《金箓资度宿启仪》

Jinlu Zidu Suqi Yi (Golden Register Rite of Salvation and Deliverance: The Night-Before Invocation Ritual)

(The preliminary invocation rite held on the preceding night within the Golden Register zhaijiao (purification ritual) performed to universally deliver the souls of the dead.)

The scripture is titled Jinlu Zidu Suqi Yi and is included in the Lingbao liturgical section of the Zhonghua Daozang.

There is also a one-fascicle Yulu Zidu Suqi Yi (Jade Register Rite of Salvation and Deliverance: The Night-Before Invocation), whose base text comes from the Dongxuan (Three Caverns) division, liturgical-protocol (weiyi) category, of the Zhengtong Daozang.

Yulu Zidu Suqi Yi

The ritual proceeds according to the prescribed procedures.

All present bow to the Master of Ritual (fashi), who performs visualization in accordance with the rite.

Please recite the Divine Incantation.

The East

Great Spirit of the Bright Star within the Azure Heaven of Nine Qi (qi, vital energy), your radiance shines upon the East and illuminates all nine gates. Turn your torchlight, sweep away defilement, and disperse baleful energies. The Child of Illumination, named Xuanqing, stands ready to guard my chariot and to report upward to the Sovereign. Subdue demons, bind malign spirits, and hunt down and seize the wicked. Uphold the true Dao (the Way) and proclaim the Red Writ in its jade script. By the talismanic mandate of the Nine Heavens, summon the dragon spirits and transmit the mandate. Let all under Heaven be universally at peace, and let me ascend in flight as an immortal.

The South

In the Cinnabar Heaven of Three Qi, light flows and radiance blazes forth. The star Yinghuo turns its torch and penetrates and illuminates the Great Yang. Above dwells the Red Essence (jing), in accord with the Sovereign of Emptiness. The Numinous Child of Illumination, named Huafang, commands the fire troops and guards the Jade Hall. Cut down evil, bind demons, and eradicate the demon kings. Such is the might upheld by the Northern Emperor that neither wind nor fire can withstand it. The Flowing Bells flash in turn, protecting the ritual altar. The true Dao spreads abroad; who would dare cause disorder? I share in the merit and virtue of Heaven, sitting at ease while setting the Kuigang (the Northern Dipper constellations) in motion. Through a hundred million kalpas I endure, preserving the heavenly realm without end.

The West

In the White Heaven of Seven Qi, the star Taibai spreads its pure radiance. Its brilliance shines upon the Metal Gate and penetrates the deep and shadowed places. Within dwells the White Sovereign, titled Diling, who keeps the shen (spirit) and qi secure and settled, and guards my bodily form. Sever the roots of evil, so that the kingly Way may be upright and bright. Let the palaces stand orderly and solemn, and the three radiances of sun, moon, and stars appear together. In accord with the natural Dao, ascend in flight to the Purple Court. The talismanic mandate of Lingbao bestows its grace upon all beings. The upright qi of the Primordial Sovereign comes to unite with my body. Let merit and virtue extend to all things, and let Heaven and Earth alike be at peace.

The North [The source text ends here; the passage that follows was not provided.]

In the mysterious celestial realm where the Five Qi (vital energy) gather, the Heavenly Worthy of Primordial Beginning moves freely to and fro. The star Chen shines bright and clear, its rays reflecting upon one another. The Dao (the Way) accords with what is natural, enabling a person to ascend to the Purple Court (the palace courts of the immortal realm). The talismanic mandate of Lingbao (the command conveyed by the sacred Fulu, talismans and registers) universally bestows its benefit on all living beings. The orthodox Qi of the Primordial Sovereign comes forth to unite with my body. Merit extends to the myriad things, and heaven and earth are thereby brought to peace.

North

In the mysterious celestial realm where the Five Qi gather, the Heavenly Worthy of Primordial Beginning moves freely to and fro. The star Chen blazes with splendor, illuminating Taiwei (the stellar region where the Celestial Emperor dwells). The Venerable Spirit of Black Numinosity, titled Cengwei, commands the gods who fly through the heavens. Clad in immortal skirts and feathered robes, he guards the portals of the five directions, inspects prodigies and essences, and seizes malign spirits. Whenever any evil being dares to offend or put him to the test, he cuts it down and destroys it.

The commands transmitted by the jade talisman are carried out by eight majestic divine perfected ones. The gates of evil are sealed, and the orthodox Dao is opened wide. Divine light shines upon my body, making me as bright as the three luminaries—sun, moon, and stars. Riding the clouds through the void, I raise my body, ascend, and become an immortal.

