《三洞修道仪》

The Dao (the Way), through primordial Jing (essence) and the unitary Qi (vital energy)—the fundamental Qi of the Dao that constitutes heaven, earth, and the myriad things—nurtures the Three Powers of heaven, earth, and humanity, and thereby transforms and brings forth the myriad things. Whether sentient or insentient, all are endowed with this Qi. Those who obtain it can outwardly assist heaven and earth in transforming and nurturing the myriad things, and inwardly cultivate themselves to supreme perfection; those who do not understand it instead make pure simplicity shallow and clear brightness turbid, disturb their own Shen (spirit), and sink into the ranks of lesser ghosts. How, then, could they hope to become immortals?

The fundamental reality of the Great Dao is vast and formless; it cannot be seen with the eyes or heard with the ears. Yet to comprehend and realize the Great Dao in fact depends on transmission. According to the Shangqing Dayou Miaojing (Marvelous Scripture of the Great Existence of Highest Clarity), the supreme Dao was at first passed from the Mysterious Sages to the Divine Perfected, and then from the Divine Perfected to the Numinous Immortals. These three classes of true immortals all transmitted it by word of mouth, without writing. When the Daoist scriptures (jing) were opened in the Chiming era, they first began to be written in script and seal characters; in the Longhan and Yankang eras, the Lingbao classics were gradually handed down. From then on, people first saw the statutory texts of the teaching, such as the Jade Regulations of the Golden Portal. At that time the teachings of Taiping and Lingbao circulated among the various heavens, also reached the lineage of Lord Ji, and later began to be transmitted to the Yellow Emperor. After the Lingbao classics were concealed, the Five Talismans were sealed away on Mount Zhong. When Yu the Great controlled the floods, he obtained them; after dredging the waterways, he hid them again at Shigong in the Zhen waters. This is what is meant by Lingbao being sometimes hidden and sometimes manifest.

Later, the Sovereign Huanglao transmitted the scriptures and decrees, together with the talismanic charts, of Dongshen (Cavern of the Spirit), and the world therefore honored this as the teaching of the Dao and De (Virtue/Power) of Huanglao. Those who lived in seclusion and withdrew from the world silently cultivated this Dao, and the Dongshen lineage gradually declined. At the end of the Eastern Han, Lord Zhang, Ritual Master of the Three Heavens, first received the Zhengyi (Orthodox Unity) liturgical methods of the Most High. Before this, the region of Shu lay within the astral field of the Ghost Lodge and had twenty-four parishes, belonging to the Yin administration, for regulating the twenty-four Qi. The Beimang parish was established at Luoti, with Yique as the territory of the Luhun Rong, in order to guard the Yin capital. Later this place was occupied by the demons of the Six Heavens and called the “Ghost Camp,” and the Celestial Master (Tianshi) subdued them with Zhengyi methods. Thereafter the place was classed as a Yin bureau, and the ghosts became Yin officials.

The descendants of the Celestial Master transmitted the teaching to only one person in each generation, namely the Zhang clan of Longhu Mountain in Xinzhou. Broadly speaking, this teaching flourished in the regions of Wu and Shu. In the Wei dynasty there was Celestial Master Kou Qianzhi of Mount Song; at the end of the Tang, Daoism was again vigorously promoted. Among those whose work in the Dao was outstanding in the interval were, in Jiangnan, Master Jianji, Lu Xiujing, and, in the Central Plains, Master Yinzhen Zhao, Celestial Master Pan, Master Chengyuan Li, Celestial Master Sima, Master Zongyuan, Celestial Master Wu, Master Niu, the two Celestial Masters Ye Guyun and Ye Guanghan, Master Xihe Li, and others. All were important figures in transmitting the teaching, and they are recorded in detail in the Daomen Qiye Tu (Diagram of the Seven Leaves of the Daoist Gate). As for the various schools that branched off and multiplied, they are beyond counting.

