《传授三洞经戒法箓略说》

The Chuanshou Sandong Jingjie Falu Lüeshuo sets out the general procedures for transmitting the Daoist scriptures of the Three Caverns (Dongzhen/Dongxuan/Dongshen), together with the precepts, ritual methods, and Fulu (talismans and registers). “Three Caverns” refers to the three traditional classifications of Daoist classics, or Jing (scripture/classic): Dongzhen, Dongxuan, and Dongshen. “Falu” refers to the ritual documents and Fulu used in Daoist ritual methods.

The table of contents lists the precepts and classical items of the upper fascicle, including the transmissions of Zhengyi (Orthodox Unity), the Daodejing—the classic of the Dao (the Way) and De (Virtue/Power)—the Three Sovereigns, and Lingbao, as well as the Five Talismans of Lingbao, the Eastern and Western Prohibition Texts, the True Form Charts of the Five Marchmounts, and the Inner Texts of the Three Sovereigns. The table of contents of the lower fascicle mainly enumerates the tokens of faith and the covenant and oath matters required for the rite of transmission, such as gold and silver, gold rings, golden dragons, jade disks, silk, incense, rice, a golden sheep, a jade wild goose, and fish-shaped tokens, together with paper, brushes, and ink, contracts and tallies, covenants, and oaths. These objects and rites express the sincerity of the one who receives the teachings and witness the relationship of transmission between master and disciple.

In the main text of the upper fascicle, only the section titles appear here; “qianque” indicates that the preceding text is missing.

Zhang Wanfu examined the purport of the scriptures and held that human beings originally come from within emptiness and natural spontaneity, and only later condense into bodily form and come to possess consciousness. The human constitution is modeled on Heaven and Earth, is endowed with the characteristics of the myriad things, and enjoys the protection of divine spirits, and is therefore noble beyond compare. Yet people are also stained by habitual tendencies and the toils of the dusty world, drifting through the cycle of birth and death and unable to awaken by their own power. The Celestial Worthy, filled with great compassion, is skilled at exhorting living beings by every kind of expedient means. He expounds the Jing (scripture/classic) and demonstrates the precepts, teaching and saving celestial and human beings so that men and women alike may return to the correct Dao (the Way).

The Qi (vital energy) with which people are endowed, however, may be clear or turbid, and their capacities may be worthy or foolish. The teaching is therefore divided into the Three Vehicles (paths of cultivation at different levels), and living beings likewise differ in many ways. Among the methods there is a distinction between gradual cultivation and sudden enlightenment, and all of this has its reasons. What follows briefly sets out the essentials of transmitting the precepts.

Categories of the Precepts

The Precepts of the Three Refuges are received by those who first arouse the mind and enter the Dao. They serve to guide them in taking refuge in the Three Treasures (the Dao, the Jing, and the master).

The Five Precepts help practitioners keep away from the five desires (the various desires of the senses), cultivate five kinds of De (Virtue/Power), observe the five precepts, and rise free of the five turbidities (the conditions of a turbid world that bewilder people and cause them to sink).

The Eight Precepts consist in observing eight preceptual matters so as to accord with the eight spirits. The Precepts of the Three Refuges and the Five Precepts mentioned above are the precepts received upon becoming a lusheng (a kind of name-register or credential that the Daoist teaching confers on the person who receives the precepts).

The Unsurpassed Ten Precepts are received by lay men and women, and serve to cut off the ten evils and to practice the ten good deeds.

The Precepts of Initial Perfection are received by Daoists who have newly left household life. They are the precepts received when one has just cast off secular dress and begun to enter the Dao.

The Seventy-Two Precepts are received by disciples of the Zhengyi (Orthodox Unity) tradition. Disciples of this kind belong to the class of name-registers known as the Register of Immortal Numina.

The Major Code of the One Hundred and Eighty Precepts is the precept code received by male officers, female officers, and Zhengyi Daoists. It is said to have been transmitted by Lord Lao to Gan Ji.

The Celestial Worthy’s Ten Precepts and Fourteen Articles on Upholding the Person are received by disciples of pure faith (lay believers who cultivate the Dao while living at home) when they devote themselves over a long period to concentrated practice.

The Yin-Yang Precepts of Great Clarity are received by disciples who uphold the register of the Five Thousand Characters.

The Twenty-Seven Precepts of the Xiang’er are received by Ritual Masters of the Lofty Mystery of the Most High.

The important teachings of Dongshen (Spirit Cavern) within the Three Caverns (Dongzhen/Dongxuan/Dongshen), the Five Precepts, the Thirteen Precepts, and the seven hundred and twenty precepts are those received and upheld by disciples of the Three Sovereigns.

The one hundred and twenty-nine precepts are those received and upheld by disciples of the Shengxuan Neijiao (Inner Teaching of Ascent to the Mystery).

The “Precept of Closing Off the Six Passions” (the precept that restrains the six senses and mental faculties of the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind) is the precept received at the initial covenant of Lingbao (Numinous Treasure), that is, the precept received at the “breaking of the Covenant of Spontaneity.”

The Great Precepts of the Supreme Grade of Wisdom are the precepts received at the middle Lingbao covenant, the same as those received when one accepts and upholds the scriptures entered into their cases.

The One Hundred and Eighty Precepts of the Three Primes are the precepts received at the great Lingbao covenant.

The Three Hundred Great Precepts of Wisdom for Contemplating the Body are the precepts received by Daoists of Shangqing (Highest Clarity).

At noon on the first day of the seventh month in the first year of Kaihuang, the Celestial Worthy of Primordial Beginning (Yuanshi Tianzun), in the Grove of Long Mulberries on Fuluo Peak of Mount Yucha in the Jade Kingdom of Xina, transmitted the Scriptural Text of the Method of the Great Precepts of the Supreme Grade of Wisdom to the Most High Lord of the Dao (Taishang Daojun). The Celestial Worthy said to the Most High Lord of the Dao: “Now you should widely proclaim the penetrating voice of the teaching, awaken living beings, and, for male and female devotees, dispel calamities and remove afflictions, pray for blessings and prolong life, and pull up the roots of every kind of suffering. Let the living come to see the Dao and escape the Eight Difficulties (the eight obstacles encountered in cultivating the Dao and in hearing the true teaching); let the dead abide in peace and joy, partake of the food and drink of the heavenly realms, and soon be reborn in the human world as a Wheel-Turning Sacred King (the ideal sacred king who governs the world by the true teaching).

“All who practice purification retreats and seek the Dao should wholeheartedly observe and receive the Ten Precepts, listen carefully, and not forget them; concentrate and advance with diligence, hold them silently in mind, and deeply realize the Dao of spontaneity. Do not give rise to distracting thoughts, lest they disturb body and mind.

“If one wishes to settle oneself and bring order to the state, to make one’s household pure and noble, and to gain the protection of the heavenly deities and the reverent affection of the earth deities, one should cultivate works of goodness, apply oneself diligently to purification and the precepts, and widely practice teaching and charitable aid. Attend to others first and consider oneself only afterward; bestow kindness on all things so that merit extends to everything. When merit has accumulated to three thousand, one may ascend to heaven in broad daylight. When good deeds are more than sufficient, cloud-chariots will descend from heaven; if one never ceases to spread the Great Dao, one will naturally attain long life without death. All of these are the fundamental great precepts of cultivation—how could one fail to revere and practice them?”

In cultivating the methods of the Dao (the Way), one must also contemplate oneself with wisdom and uphold the precepts. The Celestial Emperor of Taiwei, a Daoist deity, said: “When I first began to study the Dao, I knew only how to request and receive Jing (scripture/classic), and did not know to seek out and observe the precepts. I therefore passed through many kalpas of birth and death in the cycle of transmigration. If one does not uphold the Great Precepts of Contemplating the Body, how can one become an immortal?” Thus, in cultivating the Dao, one should first study the precepts; this is the foundation of the Daoist tradition. The precepts are to be studied and recited. The great sages of the highest rank all keep the great precepts secretly stored and do not write them down in books.

If one has only ritual techniques and does not observe the precepts, it is like wishing to cross the sea without oars, or like having a mouth but no tongue—by what means, then, can one liberate oneself? One ought therefore first to recite and study the precepts, and must not be negligent.

Wanfu said: “All who have just entered the Daoist tradition must observe the precepts. The precepts serve to prevent faults and stop evil deeds, so that a person may cultivate goodness and set out on the path to immortality. They are the gateway of every kind of practice, and the key that opens the door of cultivation. The six passions—the six sense faculties and the desires that attend them—are easily drawn along by external things, and the five desires—attachment to wealth, sensual beauty, fame, food, sleep, and the like—cause one to become enthralled. The mind within is thereby thrown into disorder, and what is seen without grows dim and defiled. Chasing fame and profit and sinking into sound and sensual pleasure, one’s conduct readily turns down evil paths and remains long estranged from the realm of the worthy and the sages. If one does not observe the precepts, it is hard to turn back. Therefore the Jing says: ‘Observing the precepts can restrain the six passions; keeping the Dao in mind can dispel desire.’ It also says: ‘To study the Dao without cultivating purification and the precepts is only to waste one’s effort in the mountains and forests.’ And again: ‘Everything begins with purification and the precepts. Accumulate merit and form the good karmic bonds of former lives, and one may ascend in flight into the Great Void and keep company with the exalted immortals.’”

Whenever one receives the precepts, one should go to one’s master and receive them with reverence, and should copy and recite the precept texts. If at the same time one has already received the related scriptural methods, there is no need to repeat the procedure.

Zhengyi (Orthodox Unity) Catalog of Methods

The General Registers—Fulu (talismans and registers) that confer the titles of divine generals—include the One-General Register and the Ten-General Register, and are listed as those received by youths.