Center

The single Qi of the center transforms into the Yellow Heaven, harmonizing heaven and earth, shaping and casting Yin-Yang, and presiding over the mysterious true divinities. The Garrison Star (that is, Saturn) sends forth its radiance, and its light spreads through the Nine Heavens. The Youth Who Opens the Light, titled Tianlin—primordial Qi and yang essence become a flame-like vermilion vapor that shines through all under heaven and also falls upon us.

A hundred kinds of malign spirits are destroyed, and countless ghosts and demons are cut down. The divine spell of Zhongshan (the sacred incantation of the Zhongshan lineage) extends all of this throughout the world. The Five Numina settle and stand guard, enabling the human body to ascend and become a superior immortal.

Sound the ritual drum twenty-four times.

The Most High Lord of the Dao of the Unsurpassed Three Heavens and of the Three Qi of the Mysterious, the Primordial, and the Beginning summons forth from within my body the Three-and-Five Merit Officers (divine clerks charged with conveying commands), the emissaries of the officers of the left and the right, and Zuo Anzhen, so that my body may ascend and become an immortal.

Sound the ritual drum twenty-four times.

The Supreme Lord of the Dao (the Way) of the Mysterious Primordial Qi (vital energy) of the Unsurpassed Three Heavens, a revered deity of Daoism, summons the Three-and-Five Merit Officers within this minister’s body, the official envoys of the left and the right, the dragon-riding courier officers of the left and the right who bear incense, the Golden Lads who attend the incense, the Jade Maidens who transmit words and scatter flowers, and the incense officers of the direct talismans of the Five Emperors assigned to the day—thirty-six of each—to come forward. All who are summoned must set their robes and caps in order, dress with solemn dignity, wear cap and sash complete, and let their tassels hang down.

Please inform the earth deity of the Mysterious Altar and the spirits of this place: this minister now performs the overnight opening and announcement of the retreat, the announcement rite held on the night before the formal Zhaijiao (purification ritual), establishes the ritual altar, and prepares to bring the ceremony to completion. I respectfully submit together the sincerity of my heart and the matters I entreat. May the Qi of the Supreme Utmost True Dao and the wisdom-light of Lingbao (Numinous Treasure) descend and flow into our bodies, so that the sincerity we declare may swiftly ascend and reach directly before the thrones of the Utmost True and Limitless Great Dao, the Upper Sages of the Three Pure Ones (Sanqing), the Jade Emperor on High of the Golden Portal of Vast Heaven, and the Compassionate Worthy of the Eastern Pole, the Azure Mystery Lord on High.

Please announce the ritual titles.

We ministers of the stated ranks, So-and-so and the others, now burn incense, and by the merit of burning incense we pray that a certain departed soul may mount a phoenix carriage and rise into the clouds, ride a luan-bird chariot and roam freely through the immortal realm, ascend in peace and joy to divinity and the realization of perfection, and, wandering at ease, attain the fruit of the Dao. We further pray for all alike, that His Majesty the Emperor, His Highness the Crown Prince, the vassal princes and marquises, and the local officials, together with our Three Masters and Five Friends, teachers and companions who transmit the methods of the Dao, cultivators of successive generations, practitioners dwelling in seclusion in mountain valleys and rocky caves, disciples and libationers, holders of Daoist office, and even the officers and soldiers of the three armies, the common people of the realm, birds and beasts, grasses, trees, and creatures of the waters, and every sentient being possessed of spiritual awareness, may in body and mind, and in nature and life together, take refuge in the Supreme Natural Lingbao Utmost True and Limitless Great Dao of the Ten Directions.

We especially pray that the many offenses committed through the three karmas of body, speech, and mind, and through the six faculties—eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind—be pardoned, so that we may be freed from calamities and straits such as the three disasters and five sufferings, the eight hardships and nine distresses, and may thereby cultivate and perfect the truth of the Dao and sing the praises of Great Peace; that together we may enter the realm of benevolence and long life, wandering freely in Wuwei (non-action), forever united with the Dao. May the entreaties we offer, mysteriously resonant and efficacious, ascend at the very sound of the voice before the Utmost True and Limitless Great Dao.

The one who tends the chime strikes it, and the assembly rises to offer reverent praise.

The hymn of the ten directions is chanted.

The homage proceeds to the place before the feet; all kneel at full length, surrender their lives in refuge, and repent.