When the Li clan replaced the Sui, the Most High bestowed the auspicious tokens of the received mandate. From then on the Li clan honored the ancestral masters of Daoism and presented documents of investiture, and Daoism went together with the fortunes of the state. Thus mushroom terraces and blossom halls spread in every direction. The regulations of the Three Caverns (Dongzhen, Dongxuan, and Dongshen), from Zhengyi to the Great Cavern, were divided into seven grades in all; the Daoist registers comprised one hundred twenty ranks; the Keyi (liturgy) comprised two thousand four hundred articles; the statutes comprised one thousand two hundred; and the precepts comprised one thousand two hundred, with the four auxiliary true scriptures serving as supplements. These institutions are the path by which ordinary people cultivate their way into the sacred realm, and they can also aid in governing the state and cultivating body and mind.

In the decline and disorder of the Five Dynasties, Daoism waned. Daoist priests wearing star caps and rosy-cloud robes fled and scattered; the scriptures were lost and the abbeys destroyed. Only the Taiqing Palace in Bozhou was preserved relatively intact. Next, a few abbeys—Beimang, Yangtai, Yangfu, Qingtang, and others—still retained some of their institutions; the abbeys in the areas of Tiantai, Heng and Xiang, Yuzhang, and Mount Qian were not severely damaged, while those in Shandong were almost entirely gone.

I am dull by nature, yet I have a rough understanding of Daoism. I once met an eminent person who encouraged me to put these matters in order. Scriptures were hard to find in the various prefectures. I often thought of Taike and Rongfeng, but regretted that I had no wings and could not go there. In the guimao year, Daoist Liu of Yangtai, whose name was Ruozhuo, came south leaning on his staff, and I invited him to my residence. Master Liu was thoroughly versed in Daoist methods and teachings, so by oral instruction I was able to learn the rites of entering the Dao and the grades of caps and robes, and I compiled them into one scroll, provisionally supplying what was missing. If in the future more complete Daoist classics can be seen, they may be collated separately.

Compiled by Sun Yizhong, Baoguangzi of Jingnan, on the twenty-sixth day of the ninth month of the guimao year.

Anyone just beginning to study the Dao (the Way), should there be omissions or gaps, ought to collate the text separately upon later reading this great teaching. This piece was compiled by Sun Yizhong, Baoguangzi of Jingnan, on the twenty-sixth day of the ninth month of that year.

When one first begins to study the Dao, a boy of seven is called a “register-born disciple” (lusheng dizi), and a girl of ten a “south-born disciple” (nansheng dizi); they first bow to a master and receive instruction. When their character gradually becomes sincere and mature, they are given the Three Precepts and the Five Precepts, and they step by step give up pungent foods, meat, and the eating of blood. From then on they no longer marry. If they are already married, the man is called a “disciple of pure truth” (qingzhen dizi) and the woman a “disciple of pure faith” (qingxin dizi). In daily life they observe the Keyi (liturgy) and the purificatory fasts, while also practicing the Way of yellow-and-red conjunction—the Daoist art of Yin-Yang sexual union. If they can renounce this art, so much the better.

Boys and girls who keep the precepts may go to bow to a master and request to leave the household only when they reach the age of fifteen. Anyone willing to abandon secular life may do so, whatever their age. Only when their observance of the precepts has become fairly accomplished do they go further in seeking the Dao. When they take vows and receive the precepts, three masters confer them, and they are called “disciples of the Ten Precepts of Wisdom.” They wear the cap of the Two Instruments, a yellow silk-ribbon robe of seven strips, a plain skirt of seven panels, and straw sandals.

They then study the scriptural methods among the ten scriptures of the Great Vehicle, concentrating on one scripture. After they complete their studies, they are conferred the Eighty-One Precepts of Initial Perfection. Once the precepts have been conferred, they must also be sponsored by seven precept masters. They are called “disciples of Initial Perfection of the Most High” and styled “Daoists of the White Slips.” They wear the cap of the Seven Perfected and a yellow patterned Daoist robe, nine strips on the left and ten on the right; a white lower garment and a yellow skirt of nine panels; they carry a sandalwood tablet and wear dark shoes. Only after a yellow seated altar has been set out do they begin to enter stillness, recite scriptures, visualize the deities and spirits (Shen), and cultivate the methods of the Dao. Thereafter there is no fixed term of years. Only when their scriptural learning grows daily more profound and they are familiar with the ritual forms may they go on to study the Cavern scriptures. On first paying respects to the Three Masters, and with five persons as sponsors, they request conferral of the Zhengyi Mengwei registers—the Fulu (talismans and registers) of the Zhengyi (Orthodox Unity) school—together with the twenty-four grades.