Within Yin-Yang, the Register of Seventy-Five Generals of the Immortal Officials is Yang and is received by men, while the Register of Seventy-Five Generals of the Numinous Officials is Yin and is received by women. These two together are called the “Immortal and Numinous Register of One Hundred Fifty Generals.”

Also listed are the names of further method-registers: the Divine Talisman of the Nine Palaces for Warding Off Adversity and the Six Harms, the Field Bureau’s Prohibition of Qi (vital energy), Duzhangbi, the Nine Heavens’ Breaking of Affliction, and the Greater and Lesser Slaying of Evil.

The Celestial Numen Red Office Original-Destiny Red Register, together with the Greater and Lesser Summoning Registers; the Community Commands of the Nine Provinces, the Troop Talismans of the Nine Heavens, and the True Talismans of the Nine Heavens; the Green Armor and the Red Armor that overturn heaven and invert the earth; the Eight Tablets of Red Bing Without End; the Five Tablets, the Eight Lodges, and the Seven Stars; the Purple Palace, the Purple Terrace, and the Three Generals. These amount in all to fourteen classes and thirty-six kinds of registers, and they are given only as a broad outline. The graded ranks of the remaining one hundred scrolls are all recorded in the relevant Jing (scriptures/classics), and are not listed in full here.

The Zhengyi Fawen Kejie Pin (Chapter on Statutes and Precepts of the Ritual Texts of Zhengyi, Orthodox Unity) says: In commanding every spirit and ghost between heaven and earth, destroying evil demons and sprites, summoning numinous officials and mobilizing Shen (spirit) and Qi (vital energy), taking charge of the mountains and rivers, cleansing away defilement, and transmitting word through memorials so as to communicate with the immortals, nothing is more important than the method of Zhengyi.

Wan Fu says: If an ordinary person has not received orthodox Qi (the legitimate vital energy conferred by the method of Zhengyi), that person is easily harmed by the ghosts and spirits of the Six Heavens, by sprites and wangliang, and by every kind of evil demon. If one cannot discern these disturbances and break free of them, vexation, illness, and suffering will cling to the body, hinder cultivation of the Dao (the Way), and even shorten one’s life. The Most High (Taishang, the honorific by which Daoism addresses the supreme deity), out of compassion, established a teaching to instruct the people of the world, so as to subdue violent and overbearing evil spirits. Divine offices and titles were instituted; Qi (the energy of life and of its circulation, as Daoism speaks of it) was bestowed and spirits were summoned; evil demons were destroyed and the chieftains of the specters of Jing (essence) were suppressed and held in check, so that the clear and the turbid would each return to their proper place and humans and ghosts would each keep to their own bounds. One rectifies the self and removes falsity and error, and by means of the One brings all that exists under command, so that falsity and error return to right principle and the myriad things return to a single lineage. Therefore the host of spirits is enrolled in the registers and brought under unified command, and all are made to turn together toward the true Dao.

What are called the celestial armored troops, and the officers and soldiers of the immortal administration, are all numinous powers into which the Dao differentiates itself. One concentrates the intent of Shen and bestows Qi; outwardly, wondrous efficacy is manifested, and inwardly a subtle radiance is sent forth. After the resonance of emptiness and stillness has appeared, the true officials respond. This realm may be reached through the sympathetic communion of spiritual intent, yet it is difficult to seek out by deliberation; nor can what the Jing of the various sections teach be made wholly clear in words.

Entries of the Daode Jing (the scripture of the Dao and of De, Virtue/Power): the Daode, upper and lower, in two scrolls; the Heshang Gong Commentary (Heshang Gong’s commentary on the Daode Jing), upper and lower, in two scrolls; the Xiang’er Commentary, upper and lower, in two scrolls; and the Great Preservation Chart.

The Daodejing (Classic of the Dao [the Way] and De [Virtue/Power]) is divided into upper and lower volumes, and the Heshang Gong Commentary (Heshang Gong’s commentary on the Daodejing) is likewise divided into upper and lower volumes.

The Xiang’er Commentary is divided into upper and lower volumes, along with the Dacun tu in one volume, the Chuanyi (rite of transmission) in one volume, the Chaoyi (court rite) in one volume, and the Zhaiyi (purification rite) in one volume. All of these are matters set forth in the Taixuanjing (Classic of Great Mystery) and should be received, upheld, and practiced accordingly.

The Laojun xisheng (Western Ascension of Lord Lao) is in one volume; the Miaozhen is divided into upper and lower volumes; the Neijie is in two volumes and the Jiejie in two volumes; the Gaoshang zhuan is in one volume; and the Wushang zhenren zhuan (Biography of the Unsurpassed Perfected) is in one volume.

The Zixu lu (Register of the Purple Void) is in one volume. This scriptural register was expounded by Zuo Xiangong and Jinming for transmission and practice.

The Preface and Oral Instructions to the Classic of the Dao (the Way) and De (Virtue/Power), by the Left Immortal Duke of the Taiji (Supreme Ultimate), says: The five thousand words of the Daode Jing set forth the foundations of the Dao and De. Their content is vast and all-embracing, and even in the finest details nothing lies beyond their reach. It is a classic that accords with the natural principles of Heaven, Earth, and human beings.

It is said that Lord Lao descended into the human world on the bingwu day, the twelfth day of the first month of the first year of Shanghuang, and served as teacher to the Zhou dynasty. In the fifth month of the first year of Wuji he left the Zhou domain; on the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month of that same year he passed through the pass, and on the twenty-eighth day he transmitted the Taishang Daode Jing to the Perfected Yin. This scripture is jointly revered by the heavens of the ten directions, by humans and deities, and by immortals, ghosts, and numinous beings.

The Daoist priest Zheng Siyuan said: My teacher, the Immortal Duke Ge, received the Daode Jing from the Perfected of the Great Ultimate and transmitted its oral instructions to me, saying that this scripture is the ancestral classic at the root of the Dao. All who recite and intone it ten thousand times, calming the mind and stilling the Qi (vital energy) while concentrating on the mysterious Dao, are able to ascend as immortals. The Hidden Commentary to the Jade Scripture of the Most High says that if one regularly recites the Daode Jing ten thousand times, the Most High will send cloud-dragons to come and receive one. Those who have completed ten thousand recitations but have not yet left the world and ascended as immortals need only recite it three more times each month; when the cloud-carriage arrives, they will be able to ascend as immortals.

The Hidden Commentary further says that those who cultivate the Dao while living at home should receive and uphold the Daode Jing. On the first day, the fifteenth, and the last day of each month, as well as on one’s natal day and the eight nodal days, one should recite it once at noon and once at midnight. If one sincerely practices the wondrous methods set forth in the scripture, then after death one may lodge one’s form in the Jing (essence) of Great Yin, and the cloud-carriage of the Celestial Emperor will receive one’s own Shen (spirit), so that one need not undergo the punishments of the Three Officials of Mount Tai (the divine offices in charge of investigation and judgment) and of the hells. Upon ascending, one may be born beside the Celestial Emperor; if reborn in the human world, one will be born into the household of a marquis or king, with features proper and complete, and may also be reborn from female to male, forming an affinity with the Shangqing (the pure and subtle immortal realm venerated in Daoism).

This scripture is suited to people of every kind. Whether of high or low station, one may cultivate it according to one’s own wish, and there is no restriction. Whether for attending the dead at life’s end or for nourishing life, whatever one seeks can thereby receive aid. It can also bring stability to the state and peace to the people, subdue the foreign peoples of distant borders, and cause them to submit to the Great Dao. The wonders of this scripture are beyond compare.

Wan Fu said: The five thousand words of the Daode Jing (Scripture of the Dao, the Way, and De, Virtue/Power) are regarded as the essence of the scriptures of the Three Caverns (Sandong: Dongzhen, Dongxuan, and Dongshen) and as the profound purport of the gateway of the supreme vehicle. They may be used to cultivate the self and order the state, freeing people from attachment to what has form and returning them to the Dao of emptiness. Their principles cannot be fully expressed in words or images, and even deep inquiry cannot exhaust them; yet they have been the model followed by emperors through the ages, a classic that will not perish even after a thousand kalpas. For this reason, the immortal officials who have attained the Dao in the Palace of Taiji (the Supreme Ultimate), together with the holy perfected of Mount Taixuandu, constantly study and contemplate the Daode Jing, chanting the profound and mysterious principles within it.

If an ordinary person is fortunate enough to obtain this scripture, observes fasting and purification for a thousand days, and recites it ten thousand times, it is said that cloud-dragons will descend to receive them and immortal youths will attend and protect them, so that they gain the art of enduring through ten thousand kalpas. Lord Lao (Laojun) transmitted the scripture to Yin Xi, who cultivated according to it and attained the Dao. Later he followed Lord Lao in teaching and transforming the Hu peoples and in traveling throughout the world, moving freely between being and non-being and transforming at will. He became the supreme perfected, Master Wenshi, and the ancestral teacher of later generations.

Catalogue of the Methods of the Three Sovereigns (Sanhuang)

The Fulu (talismans and registers) of the Vajra Youth (the talismans and registers associated with the Vajra Youth). The universally promulgated edition (the version issued for general circulation). The true secret names of the Three-in-One (the authentic taboo-names of the honored deities of the Three-in-One).

Charts of the Three Generals. Charts of the Nine Sovereigns. The Inner Script of the Three Sovereigns. The Great Characters of the Three Sovereigns.

The Dongshen Jing (Scripture of the Cavern of Spirit), in fourteen scrolls; there is also a version in thirteen scrolls transmitted by Master Tao.

The Lingbao Jing (scripture) says that Shenbao Jun is the revered deity of the Dongshen division, one of the Three Caverns of Daoist scriptures. In the first year of the Supreme Sovereign, when Shenbao Jun brought forth the scriptures, they were called the “Three Sovereigns Dongshen.”

