectfully beseech the Most High to look upon this petition with discernment and grant the request in compassion.

Petition for the Newly Deceased: Clearing and Opening the Road, Removing Earthly Afflictions, and Severing Recurrence

After listing the ritual offices held, the petition respectfully reports: According to the records, a certain person was born in a physical body and is a descendant of a subordinate official. For a thousand years, they have been fortunate enough to serve…

The Great Dao extends its grace widely and protects us, allowing us and our families to preserve our lives. We are sincerely grateful for this. We have also received the compassion of the master’s teaching—the Daoist reverence for teachers and their teachings—which bestowed on us the registers and jurisdictions of the Greater and Lesser Celestial Officials. Such deep kindness is truly difficult to repay.

We ordinary people were born in a degenerate, declining age. Unable to practice diligently and accumulate merit in return for this grace, we often err in our words and actions. Our sins have piled up like mountains, bringing down punishments from the spirits, and our household has suffered all manner of hardship. We ordinary people were born in a degenerate, declining age. Unable to cultivate virtue diligently and repay this grace, we have committed many faults in our conduct. Our sins have piled up like mountains, bringing down punishments; our household has fallen into decline and hardship, and funerals and calamities have followed one after another.

A certain deceased person was once ill and received no pardon. In a certain year, month, and day, they died and returned to the Three Officials—the Daoist officials of Heaven, Earth, and Water. Since then, the residence has never been at peace. Ghostly influences have persisted; strange lights and shadows often appear, and people frequently wake in fright from dreams. Illness and other calamities have also followed one after another. The household has suffered further deaths and misfortunes, leaving everyone frightened and unsettled. They fear that we may die at an inauspicious time and that calamities will continue to descend, so they have come to report this to me and ask that I submit a memorial on their behalf. The matters they seek to have addressed are as described above.

I have examined how human beings are formed through the workings of Yin and Yang. Though they receive the vital influence of the Nine Heavens—the Daoist celestial realm—they also take shape through the Four Great Elements, the four basic constituents of the human body. At birth, people assist one another; at death, each returns to its own place. Yin and Yang join, female and male follow one another: Yang initiates, and Yin responds. The human body has thirty-six thousand spirits. The eyes are the root of life, receiving the light of the sun and moon. The Mao and You Gates, two portals corresponding to the Mao and You directions, are spirits within the body and become ghosts once they leave it. As a person approaches death, the light in the eyes fades. The left is male and the right female; together they are called “Earth Calamity,” an ill-omened spirit associated with death and mourning.

From one to three, the male is white and the female yellow. At fourteen, they grow feathers and fly; their wings and feet carry poisonous Qi, and they shine as they move. They hold “Metal Killing,” a metal force charged with murderous ill omen, in their mouths; when they face a person, that person dies. They travel along the east-west axis and move along the north-south meridian. When they encounter the Grand Duke of Jupiter, the male is on the right and the female on the left; they are also called “Earth Calamity.” From one to three, the male is white and the female yellow. At fourteen, they grow feathers and fly; their wings and feet carry poisonous Qi, and they shine as they move. They hold Metal Killing in their mouths; when they face a person…

Everything has disappeared. The roads running east and west are blocked, and those running north and south are impassable as well. Moreover, the Grand Year Deity, the General of Great Yin, and the spirit of Wanghao are all on duty, so we dare not remain here or proceed. Since the roads are blocked, disaster may well follow. If a repeated bereavement occurs—when several people in a household die one after another within a short time—ghosts may spread their wings and spew poison, harming the living. The breath of death then passes from one person to another, and disaster arises from this. We also fear that the deceased may belong to the Three Paths, realms of suffering in Daoist belief: their bodies are subject to the Earth Official, while their souls are driven and detained, implicating the living. In my view, the Orthodox Unity lineage of the Daoist tradition is strict in its teachings: the living and the dead belong to different realms and should not disturb one another. Yet now a certain person has become entangled in the forces of life and death, and the baleful influence is spreading in succession.