Within the Zhengyi division there are a further one hundred and twenty ranks, all methods branching off from the Yellow Way. They belong to the Yin teaching and serve to assist the Great Yang. The Heir Master, son of the Zhengyi Celestial Master (Tianshi), bore the personal name Heng, and the Successor Master bore the personal name Lu. The methods they transmitted and practiced include acupuncture, medicinal arts, Fulu, protection and warding, and prohibitive spells. They are chiefly for praying for blessings and saving the people—that is, the various miscellaneous methods circulating in the world today. There are also register texts that were not cultivated by the Higher Perfected, and for this reason they are called the “Way of White and Black.”

The “yellow and red” spoken of here refers to the method of the Yang Way practiced in its forward course. It takes Heaven and Earth as its model, and is used to command the myriad spirits, to regulate Yin-Yang and the sequence of the calendar, and to distinguish the order of human beings and ghosts. Above, it can avert celestial disasters; below, it can assist royal government, so that emperors and kings prolong their years and return to simplicity and the genuine. For ordinary people, those who can practice this Way may cleanse their thoughts, stand in awe of wrongdoing, and avoid untimely death and sudden calamity. If those already married choose an auspicious day and, in accord with Yin and Yang, practice the art of sexual conjunction, it is said that the children born to them will be spared the influence of perverse, licentious, and turbid Qi (vital energy). This is also meant to lead people to care for the body and treasure Jing (essence) and Qi, and not to indulge in lust without measure. It is a method by which the higher sages take pity on the world and bring relief to its people, and it too belongs among the methods practiced in the Zhengyi division.

Only after receiving the Zhengyi registers may one, on behalf of others, submit memorials and set up Zhaijiao (purification rituals)—presenting petitions to the deities and performing rites of prayer and aversion—enfeoff and commission the mountains and peaks on behalf of emperors and kings, expel and summon demonic evils and poisonous harms, pay court to the stars, and act according to the pitch-pipes, the calendar, and the sequence of the seasons. The recipient is called a “disciple of the Most High Zhengyi Covenant of Awesome Power,” and one notes the parish of the Celestial Master to which the person belongs, the particular Qi, and the office of libationer. This “parish Qi” is fixed according to the month and day of birth, and what each person presides over differs. The full title is: “Disciple of the Red Heaven, Who Paces the Mainstays of the Three and Five, of Original Destiny, of the Zhengyi Covenant of Awesome Power; Libationer of such-and-such parish and such-and-such Qi in the lineage of the Celestial Master; Perfected of Original Destiny, your subject so-and-so.”

Any Daoist who has not yet received the scriptural methods may simply be called, in general, a “minor omen” (xiaozhao). They wear a dark cap and a vermilion cape of twenty-four strips, a yellow lower garment and a gray-green skirt; they wear the pendant of Flaming-Light Fire Jade, carry the Sword of the Awesome Spirit That Severs Evil, wear the seal-ribbon of the Yellow Spirit’s Yue Seal, and use a wooden carved Bagua (Eight Trigrams) altar.

The scriptural curriculum that is transmitted includes the Zhengyi Ritual Texts scripture, in one hundred and twenty scrolls; three hundred and sixty great petitions and one thousand two hundred lesser petitions; three hundred offering rites of audience with Heaven; Essentials of Cultivating Perfection in ten scrolls, the Jade Scripture in three scrolls, and Essential Pointers in three scrolls; the Calendar of the Great Numen’s Yin-Yang Shifts in sixty scrolls; texts of prohibitive spells in five scrolls; texts on massage for the circulation of essence in three scrolls; the True Writ for Cultivating Original Destiny, in one thousand characters; and one scroll on the Pace of Yu and the Stellar Mainstays. All that is practiced in the Zhengyi methods above belongs within the Three Realms.