The Scripture of the Taiqing Taiji (Supreme Ultimate) Palace says that the Three Sovereigns are the revered deities of the Three Caverns, and also the ancestral Qi (vital energy) of “Dayou”—the original Qi from which the myriad things are generated. The Heavenly Sovereign governs Qi, the Earthly Sovereign governs Shen (spirit), and the Human Sovereign governs life; the three combine to form De (Virtue/Power), and from this the myriad things are transformed and born.

The Dongshen scriptures of the Three Sovereigns transmit teachings and precepts to the people of the world, directing moral instruction, assisting the state, and supporting the common people. Thus, when the Son of Heaven obtains these scriptures, the phoenix descends and auspicious signs appear; the Son of Heaven can also command the hundred spirits and sweep away every evil influence. If one enters famous mountains and roams the farthest reaches of the eight directions, the ghosts and spirits of the world dare not stand in the way; and superior adepts who cultivate the Dao (the Way) can ascend as immortals.

Wan Fu says that immortals, perfected ones, and sages who have attained the Dao, although they have transcended the ordinary world, still bear the office of overseeing instruction and transformation. They preside over heaven and earth, grotto abodes, and mountains and rivers, summon ghosts and spirits, command spirit officials, call forth clouds and send down rain, and thereby sustain the people. This writing is probably a chapter spontaneously handed down by the Most High, and also a credential of the immortals and perfected ones. It was proclaimed by Shenbao Jun to instruct the Nine Immortals and the Three Sovereigns, each of whom received one chapter, and for this reason it came to bear this name. The wording of the scripture is profound, and both its principles and its practical matters are subtle and exact. The full contents are all recorded in the scripture and are difficult to set forth one by one here.

Catalogue of Lingbao Methods

Spontaneous Covenant: the Zhongmeng Jing, in forty-seven scrolls.

True Writ of the Great Covenant: the Inner Sounds of the Eight Effulgences.

The Scripture of the True Writ in Red Script says: The True Writ of the Jade Chapters of the Primordial Dongxuan Lingbao Red Script was generated before the Primordial Beginning, within the empty void. At that time heaven and earth had not yet formed their foundations, the sun and moon had not yet given forth light, and all lay in deep obscurity…

The Scripture of the True Writs and the Red Script says that the True Writs of the Jade Chapters of the Dongxuan Lingbao Red Script of the Celestial Worthy of Primordial Beginning were born in the Hollow Void even before the Celestial Worthy of Primordial Beginning (Yuanshi Tianzun) appeared. At that time Heaven and Earth had not yet taken form, and the sun and moon had not yet given light. All around was dark and chaotic, without beginning and without origin. These numinous writs showed themselves only faintly, now present and now absent. The two Qi (vital energy) of Yin-Yang in Heaven and Earth depended on them in order to separate, and the sun depended on them in order to shine forth. The patterns of Heaven changed along with them, and when the moment of their movement had ripened, the numinous writs appeared.

Heaven and Earth took form by means of the numinous writs, and the sun, moon, and stars gave forth light by means of them. The writs were elegant and abundant, their radiance illuminating the realm of Shangqing (the high celestial realm of immortals spoken of in Daoism). They emerged from the Heaven of Initial Azure. Their colors had no fixed quarter, and their forms were winding and intricate, difficult to describe in full. The Celestial Worthy of Primordial Beginning refined them in the Lodge of Cavernous Yang and smelted them again in the Court of Flowing Fire, so that the proper text became vivid and its luster crystalline. Because the Qi of Cavernous Yang is red, they are called the “Red Script.”

After the numinous charts appeared, the myriad emperors paid homage to the true Dao (the Way). They flew through the air and trod the void, circled the upper palaces, burned incense and scattered flowers, and chanted the numinous chapters. At that time twelve kinds of profound and wondrous auspicious signs appeared in Heaven, and twenty-four kinds of responses appeared on Earth. Heaven thereby made manifest the hidden mystery of the Nine Heavens and praised the precious light of the Three Heavens. A divine wind arose, and the teaching of the Dao circulated without obstruction. The Celestial Worthy of Primordial Beginning gave the command: the Great Perfected took up the brush, and the Jade Consort arranged the seats. The gods cast gold into tablets and engraved the jade chapters. The Five Elders were charged with the records, and the scripture was secretly stored in the Palace of the Numinous Capital of the Nine Heavens. Jade Maidens presided over the incense rites, divine persons of Taihua held the cloths, and Jade Lads attended and stood guard. The scripture was honored within the court of the jade steps. It is the supreme writing of the Nine Heavens, and even ghosts and spirits have no way of hearing it.

Heaven protects itself with this treasure, and Earth is made secure by keeping it hidden. When the Jade Emperor holds it, the world below is kept in order. The sun, moon, and stars follow it and so are bright and far-reaching. The highest sages practice it and can become perfected. The Five Sacred Mountains accord with it and thereby possess numinous Qi. When the Son of Heaven obtains it, he can govern the world and bring peace to the destiny of the state. This is precisely the wondrous merit of the numinous writs, and also the root that Heaven and Earth keep deeply stored. Their majestic numinosity is vast without bound, and their nurturing transformation is broad and great. They are the source of the gods and spirits. Their power cannot be measured, and they are as lofty as the great expanse of space.

The scripture says further that the Red Script Jade Chapters of the Five Elders of Primordial Beginning are the wondrous merit of the numinous writs and also the root of Heaven and Earth. They come from characters spontaneously generated in the Hollow Void. Before the myriad things had yet appeared, they gave birth to Heaven, established Earth, and opened the transformation of gods and spirits. In the upper realm they are called “numinous”: they can secure the Five Sacred Mountains, settle the state, and make the dynastic mandate endure. In the lower realm they are called “treasure”: the Numinous Treasure (Lingbao) is mysterious and wondrous, the root revered by the myriad things.

The True Writs of the East are called the Dongxuan Chapter of Generating Spirits and Treasuring the Perfected. The True Writs of the South are called the Scripture of the Southern Clouds That Communicate with Heaven and Treasure Numinosity. The True Writs of the Center are called the Numinous Book of the Nine Heavens of the Precious Kalpa and Cavernous Clarity. The True Writs of the West are called the Chapter of the Golden Perfected, Precious Radiance, and Cavernous Subtlety. The True Writs of the North are called the Bright Writ of Primordial Spirit Generating the Perfected Treasure. The Jade Chapters of the Five Elders are all scriptures spontaneously generated in the Hollow Void. They are secretly stored on the Mysterious Terrace of the Seven Treasures in the Purple Tenuity Palace of the Numinous Capital of the Nine Heavens, guarded by the divine officials who attend the Five Emperors. According to the mysterious statutes, the Lingbao True Writs appear only once every forty thousand kalpas. They emerged at the beginning, when the Chiming era opened the mystery, and are called the True Writs of the Luminous Sovereign of the Red Script of the Hollow Void. After Heaven and Earth had separated, Heaven was called “numinous” and Earth was called “treasure,” and so they are known as the “Twenty-Four Births of the Numinous Treasure.”

The scripture records that on the second day of the ninth month of the first year of the Supreme Sovereign, the Later Sage, Lord Li, traveled to the Western River and met the Celestial King of Primordial Beginning. Lord Li bowed and said, “In the past I was favored with the transmission of the twenty-four charts of the celestial writings and jade characters. Although I received the scripture, I had not yet grasped its wondrous purport. Now that I have met the Celestial Worthy, I earnestly beg for further instruction.” The Celestial King of Primordial Beginning then spat forth from his mouth the Jade Talisman of Inner Contemplation of Dongxuan, gave it to Lord Li, and instructed him to keep a pure fast for a thousand days and to ingest the talisman while facing east. In this way form and Shen (spirit) would become manifest, and his doubts would of themselves become clear. Lord Li reverently accepted the teaching. In accordance with the celestial rites, he observed a long fast of a thousand days and ingested the talisman facing east. The gods of the Eight Effulgences all appeared within his body, and the golden writings, jade characters, and twenty-four charts also appeared in the air, their script vivid in color and clear through without obstruction.

At noon on the first yin day of the first month of the first year of Chiming, the Celestial Worthy of Primordial Beginning held a rite of transmission and ordination at the Cinnabar Numinous Cavern Palace on the Hill of Nanhuo, in the heaven of Chiming. The five colors were laid out upon the altar; a golden altar was built, the ground was paved with white silver, and the seven treasures were used to offer sacrifice and announce the matter to the gods, as the scriptural methods of Dongxuan were transmitted. In the rite were conferred golden writings in purple characters, jade texts and cinnabar chapters, spontaneous numinous charts, the twenty-four perfected, and the effulgent spirits of the three divisions, together with the sacred regalia of celestial immortals, flying immortals, divine immortals, earthly immortals, and troops, horses, and mounts. All of this was transmitted to the Most High Lord of the Dao of Limitless Ultimacy. In accordance with the norms of the rite and the precepts of the mysterious gate, ninety-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine persons were ordained and delivered. These persons already bore golden names from former lives, their names entered in the registers of the various heavens. When the great cycle comes to an end, those destined for immortality must recover the scriptures and return them to the Purple Tenuity Palace of the Seven-Treasure Mysterious Terrace of Daluo.