The ritual assembly—the Daoist priests taking part in the rite—devoutly take refuge in body, Shen (spirit), and life, and reverently turn toward the boundless Great Dao (the Way) of the ten directions and the Supreme Celestial Worthy of Numinous Treasure, praying that the Celestial Worthy, with vast compassion, will universally bestow profound grace and send down great favor.

We, your servants, have heard that the Primordial Ancestral Qi (vital energy)—the original qi before heaven, earth, and the myriad things came into being—takes clarity and stillness as its root; and that the documents of the jade registers, the writings of Daoist Zhaijiao (purification ritual) and Keyi (liturgy), cannot move and communicate with the divine spirits unless purification, abstinence, and a covenant oath have first been undertaken. To call forth a response from the supreme sages, one must first wash away even the slightest faults. We, your servants, wish to give our whole hearts in sincerity, so as to increase the posthumous blessings of the deceased.

Yet we, your servants, still fear that wisdom has gone astray and that discernment has been stained by tangled thoughts; that Jing (essence), Qi, and Shen, which ought to fuse into the true, remain blocked by karmic obstructions heaped up like mountains and not yet broken through; and that delusive thoughts and faults arising from body, mind, and mouth have suddenly stirred waves upon the once-calm surface of the concentrated mind. Faults accumulated day by day and month by month are boundless and without measure. We, your servants, look up and beg the Celestial Worthy’s compassion, and humbly ask that forgiveness be granted from above, so that in presenting our memorials we are not disturbed by demonic obstacles, and so that in cunsi—concentrated visualization of the divine and the true—we may accord with the Great Dao.

May we meet the myriad perfected ones in the imperial precincts and gather a hundred blessings at the purification altar. May the departed soul in question realize the Dao and ascend to the true, and may the realm of blessing be clear, bright, and at peace; may family and state receive blessings and protection, and may the rivers and mountains long remain secure. The ritual assembly devoutly knock their heads, paying reverence and giving thanks to the supreme and utterly true Three Treasures—the Dao, the Jing (scripture/classic), and the Master.

The one in charge of the chime strikes the chime, and all chant the “Hymn of the Three Openings.”

The three salutations are performed.

The ritual offices are proclaimed once more.

Your servant of the established office, So-and-so, together with the assembly, reverently and with sincere hearts addresses on high the ritual stations of the Worthies: the Celestial Worthy of Primordial Beginning of the Supreme Limitless Great Dao, the Supreme Lord of the Dao, the Supreme Lord Lao, the Jade August God-Emperor of Vast Heaven, and the Great Emperor of Purple Tenuity and the Northern Culmen.

I, the servant so-and-so who occupies this station, respectfully and with a sincere heart join in petitioning the Celestial Worthy of Primordial Beginning of the Most High Limitless Great Dao (the Way), the Most High Lord of the Dao, and the Most High Lord Lao, together with the Jade Emperor on High of Vast Heaven, the Great Emperor of Purple Tenuity at the Northern Pole, the Great Emperor of Purple Tenuity, the Heavenly Sovereign, the August Earth Deity of Empress Earth, the Great Emperor of Azure Florescence at the Eastern Pole, the Great Emperor of Long Life at the Southern Pole, the Unsurpassed Jade Emperor, the Supreme Emperor of Jade Vacuity, and all the venerable deities. I further petition the Utmost True and Illustrious Sovereign Lord of the Dao of the Numinous Treasure, who dwells in the Jade Capital of the Mysterious Metropolis, upon the jade terraces of the golden portals, and in the Upper Palace of Purple Tenuity; the great saints of the ten directions who have already attained the Dao, and the lords and elders of utmost perfection; the Greatly Compassionate and Greatly Merciful Perfected Who Saves from Suffering, the Perfected Who Saves and Delivers, the Perfected of Great Beneficence, the Perfected Who Registers Birth, the Perfected of Universal Salvation, and the Perfected of Dharma Liberation in the Assembly of the Fragrant Grove; the Venerable Scriptures of the Thirty-Six Sections, the Great Ritual Master of the Mysterious Center, the Great Ritual Master of the Three Heavens, the Perfected Lords who are the Three Masters of Scripture, Registers, and Ordination of the Numinous Treasure, the Perfected Lords who are the Three Female Masters of the Zhengyi (Orthodox Unity) lineage, the officers of the Three Realms, and all true spirits.