What are called the “Ten Divisions of the Great Vehicle” speak mostly of sin and blessing and of karmic grievances and their counterparts, and also of being and emptiness. Once the scriptural scrolls one has cultivated amount in all to one thousand, cultivation of the Zhengyi Way is complete. At that time one reports to the Perfected officials and is moved up to the upper level of the purification chamber.

Daoists of the Dongshen (Cavern of the Spirit) division must receive the “Jingang Dongshen Register” conferred by the Zhengyi (Orthodox Unity) school. This belongs to the methods of the age of the Three Sovereigns of high antiquity, not to the methods of the Three Sovereigns of the present age. After receiving the register they are called “Supreme Dongshen Ritual Masters.” When worldly people renounce secular life and enter the order of the Dao (the Way), husband and wife thereafter live apart and abstain from meat, fish, and blood. Their vestments and ritual implements include the Jiaotai crown, a crimson-brown robe, a yellow lower garment, a cinnabar skirt, and black shoes; they hold a white tablet, wear four jade pendants of blue-green light, fasten the seal-ribbon of the Huangji Dongshen seal, carry the Yin-Yang demon-slaying sword, and also wear the Huayang headcloth and the fangsheng cap. They perform the rites at the Altar of the Nine Palaces and Stellar Images (an altar arranged according to the positions of the Nine Palaces and the stars) and study the twelve divisions of the Dongshen jing (scriptures).

Daoists of the Gaoxuan (Lofty Mystery) division are also called “Gaoshang Zixu” (the Exalted Purple Void). After cultivating the Dongshen methods and accumulating merit, they may be promoted and receive the “Taishang Gaoxuan Register,” and are styled Supreme Purple Void, Gaoxuan disciples, Gaoxuan ritual masters, or Masters Who Roam the Mystery, referring to themselves as “your servant, so-and-so.” Their vestments and ritual implements include the crown of the Five Marchmounts, a blue-green cape of thirty-two panels, a white lower garment, a yellow skirt, and black shoes; they hold the wooden tablet of long life, sit at the Altar of the Four Qi (vital energy), wear plain-light cinnabar tassels, fasten the seal-ribbon of the Five Elders’ Communion with the True, carry the Jingang Dongqing sword, and wear the Luxiu headcloth and the Xianchang cap.

Daoists of the Gaoxuan division study such scriptures as the Daode jing, the Classic of the Dao and of De (Virtue/Power), the Xisheng jing (Scripture of Western Ascension), the Yuli jing (Scripture of the Jade Calendar), the Miaozhen jing (Scripture of Wondrous Truth), the Baoguang jing (Scripture of Precious Light), and the Zhenzhong jing (Scripture of the Pillow). They must also cultivate methods such as the diagrams for visualizing deities, and they study the sectional exegesis and the inner exegesis of the Taishang texts, the ritual protocols of the Retreat of Spontaneity, together with one hundred fifty articles of dignified deportment of the Dao and De, five hundred statutes of the Dao and De, and one hundred eighty-three categories of precepts of the Dao and De. Among these, cunsi is a method of Daoist cultivation in which, through mental intention, one visualizes deities and spirits—Shen (spirit)—images, and the like; the protocols of the zhai are the ceremonial norms followed in performing Zhaijiao (purification ritual).

Daoists of the Shengxuan (Ascent to the Mystery) division.

Promoted from the Gaoxuan division, a rank within Daoist Fulu (talismans and registers), one is invested with the Register of Ascending to the Mystery of the Most High. The recipient is styled “Disciple of the Inner Teaching of the Numinous Treasure of the Most High Who Ascends to the Mystery,” “Ritual Master of True Unity Who Ascends to the Mystery,” and “Perfected of Unsurpassed and Wholly Equal Light.” In formal writing one refers to oneself as “your subject, So-and-so,” filling in one’s personal name.

At the investiture one must wear a hibiscus crown, a green cape ornamented with forty-two patterns, a plain lower garment, a red skirt, and black shoes, and hold a white tablet. A plain-patterned altar is set up, and one wears a carefree headcloth and a moon-gauze cap. The scriptures and precepts conferred include one scroll of the Register of Ascending to the Mystery, three hundred articles of the Vows and Precepts of Ascending to the Mystery, three scrolls of the Code of Illuminating the Perfected, three scrolls of the Statutes of the Jade Casket, one certificate of ascent to Heaven, one scroll of the Court Ritual of Ascending to the Mystery, and ten scrolls of the Jing (scripture/classic) of Ascending to the Mystery.