The Supreme Scripture of Jade Characters records that the Imperial Person of Celestial Perfection said: The celestial writings and jade characters condense the Qi of soaring mystery and become numinous writs; they join the Qi of the Eight Assemblies and become sounds; they harmonize the Qi of the Five Unions and become chapters. When the great cycle opens, scriptures like chiming jade arise of themselves. The divine wind sounds, and tones like the music of Shao ring through and echo. The scriptures illumine the various heavens and light the dark and hidden realms. They evolved together with the age of Longhan, and in the age of Yankang they manifested the light of Chiming. The Yin-Yang of Heaven and Earth depends on them to separate; the sun, moon, and stars depend on them to move; the highest sages rely on them to obtain spiritual powers; the Five Sacred Mountains treasure them and so possess numinous Qi; the myriad things receive them and come to life; the state receives them and is at peace. They are a root both vast and solemn. To uphold them is to endure; to treasure them is to cause the true spirits to descend; to cultivate them is to become an immortal. They can free the dead from the long night, and they can also refine and nourish living souls in the Vermilion Palace (the abode of immortals spoken of in Daoism).

Writings of this wondrous transformation arise from spontaneity. Mixed into things, they are not defiled; clarified, they do not become pure; destroyed, they do not disappear; and after they disappear, they can be born again. They stand lofty and manifest in the Great Void. They are the origin of the myriad emperors. Their majestic numinosity is vast, and words can hardly describe it.

The Imperial Person of Celestial Perfection said further: In transmitting the spontaneous jade characters of the inner sounds of the various heavens, one should follow the statutory code of Mingzhen. The scripture is to be written in cinnabar on white silk and weighted and guarded with the seven treasures. Gold and silk are offered to express sincerity, and a memorial on yellow silk is presented to the various heavens, reporting the transmission of the scripture. The scripture is then placed on the central altar and set out in the open air for three days and three nights. If it meets with neither wind nor rain, and the characters are not scattered by the wind, it may be regarded as being in accord with the true Dao, and only then is the transmission carried out.

The Imperial Person of Celestial Perfection also said: One who cultivates the way of the flying immortal, or who cultivates such methods as deliverance into extinction, liberation by the corpse, and hidden transformation (by which the practitioner leaves the physical body in a special manner and enters the immortal path), transforming with the cycles amid the round of birth and death and not constrained by Taiyin (the forces of the yin realm spoken of in Daoism), should write the jade characters of the various heavens and the measureless inner sounds in cinnabar on white silk and wear them on the person, and should ingest the Fulu (talismans and registers) according to the scripture. The practitioner’s inner mind is undefiled; the five viscera are clear and harmonious, the six bowels are quiet, and the heart and Shen are empty, bright, and established in Wuwei (non-action). After eight years of practice, one can reach through to the various heavens, see the ten directions while seated in stillness, and have divine perfected beings descend in turn. Jade light is born upon the body; one mounts a dragon carriage and ascends in broad daylight.

The jade chapters belong to the highest methods of the Dao and are transmitted only once every forty thousand kalpas. If one ingests and wears them for a hundred days according to the proper seasons, the various heavens will record the practitioner’s merit and conduct, and the earthly officials will strike the register of sins from the rolls. After eight years of practice, divine perfected beings descend of themselves, jade light is born upon the body, and one reaches through the dark, unseen, and empty realms. Seated in stillness, one can see the Dao of spontaneity. A body that has died can be born again and turn once more into a human form. One is not extinguished in the round of transmigration, and in the end, from within birth and death, attains the Dao and becomes an immortal. If one rashly divulges the scripture or treats it with negligence, one will suffer the punishment of the wind-blades of the River Source, and even through ten thousand kalpas will be unable to become an immortal. According to the old regulations of Mingzhen, these scriptural methods should be kept strictly secret.

Wanfu said: The true writs of Lingbao (the Lingbao scriptures) arose within the empty void, before the Primordial Beginning. At that time Heaven and Earth had not yet taken form, and the sun and moon had not yet given forth light; all around was dim and without shape, with neither ancestor nor source. The Celestial Worthy of Primordial Beginning refined them in the Lodge of Cavernous Yang and tempered them again in the Court of Flowing Fire, so that they appeared as upright characters and shone with brilliant radiance.

Thereupon Taizhen took up the brush, the Jade Consort arranged the mats and banquet, the Golden Lads scattered flowers, and the Jade Maidens raised clouds of incense; the Five Emperors stood guard beside them, and the gods of the Three Realms came forward in audience. Heaven treasured and stored them, and so was able to rise and float; Earth kept them hidden, and so was able to rest secure. The Five Sacred Peaks rely on them to stand firm in their charge, and when a ruler follows them the world can be brought to peace. They can uphold the cycles of the kalpas, harmonize Yin-Yang, transform and instruct the myriad beings, and become the ritual standard observed in common by all the heavens.

Of all the great sages who have attained the Dao (the Way), the Most Perfected, and the various rulers and elders, there are none who do not honor Lingbao and recite its chapters. They endure together with Heaven and Earth and hang suspended together with the sun and moon. The reach of Lingbao is vast, extending throughout Heaven and Earth, yet it is also close to one’s own person. Diligent practice can seek long life; even temporary observance can prolong one’s years. It is the boat by which celestial beings and spirits cross peril and hardship, and the foundation of blessing for both the hidden and the luminous realms. Its principles are profound and hard to put into words; transmitted through vast kalpas, how could I know them in full?

The Five Talismans of Lingbao

The Taixuan Jing (scripture/classic) says: The myriad spirits between Heaven and Earth are all commanded and dispatched by the Six Jia. When Lord Lao cultivates the methods of the Six Jia, he can live long and transcend the world, summoning food and drink at any time; he can conceal his bodily form and transform his body, appear while seated or vanish while standing. In setting out he need not choose a day, and in acting he need not select an hour; he can oversee and inspect the myriad spirits and drive away illness; he can cross rivers and seas without fearing wind and waves, and enter the abyss from the heavens; he can also enter the realm of emptiness and natural spontaneity, go straight to Kunlun, accomplish the Dao of deathlessness, ascend into Taiqing, and mount Ziwei (the exalted divine domain within the celestial realm).

Wan Fu said: Yin-Yang is the root of the Dao (the Way). The alternation of cold and heat, growth and death, and movement and stillness are all manifestations of two kinds of Qi (vital energy). What is clear and floats upward, turns in a circle and moves, and is bright belongs to Yang; what is turbid and sinks downward, is square and still, and is dark belongs to Yin. Yang cannot generate the myriad things by itself and must rely on Yin for them to take form; Yin cannot bring the myriad things to completion alone and must draw on Yang for them to arise and develop. Yin and Yang wax and wane, at times weak and at times full, and only when the two Qi harmonize with each other do the myriad things come into being.

The male belongs to the east and the female to the west; Metal is white and Wood is blue-green. Water flows and Earth is still; Heaven moves on its course and Earth remains settled. When above and below interact in harmony, transformation arises from this, and each of the myriad things has its own spiritual nature. After Heaven and Earth have separated, the myriad things continue to move and change, subtle and mysterious and hard to fathom, and Yin-Yang is thereby made manifest.

The heavenly stems are indicated by characters such as jia and yi, and the earthly branches by characters such as zi and chou; paired with one another, they form sixty combinations. The heavenly stems correspond to the days, and the essential Qi of Yang, its Jing (essence), is called the odd numbers, namely one, three, five, seven, and nine. The earthly branches correspond to the double-hours, and the numinous Qi of Yin is called the even numbers, namely two, four, six, eight, and ten. As Yin and Yang open and close, twelve thousand kinds of things are thereby made complete, each endowed with its own Shen (spirit); what governs them is the Six Jia (the six jia days within the sixty jiazi—jiazi, jiaxu, and the others).

Heaven and Earth, the sovereign, and those who study the Dao all depend on the Six Jia. If Heaven does not employ the Six Jia, the three celestial phenomena—the sun, the moon, and the stars—fall out of order. If Earth does not employ the Six Jia, the Five Sacred Peaks collapse. If the Son of Heaven does not employ the Six Jia, the hundred officials lose their guiding norms. If those who study the Dao do not employ the Six Jia, they violate the profound principles contained within it. The Six Jia are the guiding framework and the standard for all things.

Acting in accordance with the Dao of the Six Jia is said to subdue every kind of evil spirit and to make ghosts and gods submit to one’s command. Daoist priests therefore wear the Six Jia Fulu (talismans and registers)—talismanic credentials associated with the Six Jia—and it is said that, whether sitting or standing, they can cause spirits to descend, attain immortality and long life, and even foresee the future.

The Kaiyuan Scripture says: The Lingbao Five Talismans are writings concealed by the Dao (the Way), condensed from Flying Mystery Qi (vital energy)—the subtle primordial breath—and naturally manifested as talismanic writs. Each character is one zhang square, with radiance streaming outward from its eight corners. Even before the Celestial Worthy of Primordial Beginning appeared, they had already been born within the empty void. They can uphold heaven and earth, restrain the cycles of the kalpas, and cause heaven to endure. Brahma Qi, the pure primordial vital energy, spreads through the four quarters, and from it all forms unfold. All who have attained the Dao in the ten directions, and all immortals and gods, wear and reverently uphold the Lingbao Five Talismans; thus they long endure, transform freely, command the hundred spirits, ascend into the formless realm, and unite with the Great Dao to become perfected.

Wanfu says: The Lingbao Five Talismans generate heaven and earth, differentiate into the Five Phases (Wuxing), and unite with Qi. All immortals and gods wear and reverently uphold them; thus they long endure, transform freely, command the hundred spirits, ascend into the formless realm, and unite with the Great Dao to become perfected.