If no remedy is provided, the living and the dead will be difficult to separate. Human life is supremely precious; to suffer injustice and fall into distress is truly unbearable. I therefore respectfully submit this memorial, entreating the Daoist lineage to show compassion. May we request one immortal official, the Lord Who Subdues the Baleful Breath, together with one hundred and twenty officials and generals, to open the way for the deceased, a certain person, so that they may pass through the barriers of the Grand Year, the Great Yin General, the Director of Destinies, Wanghao, and all other prohibitions. May the officials of the four seasons be ordered to clear the roads, neither detaining this person’s soul nor allowing the baleful influence to infect the living again.

We further request one official, the Northern Dipper’s Marshal and Director of Government Affairs, together with one hundred and twenty officials and generals, to destroy the calamities brought by the Great Yin General, the Director of Destinies, and Wanghao. May the officials of the four seasons be ordered to clear the roads, neither detaining this person’s soul nor allowing the baleful influence to infect the living. We also request five Lords Who Destroy Calamities, together with one hundred and twenty officials and generals, to seize the baleful ghosts of Yin and Yang that came with this person’s death, along with the spirits responsible for returning the baleful influence, and make them depart swiftly. Everyone in this household should return to their own proper realm, and the officials of the four seasons must not detain the deceased’s soul. May all sins, transgressions, and offenses committed by this person in past lives and throughout their present life be pardoned.

May the covenant between this person and evil spirits be dissolved, and may their soul and spirit be transferred away from the Three Paths and Five Sufferings, the realms of infernal torment, and raised to the Hall of Blessing, where clothing and food are naturally abundant and blessings protect their descendants. May the dead and the living cease to be bound to one another, and may they no longer cause calamity or spread the breath of death; let this be ended completely from now on. May the Earth Official guard the body, and may the soul and spirit return to their proper place and be able to grow anew. May blessings also be bestowed upon this household: from now on, may every illness and hidden affliction among its young and old be cured and dispelled, may the household be at peace, and may both the living and the dead receive grace.

Only the Most High can determine and grant this favor. We pray that this petition be approved.

I respectfully submit this report above: I was born of the womb as an ordinary mortal and am also descended from officials of the lower realm. By good fortune, I encountered the right opportunity to receive pure and upright teachings, and have often been blessed and protected. In my heart, I have truly felt joy and comfort. Yet the mortals of my family are ignorant and often act in ways that violate the proper order, thereby bringing trials and punishments upon themselves. In recent years, our household’s fortunes have been poor, and deaths have followed one another. After I fell ill, I died on a certain day of a certain month. I fear that on the day of my death, evil influences and calamities may also afflict the living. A funeral carriage and male and female ghostly beings have remained in the house, continually causing trouble. The mortals of the household are alarmed and afraid, their minds and spirits unsettled. They therefore reported this to me, praying that the zhusha within the dwelling—malevolent spirits and baleful forces believed to strike family members one after another—be cleared away, so that their spirits may be settled and their Qi (vital energy) brought into harmony.

I have investigated the matter. On the day a person dies, the hun and po souls scatter in every direction and transform into eight kinds of baleful killing Qi. The female and male misfortune spirits and zhusha demons, along with ghostly beings such as the funeral carriage, appear and disappear or take up residence, repeatedly causing harm. They linger in the household, waiting for people to grow weak so they can attack again and bring calamity upon the living. I humbly prostrate myself and knock my head to the ground as I present a memorial—a prayer submitted to the celestial realm—earnestly beseeching the Great Dao to turn back the divine powers and send down blessings, so that pure Qi may spread and turbid Qi disperse. I respectfully request that 1,200 brave officers and soldiers from the heavens, together with one Zhuzhu Ghost-Bird Qijun and one Shuitan Officer, descend upon a certain household and seize the zhusha demons, the male and female guest-killing spirits, and the funeral-carriage ghosts, destroying them all. I further request that twelve Generals Who Repel Killing descend together upon the household and capture and remove one hundred and twenty…