We servants are of shallow endowment, like broken stones at the village altar and a frail parasol tree beside a well, yet we have been fortunate to receive in person the instruction of the Daoist tradition. We reflect that those who enter the inner chamber to cultivate the Dao have appeared in great numbers, while we ourselves have still not entered deeply into it. Although we have been permitted a glimpse of the mysterious pivot, what we have learned remains as if we faced a wall, lost and uncomprehending. We have had no opportunity, in Colt Valley, to draw near the mist and radiance of mountains and forests, and have only let days and months pass in vain before the window. The teaching originates in the Primordial Azure; we can only earnestly and scrupulously uphold and proclaim the talismanic mandate. The Keyi (liturgy) reveres the Great Simplicity, and we fear that any transgression or omission would offend its strict and clear statutes. If we do not vow to do our utmost in good works, how can we receive Heaven’s mandate and make good our faults?

I respectfully receive the commissioned command and solemnly perform the Jade Register purification rite, to pray for blessings and recommend for deliverance a certain departed soul, and to increase the favor bestowed by Heaven. In accordance with the intent of the written petition, we servants have exhausted our sincerity, tempered hearts of utter devotion, and repeatedly set our earnest intentions in order. The rite follows the secret method of the Golden Casket of Purple Yang and the mysterious Keyi of the Jade Register of the Azure Pole: the altar gates are arrayed according to rule, the ritual altar encircles the four directions, and the ceremony is arranged after the pattern of Heaven and Earth. The ritual assembly of the Three Vehicles stands in ranks like phoenixes and egrets, summons the Qi (vital energy) of Yin-Yang, and, by the ceremonial of the nine performances, respectfully welcomes the carriages of dragons and simurghs. Smoke curls through the incense burners, colored mist rises from the incense braziers, and banners, processional regalia, and flowered pennants stream in the wind.

Beginning on a certain day, we servants, carefully following the Keyi, open and establish the Mysterious Altar (the altar ground on which Daoist ritual services are performed). We earnestly beg the Dao Masters of the Three Treasures and the Teaching Lord of the Nine Darknesses to look down with compassion and examine what we set forth, and to command the immortal spirits of the Three Caverns (Dongzhen/Dongxuan/Dongshen), the officers of the Numinous Treasure, the assistants of the Azure Mystery, the ranked cohort of the Yellow Register, the spirits who oversee the purification and attend the scriptures, the gods who guard the altar and protect the Dao, together with the shrine commanders, the local earth gods, and all responsive numinous powers, to unite in heart and effort, sweep away malign Qi within and without the altar, cause our sincerity to reach the hearing of Heaven, and bring Heaven, human beings, and the rite into mutual response.

We pray that our bodies and minds be clear and lucid, and that the Three Passes (the passes and apertures within the human body that pertain to cultivation) be harmonized and at peace; that we concentrate Shen (spirit) and regulate the breath, so that mysterious Qi gathers in the Dantian (energy center); and that we join the Qi of the Dao and circulate Jing (essence) and Shen, so that numinous light may rest securely in the Mysterious Altar. May grace be broadly bestowed to assist the recommendation and deliverance of the departed soul, so that the merit and blessings of the purification rite may be fulfilled and the methods of the Dao may continue in operation. At dawn tomorrow we shall continue the ritual practice of the Dao and present a further petition.

(The chime sounds, and all present recite the Hymn of Wisdom.)

Report of the Talisman Slip

(Visualize the deities and burn incense.)

Emissaries of the Incense Office, Dragon and Tiger Lords of the left and right, and all the numinous officers who tend the incense fire, please escort this servant to the place where the overnight opening rite was earlier performed and the altar ground established. May golden liquor, cinnabar-and-jade radiance, lingzhi blooms, and other auspicious spiritual things arise there of themselves, and may the hundred numinous officers and all the perfected immortals gather before the incense burner.

I earnestly ask that Heaven clearly discern my sincerity, so that in the lower realm the winds may be clear and the Qi (vital energy) harmonious. May the rites be solemn and orderly, and may the immortals’ carriages and feathered canopies descend before the altar; may the morning rite of cultivation be successfully completed, and may blessings also spread into the realms of darkness.

May the immortal lads and jade maidens of the ten directions come to attend the incense smoke and convey the sincerity I have just reported, so that it may pass swiftly and reach directly before the thrones of the Most Perfect and Limitless Great Dao (the Way), the Supreme Sages of the Three Pure Ones (Sanqing), the Jade Emperor of the Golden Portal of Vast Heaven, and the Compassionate Worthy of the Eastern Pole, the Azure Mystery Emperor.

(In the text, “golden liquor, cinnabar-and-jade radiance, and lingzhi blooms” are named things symbolizing spiritual auspiciousness in Daoist ritual; the “Three Pure Ones” and the others are revered Daoist deities.)

Hymn for Leaving the Hall

(The rite ends; after the hymn is recited, one withdraws from the hall.)