Wanfu further says: The Lingbao Five Talismans generate heaven and earth, differentiate the Five Phases, unite with Qi, and breathe forth and draw in the hundred spirits. They appear and withdraw in accord with the times, and they endure through the cycles of the kalpas. They revolve among the five kalpas and bestow Qi upon the ten heavens. Xuanyuan once received these talismans from the Imperial Lord of Celestial Perfection and transmitted them to his descendants; Yu of Xia obtained them from Mount Zhong and concealed them at Dongting. The King of Wu divulged these talismans, and the fortunes of his state therefore did not prosper. When a Daoist priest wears them, the Dao does not leave his person; spirit transforms in accord with Qi, and mind and spirit are brought into harmony. When Shen (spirit), the Dao, and Qi unite as one, transformation arises of itself. Practitioners may share the longevity of heaven and earth, refine and transform the body, and enter the realm of the real, meeting no danger throughout their lives. Even if they encounter a water kalpa, they alone survive. Their merit equals the Great Void, and their virtue mysteriously merges with the natural. Those who rashly divulge or slander these talismans incur guilt that continues without end; those who carefully guard, revere, and cherish them enjoy blessings that ever remain. The methods of practice are set out in detail in the scripture.

Prohibitive Texts of the East and West

Wanfu says: These talismans accord with the Writs of the Three Sovereigns—ancient talismanic writings traditionally said to have been transmitted by the sovereigns of high antiquity—and were received by Lord Jie, the Duke of White Sheep. They can subdue tigers, leopards, insects, and wolves, as well as the hundred kinds of spectral beings in the mountains and rivers, so that these dare not do harm. The legends of riding tigers and restraining snakes refer to efficacy of this kind. Daoist priests should keep these talismans secret.

Charts of the True Forms of the Five Marchmounts

The Preface to the Charts of the True Forms of the Five Sacred Mountains records that Emperor Wu of Han delighted in the Dao (the Way) of longevity. He often offered prayers and sacrifices at efficacious famous mountains, seeking the methods of becoming an immortal. On the jiazi day of the first month in the first year of Yuanfeng, he ascended Mount Songgao, built a Daoist palace, and observed a purification fast for seven days. Only after the sacrifice was completed did Emperor Wu of Han return.

On the night of the wuchen day of the fourth month, Emperor Wu of Han sat alone at leisure, with Dongfang Shuo and Dong Zhongjun attending at his side. Suddenly a woman appeared, dressed in blue-green robes and of exceedingly beautiful appearance. Emperor Wu of Han asked who she was.

The woman replied, “I am the Jade Maiden of the Yong Palace (Yonggong). By command of the Queen Mother of the West (Xiwangmu), I have come from Mount Kun to inform Your Majesty. I have heard that Your Majesty wishes to transcend the secular world and seek the methods of the Dao in order to attain longevity, even to the point of being willing to set aside the exalted station of emperor…”

The woman said, "I am a Jade Maiden of the Yong Palace, sent by the Queen Mother of the West (Xiwangmu) from Mount Kunlun to inform Your Majesty. I have heard that you wish to set aside the affairs of the world and seek the Dao (the Way) and long life, that you are willing to forsake your exalted throne, and that you have prayed repeatedly to the sacred mountains. Your devotion to the Dao is sincere, and you now have what is needed to study the immortal path. I ask Your Majesty to fast and keep yourself pure for one hundred days in a row, without dealings with the outside world. On the seventh day of the seventh month, the Queen Mother will come in person."

Emperor Wu of Han stepped down from his mat and knelt to give his consent. When she had spoken, the woman vanished, suddenly gone from sight. The Emperor then ascended the Terrace of Seeking the Real, observed the fast, and concentrated his mind on the great Dao, leaving court business for the time being in the hands of his chancellor.

When the seventh day of the seventh month arrived, the Emperor had the palace halls swept clean and the seats arranged in the great hall. He had the floor covered with purple silk gauze, burned many kinds of blended incense, hung curtains of cloud-patterned brocade, lit the lamps of the Nine Radiances, and prepared grapes, honey, and a banquet for host and guest. Dressed in full court attire, he stood at the foot of the steps. Within the palace and beyond it all was silent, and he waited for the immortal to arrive.

After the second watch of the night, he suddenly saw what looked like white clouds rising in the southwest, drifting thickly toward the palace. Before long the clouds drew nearer, and from within them came the sound of pipes and drums and the tread of men and horses. After a little while the Queen Mother arrived, attended by thousands of immortals whose radiance lit up the courtyard. There were also fifty celestial immortals, each ten feet tall. The Queen Mother ascended the hall and sat facing east. She appeared to be about thirty years old, neither tall nor short, with a beauty beyond compare. She was truly a being of spiritual wonder.

The Emperor stepped down from his carriage, climbed the steps, and prostrated himself before the Queen Mother. After exchanging greetings, he stood respectfully. She invited him to sit and set out the banquet with her own hands. The food was rare and abundant, not of this world, and its fragrance and flavor were so strange that the Emperor could not name any of it. He noticed a small book among the Queen Mother's belongings, kept in a purple brocade bag, and asked what it was. She showed it to him. It was the Chart of the True Forms of the Five Peaks (a collection of diagrams depicting the shapes of the Five Sacred Mountains, used in Daoist practice and in rites for traveling in the mountains).

The Queen Mother said, "This is a secret text transmitted by the Most High of the Three Heavens, and its prohibitions are strict. How could a mortal body like yours be fit to wear it? Long ago, in the first year of Qingxu under the Supreme Sovereign, the Most High Lord of the Dao of the Three Heavens toured the four quarters of heaven and earth, surveying the length of the rivers and seas and the height of the hills and mountains. Following the course and shape of the mountain ranges, he observed the windings of rivers and peaks, the rise and fall of the ridges, and the stretch of the mountain chains. He found their forms winding and turning like the strokes of written characters. So he took names from these shapes, fixed their titles, and drew the figures on the Mysterious Terrace as a token of trust for the spiritual and true.

"When an immortal wears this chart, it is as though he holds the credentials of heaven. When a Daoist carries it through mountains and rivers, the hundred deities and all the spirits will honor him and come out to greet him. Because you have a sincere heart for the Dao, I now entrust it to you. You must guard it as reverently as you would serve your lord and father. If you reveal it to ordinary people, calamity and punishment will surely follow.

"This chart may be transmitted to one person every forty years. If no suitable person appears within forty years, one may wait until eighty years have passed and then transmit it to two. To give it to an unsuitable person is to leak the Dao of heaven. To withhold it when it should be passed on is to seal away heaven's treasure. To transmit it at will, without regard to the proper interval, is to treat the Dao of heaven lightly. To receive the chart without reverence is to be negligent toward the laws of heaven. These four offenses of leaking, sealing, treating lightly, and neglecting all bring disaster.

"Whoever leaks it will die on the road, his corpse trampled, his body rotted and his bones shattered. Whoever seals away the secret transmission will be born blind and deaf in his next life, and his lifespan will be cut short for no reason. Whoever treats it lightly will bring calamity on his parents and be summoned to the Mysterious Capital for punishment. Whoever neglects it will die suddenly, fall into the evil paths, or suffer foul illness in a later life. Heavier retributions, such as the severing of the clan and the destruction of the family, may follow as well.

"Fellow practitioners should be regarded as kin of heaven, and those of one heart as beloved relatives. In transmitting the chart, you should be close and caring toward one another, share honor and disgrace alike, devote yourselves to guarding True Unity, treasure your Jing (essence) and Qi (vital energy), and nurture harmonious Qi together. Only when Jing and Qi are full and Shen (spirit) and Qi return to unity can you meet the spiritual and true. If you cannot do these things, heaven will send down calamity. These are the precepts and prohibitions of the Daoist teaching, and you must not fail to be careful. If you wish to transmit this chart, Dong Zhongjun is the right person."

When she had finished giving these instructions, the Queen Mother took out another chart and handed it to the Emperor with her own hands. He bowed again and received it. The Queen Mother said, "In three years I will come again and tell you about the practice of the Dao."

After meeting the Queen Mother, the Emperor came to believe that immortals truly exist in the world, and he even began to plan how to leave the dusty world and seek long life. Yet he indulged his desires and followed his whims, and his campaigns of killing never ceased. The people sighed under forced labor, and the innocent dead nursed their grievances. He did not follow the Queen Mother's counsel, and she never came again.

The scriptures and charts the Emperor had received were placed in a casket of gold, sealed in a case of white jade, and kept on the Bailiang Terrace. Later, in the first year of the Taichu era, fire from heaven burned down the Bailiang Terrace, and the charts were lost in the flames. It seems the Queen Mother sent this disaster because the Emperor would not heed her teaching. Still, the Emperor had earlier followed her word and passed the chart to Dong Zhongjun, who copied and preserved it, and so the chart has survived.

Lu Nüsheng was a native of Changle. From youth she loved the arts of the Dao. She abstained from grain and ate none of the five grains for more than eighty years, yet her complexion remained as rosy as a peach blossom, and she could walk three hundred li in a day. It is said that someone saw her more than two hundred years later. While gathering herbs on Mount Song, she suddenly met an attendant official of the Most High of the Three Heavens. The official gave her the Chart of the True Forms of the Five Peaks and told her the rules for using it. Lu Nüsheng thereby attained success in her cultivation. One day she entered Mount Hua. Fifty years later, someone who had known her in earlier days met her in front of the temple on Mount Hua. She was riding a white deer, accompanied by thirty Jade Maidens. She also asked these people to convey her greetings to her relatives and old friends in her home town, naming them clearly one by one.

The Chart of the True Forms of the Five Peaks that circulates in the world today is said to have been preserved at first by Dong Zhongjun and Lu Nüsheng. Before departing, Dong Zhongjun passed it to Yue Ba, while Lu Nüsheng passed it to Feng Junda.

Ge Hong said, "Long ago Lord Bai Zheng had the Chart of the True Forms of the Five Peaks, but no one in the Wu and Yue region had received it. I do not know whether you, sir, also have this chart." Lord Zheng replied, "I seem to have this book. The prohibitions on its transmission are strict, and it must not be revealed casually. Because your commitment to the Dao is deep, I am telling you, but you must not spread it abroad. My ancestor received this book from Qingniu (the Green Ox)..."