When cultivation reaches this stage, one beholds the “Brahma Qi (vital energy) of the Six Crossings.” The Brahma Qi of the Six Crossings spoken of here refers to the realm of Highest Clarity beyond the Three Realms; it is not the Brahma heavens of Buddhism.

Daoist Priests of the Middle Covenant Division of Dongxuan

Promoted from the division of Ascending to the Mystery, one is invested with the Register of the Middle Covenant, nine scrolls in all, amounting to thirty-six grades and nine certificates. The nine certificates are the Certificate of Contemplating the Subtle and Settling the Will, the Certificate of the Golden Horse Courier Route, the Certificate of the Five Emperors Releasing the Form, the Certificate of Spontaneity, the Certificate of Great Brightness, the Certificate of the Three Sovereigns, the Certificate of the Water Official Releasing the Seven Ancestors, the Certificate of Ascent to Heaven, and the Certificate of Release from Earthly Roots.

The recipient is styled “Disciple of Dongxuan of the Numinous Treasure of the Most High,” “Unsurpassed Ritual Master of Dongxuan,” “Master of the Eastern Marchmount,” and “Perfected of the Azure Emperor,” and refers to oneself as “your subject, So-and-so,” filling in one’s name. The ritual vestments include a far-roaming crown, a five-colored purple cape, a crimson lower garment, a skirt of cinnabar and blue-green, vermilion shoes, a purple altar of the Five Chronograms, and a green-jade pendant with interlaced patterns. One wears the seal of the Eight Effulgences and Golden Perfection, girds the Sunlight Dongshen sword, wears the cap of audience with Heaven—formerly known as the Southern Dynasties cap—and the headcloth of the Three Chronograms. What one studies is the twelve divisions of the Numinous Treasure Dongxuan Jing.

Daoist Priests of the Division of the Three Caverns (Dongzhen/Dongxuan/Dongshen)

After cultivating the Dongxuan division (Dongxuan bu, Cavern of Mystery) on one’s own, one is ritually promoted and invested with the “Precious Registers of the Three Caverns” (Sandong baolu, the credentials for transmitting and receiving the scriptural methods of the Three Caverns) together with the twenty-four grades. These comprise twenty-four scrolls of scripture and twenty-four covenant tallies, and one is also granted nine pairs of gold knobs, twelve pairs of silver rings, one pair of golden dragons, one pair of jade fish, one jade turtle, one jade horse, one azure jade tablet, one yellow jade tablet, and one dark jade tablet, together with one pair of dragon-headed golden knives. All of these are the ritual objects used in the ceremony of transmitting and receiving the “Methods of the Three Caverns.”

The recipient is styled “Ritual Master of the Three Caverns” (Sandong fashi), “Perfected of the Azure Emperor of the Eastern Marchmount” (Dongyue Qingdi zhenren), or “Master Who Ascends to the Mystery” (Shengxuan xiansheng). In the ritual, the recipient announces his or her own name, wears the Hejing crown (crown of conjoined effulgence), drapes an azure-cloud cape of forty-nine panels, and puts on a robe of cinnabar light, a yellow skirt, and vermilion shoes. Seated on the altar for summoning the perfected spirits, the recipient also wears a yellow jade pendant, holds the Seal of the Three Chronograms and the sword that dispels demons, and wears a green-blossom kerchief and the cap of the Five Marchmounts. The scriptural teachings of the Three Caverns and the codes and methods of the Nine Perfected are then conferred.

From this time on, one should understand and diligently cultivate the methods received, striving to practice them in every observance, so that one’s every action accords with the mystery of the true Dao (the Way). Only then may one be further promoted and invested with the superior methods of the Dadong division (Dadong bu, Great Cavern).