Sir, among the people of Yue, no one has ever received the transmission of this book. I do not know whether you, sir, possess it. Lord Zheng said, “I seem to have this book. Transmitting it is a most solemn matter and must not be divulged at will. Because your heart in seeking the Dao (the Way) is utterly sincere, I am telling you this—for the time being, do not publicize it. My forebears once received this book from Master Qingniu.”

The master said, “Since I obtained this chart, I have never transmitted it to anyone. Now I ought to transmit this text to you. As for the rules and methods of its use, they were all handed down by Lord Zheng.”

Master Qingniu said, “If a household keeps the Chart of the True Forms of the Five Peaks (Wuyue zhenxing tu; a Daoist book depicting the forms of the Five Peaks and their spirits), each peak dispatches five spirits to come and guard the book. The spirits of the mountains and rivers near one’s dwelling also regularly send attendant officials to protect the body and guard the household. Should vicious and rebellious persons seek to harm the one who holds the chart, calamity will instead fall upon them. This chart can also drive away weapons and plague, so that even if one wears it and practices amid the edges of blades, one still receives protection. Carrying this text through mountains and forests, in every mountain one passes the numinous officials who govern the bounds of mountains and rivers will come beyond their territory to welcome and pay homage. Even exalted envoys of the state still observe humble rites toward ghosts and spirits; how much more so ordinary people—how could they be negligent or disrespectful?”

Wanfu said, “The Chart of the True Forms of the Five Peaks is a treasure cherished by the supreme sages, the lofty perfected, and the immortals. When a Daoist priest wears it and travels among mountains, rivers, lakes, and marshes, the spirits of a thousand mountains and a hundred streams all come forth to receive him. If a household possesses this chart, immortal spirits attend as its guards, and every kind of calamity lies low and recedes. Those who hold office may rise in rank; family wealth is abundant, descendants flourish, and the household prospers. Practitioners who wear and reverently honor this chart have their own corresponding rules and methods.”

The Scripture of the Three Sovereigns says, “The spontaneous writs of the Three Sovereigns are written in gold…”

The Scripture of the Three Sovereigns states that the spontaneous writs of the Three Sovereigns—the Celestial Sovereign, the Earthly Sovereign, and the Human Sovereign—were all made of gold and jade. The scripture (Jing) received by the Celestial Sovereign was formed into slips of dark jade, with the characters carved in green jade; the scripture received by the Earthly Sovereign was formed into slips of yellow jade, with the characters carved in white jade; and the scripture received by the Human Sovereign was formed into slips of red jade, with the characters carved in yellow jade. The slips were strung together with golden hooks and linked by golden locks, placed on a jade table and covered with a pearl cloth. They were censed with five kinds of incense and presented with ten kinds of fresh flowers. Jade lads and jade maidens attended on either side, holding whisks, while perfected officials and immortal officers were charged with receiving, escorting, and transmitting the text. Evil-warding lions, qilin, phoenixes, the Azure Dragon, the White Tiger, the Dark Warrior, and the Vermilion Bird, together with other numinous birds and sacred beasts, as well as countless musicians, the Six Jia and Six Ding (divine generals of Daoism), and the subordinate officers of the Three and Five, jointly guarded, protected, and reverently upheld this scripture.

Wanfu says that the so-called Writ of the Three Sovereigns is the Dongshen Scripture (Dongshen Jing), also known as the Three Sovereigns of the Cavern Immortals. To receive this scripture is to be able to summon and command the divinities (Shen) of the myriad numina and the hundred essences (Jing) throughout heaven and earth. A Daoist priest who wears it can transform into light and shadow, ascend into the air, come and go freely, call down clouds and rain, and put ghosts and spirits to service. Whatever is sought is soon realized; it can also increase one’s lifespan and prolong one’s years, so that both the living and the dead receive blessings and enjoy inexhaustible felicity.

The Jade Writ of the Orthodox Law of the Three Heavens for Expelling the Six Heavens is precisely the jade writ concerned with “expelling the Six Heavens.”

The Dao (the Way) says: I was born amid the vast and profound, in a darkness difficult to discern. From within that dark obscurity arose a hollow void, and from within the hollow void arose the Great Non-being. The Great Non-being transformed and manifested the three Qi (vital energy)—the three primordial energies that constitute the cosmos. The three Qi, intermingled and not yet divided, produced the Great Void. From the void a cavern was established; from the cavern one entered Non-being; from Non-being, Being was produced; and once Being had taken form, emptiness was established in turn. Through the transformations of emptiness and Non-being, the spontaneous and natural arose within the void. The upper, middle, and lower Qi are called, respectively, Beginning, Primordial, and Mysterious: Mysterious Qi is born from emptiness, Primordial Qi from the cavern, and Beginning Qi from Non-being. Thus one transforms into two, two transforms into three, and the three continue to transform and generate until the Nine Mysteries; returning from the nine back to the one, one enters the true realm of the Dao.

The clear and light Qi rises to become Heaven; the turbid and heavy congeals to become Earth; and the harmonizing Qi of the center generates human beings. After the three Qi differentiate, the myriad things are transformed and born in turn. The sun and moon shine; the five planets—those spoken of in antiquity as the planets of Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth—array themselves and appear; and light extends throughout the upper Three Heavens. Born of the refined essence of the three Qi, situated above that which has nothing above it, and attaining the realm of the Limitless, it is therefore called “Wuji” (the Limitless). Not even the turning of the Great Dao can alter it, nor can the passage of countless kalpas change it. It comprehensively governs the true realms and rises high above the void; for this reason it is called lofty, and it is also called the “Orthodox Law of the Three Heavens.”

The name of the Nine Heavens likewise derives from the “three”: the three Qi give birth to three strata of heaven, and the three strata further divide in correspondence with one another, and so they are called the Nine Heavens. Among the Nine Heavens, the Six Heavens govern the people, shifting with the changes of the heavenly cycles and the movements of the sun and moon. When Yin-Yang falls out of balance, the Qi of Heaven and Earth reverses course; the cycles of the lesser kalpas alternate; the many thearchs change their stations; and the nine Qi likewise alter their paths and measures. When this time comes, the seed of the vicious and the defiled is extinguished, while the good people are preserved. When the great kalpa arrives, heaven overturns and earth is upended; seawater surges and rivers burst their banks; evildoers are cut off without descendants, and ghosts and demons vanish without a trace. In the remote lands of the four directions, almost no one escapes.

If one does not devote oneself wholeheartedly to cunsi—corresponding with the divinities through quiet contemplation and visualization—wear the talismanic script capable of expelling the malign and impure qi of the Six Heavens, and cultivate the Orthodox Law of the Three Heavens, one cannot escape this calamity, nor greet the Sage Lord in the Palace of Highest Clarity.

The talismanic script that expels the Six Heavens was transmitted by the Celestial King of Primordial Beginning. It is a jade script condensed from the Qi of Initial Azure and Soaring Mystery, and it serves to announce to the Six Heavens that, when the kalpic destiny is about to end and the time of succession arrives, they must gather in their Qi and Shen (spirit) and return them to the earth. Wearing the talismanic script of the Zhengyi (Orthodox Unity) Heaven of Primordial Birth, one can command numinous spirits and direct Qi, overawe the ten directions, pass in and out of emptiness and Non-being, and open free passage along the myriad ways. Even through a great kalpa it is not destroyed, and in crossing the flood it does not sink. The myriad spirits bow their heads to it, and the gods of the Five Marchmounts come forward to receive it. Six hundred attendant lads and sixty jade maidens guard the wearer of the talisman. This is a treasure cherished by the Most High, kept secret in the Purple Chamber of the Six Harmonies, and transmitted only once in ten thousand kalpas.

The Most High received this talisman from the True Kings of the Nine Heavens; the Primordial Lady received it from the Jade Lad of the Three Heavens; the Yellow Emperor Xuanyuan received it from the Primordial Lady of the Most High; the Queen Mother of the West received it from the Celestial King of Primordial Beginning; the Four Extremes received it from the Little Lad of the Eastern Sea; Perfected Ziyang received it from the Grand Master of the Most High; Ning Feng received it from the Supreme Sovereign Lord of Clear Heaven; and Yao of Tang received it from the Later Sage Thearch. From the Tang dynasty onward, seven thousand people in all have obtained this talismanic script, and all have been able to mount dragons and ascend.

The Upper Scripture (Jing) of the Curved Plain Silk of the Phoenix Terrace of Jade Dawn on High says: In the land of the Nine Bends of the Mysterious Capital there stands a lofty Phoenix Terrace. Condensed from spontaneous phoenix qi into jasper chambers, it is located above the Nine Heavens and north of the Jade Capital. There, within the void, arises the true qi in which the Eight Convergences join together, winding through until it reaches the eight directions. Above, it draws in the birds that soar upon the rising whirlwind; beside it, a way leads to the Mysterious Terrace. Each character of the talismanic script is one zhang in height, brilliant in its radiance and illuminating all the Nine Heavens. Flying phoenixes form canopies of cloud; purple qi lies deep and thick; qilin-like wondrous beasts race and cross one another’s paths. Six-headed lions guard the pass below, and jade immortals of the Five Thearchs hold five-colored numinous banners that command demons, their might securing the five quarters.

On the right, jade maidens of Taihua stand in attendance; on the left, jade lads of the golden immortals stand guard, three thousand of each. They serve the perfected and tend the incense fires. The sun and moon reflect each other’s light; the Seven Primordials—the stellar deities represented by the seven stars of the Northern Dipper—revolve; and the Three Dawn-lights, the sun, the moon, and the stars, shine forth together. Wondrous and mysterious radiance illuminates the four quarters; jasper trees sway their branches; jade tones echo through the courtyard; and the luster of the seven treasures streams its light upon Highest Clarity. This is the abode of the Most High Great Lord of the Dao of Jade Dawn on High. The Elder of the Mysterious Capital secretly transmitted to the Lord of the Dao the true writing in phoenix script, together with the Melody of Sorrow and Joy.

The host of perfected beings in heaven and the flying immortals of the Five Marchmounts ascend the Phoenix Terrace on the fifth, the fifteenth, and the twenty-fifth day of each month. They set banquets, perform rites, burn incense, and chant and sing the Words of Sorrow and Joy. Upward they offer felicitations to the divine perfected; downward they grieve in pity for the common people. The verses are subtle, faint, and luminously clear. The Four Perfected bow their heads, and the myriad immortals pay homage. Fragrance drifts aloft into the sky, and mist flows through the empty court. All who in the upper realm have already become perfected, and all who have only just begun to study immortality, must cultivate the true writing of the Mysterious Mound of the phoenix qi of the Nine Heavens, and recite the Melody of Sorrow and Joy.

From remote antiquity, this book has been transmitted only once every ten thousand kalpas. Now, if a suitable person is found, it may be transmitted three times within seven hundred years. One who obtains this text may ascend in flight to Highest Clarity, mount the Phoenix Terrace of the Nine Bends, and have audience with the Jade Perfected. If one divulges it rashly, one will go blind, and one’s ancestors of seven generations will also be punished. Only by guarding it with care is there a possibility of becoming an immortal.

The Most High conferred this method upon the Perfected Person of the Taiji (Supreme Ultimate), who transmitted it on to the Great Lord Azure Lad of Mount Fangzhu in the Eastern Sea, and he transmits it to those Daoist priests who already bear golden names from former lives and are destined to become divine immortals and perfected beings. Those who wear the talismanic script may behold the Three Primordial Lords and greet the Sage Lord at the Golden Portal of Highest Clarity.

Wanfu said: The root that keeps the myriad things in ceaseless change does not itself change along with them; the root that keeps the myriad things in ceaseless growth is itself neither born nor extinguished. Because it does not change, it can endure without perishing; because it is not born, it will not be overthrown through countless kalpas. This principle is wondrous beyond compare. One who cultivates it may come to realize it and obtain the benefit it holds.

Whatever has form and body is a place in which the Qi (vital energy) brought forth by the transformations of the Dao (the Way) takes lodging. Such things harbor Jing (essence) and Qi, are pervaded by Shen (spirit) and luminous intelligence, each give rise to consciousness, and move of themselves. They can distinguish sun from moon; their wisdom reaches throughout heaven and earth; their deliberations even surpass those of ghosts and spirits; and they accord with Yin-Yang in subtle exactness. All of this arises from the Dao, and the wondrous law of the Dao is present within it.

As for lengthening one’s lifespan so that a decaying spiritual consciousness is raised up; turning back the mysterious Qi, condensing radiance, ascending into the realm of immortals and perfected ones, and guarding the primordial origin—remaining undecayed through ten thousand kalpas, and still youthful in countenance after a thousand years; roaming heaven and earth in an instant, and at a lift of the hand commanding wind and thunder; cherishing and nurturing the myriad things, and taking the host of perfected ones as teachers and models; bestowing the compassion of the heavenly Dao upon living beings, taking the primordial origin as one’s foundation, and becoming a benevolent elder—if these are not brought about by the teaching of the Dharma King, Yuanshi (a revered Daoist deity), and by the mysterious scriptures of Taishang (a revered Daoist deity), who else could realize them?

Yet the foolish do not understand the transformative nurture of the Great Dao, nor the exalted dignity of Yuanshi. They do not believe that divine immortals can live on without dying, nor do they believe that the countenance can be restored, or that years can be lengthened and life made to abide. They are like the mushroom of the dawn, born in the morning and dead by evening, which knows nothing of the moon’s dark and its renewal within a single month; and like the cicada, born in spring and dead in autumn, which knows nothing of the turning of the four seasons. This is truly to be regretted.

The celestial bodies move in their courses and the stars revolve; the earth seems still, while the rivers flow. The Four Qi (the qi of the four seasons that constitute the transformations of heaven and earth) generate the myriad things; the Five Phases (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water) interweave with one another; wind and clouds gather and disperse; and cold and heat bring growth together with decline and destruction. Can these transformations be without one who presides over them? It is the Supreme Dao that, by wondrous power, transforms and nurtures the myriad things, distributes numinous nature and vital breath, and by the Dao holds all under its sway and governs all.

Even though the many heavens and worlds are vast without bound, and immortals, perfected ones, and holy worthies each open their own realms, proclaim teachings, instruct living beings, and manifest transformations without end; and even though the numinous responses of the true body and the body of responsive manifestation are beyond measure—what encompasses and governs all of this is still Yuanshi.

Consider, further, the human body. The two feet walk, the two hands grasp, the eyes see, the ears hear, the mouth speaks, the nose smells, and the heart understands and gives rise to consciousness. The po (corporeal soul) is still while the hun (ethereal soul) is active; the skin lies on the outside, sinews and bones support the interior of the body, and the blood vessels circulate day and night. Can these activities be without a master to direct them? Indeed there are spirits such as Siming (the deity who governs lifespan), Taojun (the deity who protects Jing and Qi), Baiyuan (the deity who nurtures the po), and Wuying (the deity who governs the hun), each attending to a proper office. The Twenty-Four Perfected harmonize and govern the hundred spirits, while Taiyi Yuanfu (the Primordial Father of the Great One) presides over the entire body. If a person is empty, still, and settled, they can long endure without decline; if they are restless and ill at ease, their lifespan will soon be shortened.

Human beings originally come forth from empty nothingness and spontaneous nature, endowed with spiritual luminosity (shenming) and bearing numinous awareness, and are at the outset pure, still, and clear. Once they acquire a bodily form, every kind of desire arises, and vexation and entanglement follow. Living in the world, one meets the three calamities and nine adversities, the ten sufferings and eight hardships, and also undergoes pain and bitterness, birth, aging, sickness, and death, so that body and mind grow troubled and disordered. After death the hun and po souls enter the prisons of the dark underworld, enduring every manner of suffering, interrogated and beaten day and night, and even through myriad kalpas they can hardly win release.

The Celestial Worthy (Tianzun), moved by great compassion and seeing living beings in suffering, sends forth differentiated numinous responses and manifests a body in the mortal world. In heaven and among human beings he teaches the multitude, assuming countless transformation bodies, and according to each person’s conditions widely proclaims the scriptures and teachings, hoping that beings may leave suffering behind and forever be spared the pain of transmigration. In the celestial realms of the past and of the present, the methods that have been transmitted remain one and the same throughout.

The scripture (jing) says that “contemplating the subtle and settling the will” (siwei dingzhi) can steady a person’s spirit, focus the mind upon the Dao (the Way), and thereby preserve the self. “Contemplating the subtle” means recalling that, when one first received life, one’s spiritual nature was originally pure and clear; “settling the will” means removing delusive thoughts and bringing stray notions to rest. A person lives because Shen (spirit) abides within the bodily form; a person dies because Qi (vital energy) has left the body. One who wishes for long life must settle the mind. Within the human body there are a hundred spirits, and the mind is their master. Thus the Scripture of Lord Lao on Inner Observation (Laojun Neiguan Jing) says: “The mind is the restraining control; it is the master of the whole body, able to restrain form and Shen so that they do not enter deviant paths.”

The mind is itself Shen. Shen has no fixed color, size, length, or shape; its transformations are hard to fathom, and it interfuses Yin-Yang. At its largest it can contain heaven and earth; at its smallest it can enter the tip of a hair. Restrain it, and it is upright; indulge it, and it becomes wild and disordered. When the mind is pure and clear, life is able to continue; when the mind is turbid and agitated, life declines and perishes. It may illuminate the eight directions, or it may grow dim and lose its way. If only one can rest in emptiness, stillness, and quietude, the Dao of itself abides constantly; if one long maintains Wuwei (non-action), the body can flourish. The mind has no bodily form, and people of the world find it hard to describe, yet disaster and blessing, fortune and misfortune, are all bound up with it.

The scripture further says: the endowment received from the Dao is called allotted life (ming); taking form by receiving the Qi of nature is called inner nature (xing); the capacity to respond to external things is called the mind (xin); what the mind holds as a concern is called intention (yi); the direction toward which intention tends is called the will (zhi); knowing affairs so that nothing is unknown is called knowledge (zhi); wisdom that can extend throughout the myriad things is called insight (hui); and the root by which life is brought to free and thorough realization is called the Dao.

The Dao has existence, yet no fixed bodily form; it seems formless, and yet it can display genuine efficacy. Its changes cannot be measured, and it permeates the spiritual nature of all things; in the human person it appears as spiritual luminosity. To cultivate the Dao is to cultivate the mind, and to teach people to cultivate the Dao is to teach them to cultivate the mind. The Dao cannot be seen and must be revealed through life; life cannot endure long of itself and must be sustained by the Dao. If life perishes, the Dao has no way to be embodied; if the Dao is not present, life too can hardly last. When life and the Dao are united, one may live long without dying and, by feathered transformation, become an immortal. People fail to preserve themselves because they do not turn inward to observe their own minds; if they can continue in inner observation, the Dao of life constantly abides.

The scripture further says: “The Dao is obtained through the mind; the mind grows bright through the Dao. When the mind is bright, the Dao descends; when the Dao descends, the mind becomes penetrating.” Spiritual luminosity in the human person is like a flame that shines by relying on a lamp: fire arises from a kindling spark, the wick is set in place by the lamp, oil moistens the wick, and the lamp bears the flame. If any one of these four is lacking, light cannot arise. Human spiritual luminosity is the same. It must rely on the mind in order to continue; the mind exists by relying on the bodily form; and the form is preserved by the Dao. If any one of these is missing, spiritual luminosity has nothing on which to depend.