Daoist priests of the Dadong division

After practicing the methods of the Three Caverns (Sandong), one next takes up the teachings of the Golden Portal of Highest Clarity, purifying the mind and selecting the methods. Those who are authorized to attain the Dao may be called “Disciple of the Great Cavern of the Three Luminaries of Highest Clarity,” “Unsurpassed Master of the Methods of the Three Caverns,” “Perfected of the Eastern Marchmount,” or “Master of the Dao and De (Virtue/Power).”

When the rite is performed, the disciple styles himself “your subject, So-and-so.” He wears the Purple Court crown of penetrating Jing (essence), a cape of nine-colored liluo, and purple lower garments with a skirt of cinnabar script; he puts on vermilion shoes, holds a yao tablet, and sits upon the Zhenling altar. At his waist he wears a jade pendant of nine radiances, fastens the seal-ribbon of the Unsurpassed Completion of the Dao, bears the sword of luminous Jing, and also wears a yellow ning cap. The original text records this set of caps, robes, and ritual objects a second time.

The master transmits to the disciple the covenant by which the Three Officials release the ancestors, the tally for severing earthly roots, the tally for ascent to heaven, the tally of joint sponsorship by the Five Emperors and the Great Demons, and the tally by which the Imperial Lords of the Thirty-two Heavens recognize merit, together with the various methods of flying steps and the great formula of the Golden Elixir (Jindan). Covenants and tallies are credentials or documents in Daoist rites of transmission. They concern the release of ancestral ties, departure from the earthly realm, ascent to heaven, and the sponsorship of spirits together with the recording of merit. The “various methods of flying steps” and the “great formula of the Golden Elixir” refer to the corresponding methods of cultivation.

Thereafter the master transmits the Method of Completion, in succession, to those in the world who study the Dao, passing it to only one person in each generation. At the transmission, master and disciple ascend the Yellow Altar, report to the Nine Heavens, and swear a covenant by smearing blood; the blood is taken from the recipient of the method himself. They then confer the covenants and tallies separately and, with tokens such as a golden fish, a jade dragon, a red-jade gui tablet, and a round yao, swear an oath before the myriad spirits. Only after this is the superior method transmitted.

Only when the transmission is complete does the master begin the Way of “returning the carriage,” continuing until merit and cultivation are fulfilled. Taking leave of the disciple, he has a carriage of plain wood made. The disciple attends him in person and drives the carriage to escort the master away. When the carriage reaches the mountain gate, or the mouth of the valley, of the famous mountain where he dwells, the carriage is burned. From then on the master devotes himself to cultivating the Way of ascent in flight of the Latter Sage of the Golden Portal, passes beyond the Three Realms, and does not return to the human world.

Daoists who dwell in the mountains

Daoist priests who live in the mountains wear the Pingqi crown (“crown of even Qi,” Qi being vital energy) and a patched cape patterned with mountains, waters, clouds, and rosy mists, a form of Daoist vestment. Below this they wear a yellow cloth upper garment and a cloth skirt, with white shoes or straw sandals. They sit on the Altar of the Seven Stars, wear the seals of the Two Prohibitions, set out swords for subduing spirits on the eastern and western sides, and wear a dark headcloth. Daoists of this kind each cultivate according to what they have learned. They devote themselves to purity, stillness, and secluded retirement, and do not take the relief of people in the world as their chief duty. Daoist writings call them “cold-dwelling Daoists of the mountain forests,” that is, Daoists who live in the mountains and forests and lead an austere, reclusive life. In the original text, the passage concerning clothing and ritual implements is repeated once.

Dongyuan Daoists

Daoists of this school are called Sanmei ritual masters. They wear the Tongxuan crown and a cape ornamented with thirty-one blue-green patterns, with a cinnabar-colored upper garment and a yellow skirt below, and black shoes. They hold a jian, a ceremonial insignia or document used when rites are performed, and sit on the Yellow Writ altar. They wear the five-division seals of Dongyuan, gird the Dongguang sword at the waist, and cultivate the Dongyuan Sanmei method. Above, this method can drive off demons that fly through the heavens; in the middle, it can regulate the five Qi; and below, it can cut off every kind of demonic evil. It is also often used to bring relief to people in the world.

Beidi Taixuan Daoists

Daoists of this school are called disciples of the Shangqing Beidi Taixuan, the Great Mystery of the Northern Emperor in the Highest Clarity tradition. They wear the Xingji crown and black feather robes, with a white upper garment and a yellow skirt below, and black shoes. They sit on the altar for summoning spirits, hold a jian, wear the seal of Fengdu, and gird the sword for slaying ghosts at the waist.

The scriptures and ritual objects transmitted to them include the Register of the Northern Emperor (Beidi lu) in two fascicles; the Scripture for Subduing Demons (Fumo Jing; Jing means scripture or classic) in three fascicles; the Scripture of Tianpeng (Tianpeng Jing) in ten fascicles; the Northern Emperor Scripture of Prohibitions and Spells (Beidi Jinzhou Jing) in three fascicles; the Scripture of Flying-Mystery Feathered Stanzas (Feixuan Yuzhang Jing) in ten fascicles; the Northern Emperor Scripture for Sending Down Spirits and Summoning Souls (Beidi Jiangling Zhaohun Jing) in three fascicles; the Method of the Northern Emperor Thunder Lord (Beidi Leigong fa) in one fascicle; the Essential Register of Fengdu (Fengdu yaolu) in three fascicles; the Strategies for Commanding Ghosts (Chuan Gui ce) in three fascicles; the Three-Division Talismans of the Northern Emperor (Beidi sanbu fu) in one fascicle; and the Court Ritual of the Northern Emperor (Beidi chaoyi) in one fascicle. In the original text several titles, including the Northern Emperor Scripture of Prohibitions and Spells, appear more than once; here they are combined and listed according to the number of fascicles marked after them. This school is responsible for governing the ghosts and spirits of the Six Heavens and for performing ritual services such as driving off evil and averting calamity.

Section on Female Officers

In this ritual, women who take part in transmitting the various registers of methods follow the same ceremonial procedures as the male officials. If a woman participates in the scriptural methods of the Great Vehicle—that is, the Jing (scripture/classic) and the methods of Great Vehicle cultivation—she is called a “Female Disciple of the Most High Quanzhen (Complete Perfection)” and refers to herself as “Your subject, [personal name].” She wears a three-leaved dark crown and a Guanxia cape ornamented with twelve stripes, with blue-green cloth wrapped inside and yellow cloth covering the outside, fastened by a band over the right shoulder. She wears a plain lower garment and a yellow skirt, holds a staff of authority, and wears straw sandals.

Female Official of the Zhengyi Mengwei (Orthodox Unity Covenant with the Powers)

She is called a “Female Disciple of the Zhengyi Mengwei (Orthodox Unity Covenant with the Powers) of the Mysterious Capital,” and she states that she belongs to the lineage of the Lord Celestial Master (Tianshi), is attached to a certain parish, cultivates a certain Qi (vital energy), and is a “Primal Youth Who Paces the Mainstays of the Three and Five of the Red Heaven,” referring to herself as “Your subject, [personal name].” She wears a Cavern-Yin crown and a yellow-cloud cape ornamented with twenty-four stripes, together with a red-patterned robe, a yellow skirt, and black shoes. She holds a ritual tablet and sits on an altar of the Bagua (Eight Trigrams).

What is called the “Three and Five of the Red Heaven” means, in broad terms, that the sun and moon move in accordance with the Yellow Path and the Red Path (the celestial equator), known as the “Two Luminaries.” Perfected persons preside over the affairs of the Yellow Path and the Red Path in order to regulate Yin-Yang, and they take the palaces of the sun, moon, and stars as their seats of authority. There is also the method of the “White Path”: from the first day of the month to the full moon, the moon is white and bright; from the sixteenth day to the end of the month, the moon is black and dim. If the people of the Dao (the Way) seek only lesser blessings, they pray to the moon when it is bright and pray to the stars when its light is dim. From this arose the Dao of Black and White and related formulations. The standing of these two methods is lower than that of the methods of the Yellow Path and the Red Path.

Female Official of Dongshen

She is called a “Female Disciple of the Most High Dongshen (Cavern of Spirit, one of the Three Caverns), Primal Consort of the Cavern Numen,” and refers to herself as “Your subject, [personal name].” She wears a Vermilion-Yang crown and a vermilion cape ornamented with thirty-two stripes, together with a yellow upper garment, a cinnabar-red skirt, and black shoes. She holds a ritual tablet and sits on an altar of the Nine Palaces.

Female Official of Gaoxuan (the High Mystery)

She is called a “Female Disciple of the Most High Gaoxuan, Youth Lord of the Purple Void,” and refers to herself as “Your subject, [personal name].” She wears a Roaming-Mystery crown, a yellowish-brown robe, a bluish-green lower garment, and a plain skirt, together with black shoes. She holds a ritual tablet and sits on an azure altar.

Female Official of Shengxuan (Ascending to the Mystery)

She styles herself “Female Disciple of the Most High Ascendant Mystery, Numinous True Consort of the True Unity of the Unsurpassed Inner Teaching,” and says that she is your servant So-and-so of the Lesser Perfected. She wears a Four Mysteries crown, a blue-green auroral cape over her shoulders, a yellow robe and a red skirt below, and black shoes. She holds a ritual tablet and sits upon a green altar.

Female Officer of the Middle Covenant

She styles herself “Female Disciple of the Most High Numinous Treasure of Dongxuan (Cavern Mystery),” one of the Three Caverns (Dongzhen/Dongxuan/Dongshen), and is also called “Ritual Master of the Cavern Mystery” and “Lady of the Eastern Marchmount.” So-and-so refers to herself as your servant. She wears a hibiscus crown, a purple-brown upper garment, a blue-green robe, and a red skirt. She holds a ritual tablet and bears a Sunlight Sword, white pendant beads, and three seals with ribbons of the Primordial Void, and sits upon the Altar of the Five Qi (vital energy).

Female Officer of the Three Caverns

She styles herself “Female Disciple of the Three Caverns of Supreme Clarity, Unsurpassed Ritual Master of the Three Caverns, Lady of the Azure Numen of the Eastern Marchmount.” So-and-so refers to herself as your servant. She wears a Linked Clouds crown, a vermilion-brown robe, a blue robe, and a green skirt, with black shoes. She holds a ritual tablet and bears the altar ornaments of the Four Spirits, a green jade pendant, white pendant beads, the seals and ribbons of the Three Caverns, and the Sword of the Nine Perfected.

Female Officer of Supreme Clarity

She styles herself “Great Ritual Master of Supreme Clarity, Lady of the Azure Numen of the Eastern Marchmount.” So-and-so refers to herself as your servant. She wears a Linked Clouds crown, a vermilion-brown robe, a blue robe, and a green skirt, with black shoes. She holds a ritual tablet and bears the altar ornaments of the Four Spirits, a green jade pendant, white pendant beads, the seals and ribbons of the Three Caverns, and the Sword of the Nine Perfected.

Female Officer of Supreme Clarity

She styles herself “Female Disciple of the Great Cavern and Three Luminaries of Supreme Clarity, Ritual Master Who Carries Out the Unsurpassed Three Caverns, Primordial Lady of the Azure Numen of the Eastern Marchmount.” So-and-so refers to herself as your servant. She wears a Mysterious Numen Flying Phoenix crown, a cape of five-colored clouds and rosy mists, a blue robe and a red gauze skirt, and red shoes. She sits upon the Zhenling Altar and holds a ritual tablet. As for the rites and methods of turning the carriage and entering the mountains, they are in every case the same as those of the male officers.

Female Daoist Dwelling in the Mountains

She styles herself “Female Disciple of the Great Dao (the Way).” So-and-so refers to herself as your servant. She wears a Crown of the Two Qi, a patched cape made of twenty-four strips of cloth, a blue silk robe and a yellow cloth skirt, and straw sandals. She sits upon the Altar of the Eight Effulgences and holds a ritual tablet.

Here, jian is the ritual tablet held in the hand during the ceremony; pei is the Daoist ceremonial cape worn over the body; and yinshou is the seal together with the ribbon by which it is fastened. Crowns and robes, pendants and ornaments, altar stations, and self-designated titles each mark the status and ritual rank of the female Daoist officers.