What is called “spiritual luminosity” means that the eyes can see, the ears can hear, intention can know, and the body can feel, and that one can distinguish the principles of things and their fine subtleties. All these capacities come from spiritual luminosity, and so it is called spiritual luminosity.

Lord Lao says: “an empty mind” is the removal of attachment to what is taken as solidly present in the mind; “no-mind” is the removal of thoughts of possession within the mind; “a settled mind” is making the mind unshaken; “a pacified mind” is making the mind free of peril and fear; “a still mind” is making the mind undispersed; “a rectified mind” is making the mind free of bias and deviance; “a clear mind” is making the mind unturbid; “a pure mind” is making the mind undefiled. These states that must be removed are already present in the mind from the outset; cultivation consists in eliminating them.

“An upright mind” is not being fickle and inconstant; “a level mind” is not inclining too high or too low; “a bright mind” is not being dim; “a penetrating mind” is not being obstructed. These are natural states to begin with. The foregoing is only a rough explanation; the rest one may realize for oneself. Those who study the Dao should carefully contemplate these principles.

A detailed account of the scriptural teachings of the Three Caverns (Sandong, the three categories of Daoist classics and systems of cultivation) comprises a myriad methods. Although they differ in fullness and brevity, their purpose is in every case to restrain the thoughts of the mind. The mind may be bright or dark, and wisdom deep or shallow, because the substance with which the bodily form is endowed may be pure or turbid, and the Primordial Qi (Yuanqi, the original vital energy that constitutes human beings and all things) one receives may be abundant or scant. A person’s judgments, likes and dislikes, joy and anger, and choices of what to take or leave all arise from the mind.

Yet who, in the end, directs this mind? If everything is indeed determined by the mind, then from where does the mind come, and how does it pass away? Trace it to its root, and no source can be found; follow its transformations, and no end can be seen. If one presses the inquiry through to its beginning and its end, it can only be referred at last to the spontaneous Dao (the Way).

The Dao sets the One in motion, and from this the myriad things are born; the myriad things are in turn born from the One. Within the human body, this One is the soul of Lord Lao (Laojun), also called Dao-consciousness (the spiritual consciousness that communicates with the Dao). It illuminates and gives rise to a person’s spirit-brightness, and this spirit-brightness is the person’s soul, also called self-consciousness. The body is born from the One, and spirit-brightness is revealed by the illumination of the Dao; the mind therefore becomes manifest through spirit-brightness. Spoken of in this way, when spirit-brightness appears, the mind is clear; when spirit-brightness is hidden, the mind is dark. Whether spirit-brightness is manifest or concealed is in turn bound up with the purity or turbidity of the mind. It is as with lamp oil: when the oil is clear, the light is bright; when the oil is turbid, the light is dim.

The scriptures say: “The mind is Shen (spirit), and Shen is the mind.” Mind and Shen are not distinct. The mind is therefore illumined by spirit-brightness, just as the scripture speaks of the lamp and its oil. The wise should carefully ponder the meaning in this.

Grades of Faith and Character in the Illuminating Code

When ordinary people first enter the gate of the Dao, they must first receive the various precepts, so as to forestall misfortune and bring transgressions to an end. They then wear Fulu (talismans and registers), in order to subdue demons and evil influences and to protect the spirit and Qi within the body (the spirit-brightness and primordial vital energy dwelling in the body). Next they study the five thousand words of the Daodejing, coming to understand the Dao and De (Virtue/Power) and the source from which the myriad things are generated and transformed. They then receive the scriptural methods of the Three Sovereigns (Sanhuang), advancing gradually from relatively accessible cultivation into subtle and profound realms. They next receive the scriptural methods of Lingbao (Numinous Treasure), entering the middle vehicle (a more advanced stage of cultivation), so that spiritual consciousness is transformed and drawn toward wisdom. Finally they receive the scriptural methods of Dongzhen (Cavern of Perfection), refining the essence of form and spirit so that it returns to emptiness, goes back to the origin, and reverts to the One, and thereby realize the constant Dao.

The scripture (Jing) says: “One who understands the constant Dao (the Way) becomes encompassing in heart and mind; being encompassing, one is impartial in handling affairs; being impartial, one can become lord of the multitude; becoming lord of the multitude, one accords with the Dao of Heaven; according with the Dao of Heaven, one accords with the Great Dao; according with the Great Dao, one can long endure, and then transform the vital spirit and enter into wisdom. One next receives the scriptural methods of Dongzhen (one of the Three Caverns), cultivates the bodily form together with Shen (spirit) and Qi (vital energy), returns them to emptiness and non-being, reverts to the root and unites with the One, and at last realizes the constant Dao.”

The scripture also says: “One who understands the constant Dao becomes encompassing in heart and mind; being encompassing, one is impartial in handling affairs; being impartial, one can become lord of the multitude; becoming lord of the multitude, one accords with the Dao of Heaven; according with the Dao of Heaven, one accords with the Great Dao; according with the Great Dao, one can long endure, and to the end of life meets no danger.” This means that even if heaven and earth should perish, the body of one who cultivates the Dao can still abide forever and not fall into peril.

The Great Dao arises from within the heart, and the heart communicates with the Dao. When sincerity of intention reaches its utmost, one can move and commune with the divine spirits, and the divine spirits will descend to receive and guide one. Thus what the ancients sought was inner realization, whereas people of later ages seek wealth. Had the ancients not valued the inner heart, they could not have instructed later generations; if people of later times do not give of their wealth, they are unwilling to cultivate immortality. One must therefore express the heart that seeks the Dao through material goods; only when mind and intention are sincere and clear does the worth of those goods become apparent. It is like worldly people who wish to obtain a companion to their liking, a precious treasure, or an object dear to them—how would they reckon the price? Such things bring only a moment’s delight, yet people are still willing to give all they possess. How much more, then, is the true Great Dao worthy of being treasured?

Worldly people, unwilling to part with their wealth, will not receive the scriptural methods, nor will they honor the teacher and revere the Dao. Instead they take talk of immortals to be empty and false, and regard longevity as a matter of chance, naturally endowed. This is truly to be regretted. The sages were skilled at exhortation and guided people according to circumstances, so that those who seek the Dao might show their intention through concrete action. Sometimes the Seven Treasures are used to make offerings and announcements to the spirits; sometimes the methods of the Dao are transmitted by a sixfold covenant. All of this has its reasons and is not done in vain. Only thus can the scriptural methods be handed down, human beings and spirits be brought into accord, faith and practice not contradict one another, and master and disciple keep faith with each other and give rise to no breach.

The Seven Treasures

Gold and silver together count as the first, coral as the second, amber as the third, giant clam as the fourth, agate as the fifth, pearl as the sixth, and green jade as the seventh. Another account lists lapis lazuli (liuli), suya, white jade, pearl, giant clam, agate, and amber as the Seven Treasures.

Explanation of the Meaning: The Great Dao, from the One Qi—the primordial vital energy at the beginning of the cosmos—generates the Three Qi; the Three Qi generate the Nine Qi; each of the Nine Qi in turn generates three Qi, becoming thirty-six…

When the celestial body is luminous through and through and its motion meets no hindrance, this state is called the “realm of the Dao (the Way),” also known as “the heaven within heaven.” From here downward, the two Qi (vital energy) spread and descend, dividing into the Five Phases (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water). The Qi of Primordial Harmony sends its Jing (essence) downward, condensing the hun and po souls and thereby giving rise to the body. The Qi of the Primordial Father and the Mysterious Mother (the Yin-Yang sources that generate the myriad things) disperses as five kinds of numinous Qi. In the human body these are called the five viscera; outwardly they communicate with the seven orifices, so as to correspond to the Seven Origins (the stars, or the primordial Qi, that answer to the human body). The five viscera hold Yin within and give forth Yang, nurturing Shen (spirit) and fostering Qi. They are the treasures of the body and are called the Seven Treasures. The kidney is classed with the even numbers, and so gold and silver together represent it. The Five Elders of the Primordial Beginning (the exalted deities who each govern one of the five directions) each reside in their own quarter. The Qi of the Three and the Five circulates and shines, congealing into the spirits of the five viscera. One therefore presents these Seven Treasures to the deities and, taking one’s own resolve as pledge, prays thereby to attain the divine Dao.

Twenty-four taels of gold and silver

The explanation says: The twenty-four exalted Perfected of Ziwei (the twenty-four exalted deities of the Ziwei heaven) divide their numinous spirits and descend, lodging in the human body. They protect Shen and Jing, nourish primordial Qi, enable the body to transform of itself and to come and go without form, and regulate every joint of the body so that Qi and blood circulate. Because these twenty-four exalted Perfected constantly abide in the body, it is said that one must secure and safeguard the twenty-four kinds of life-giving primordial Qi.

Nine taels of superior gold

The explanation says: When a human being is conceived and receives life, the Qi of the Nine Heavens descends into the body. Primordial Qi revolves and transforms, holding to the One and embracing the primordial, coursing day and night until at last the body is formed. When pregnancy reaches the ninth month, Shen and Qi are fully present. The deity who presides over allotted fate reports to the heavens; the host of deities stands guard, and the infant is then able to be born. One must therefore swear a covenant before the Nine Heavens, and by this attest to the source of one’s own life.

Ten gold rings

The explanation says: The celestial bodies move in their courses and heaven and earth revolve; Yin and Yang unite and bring the myriad things into being. The sun rises in the east and the moon travels westward, and day and night each have their appointed place. The full circuit of heaven comprises three hundred sixty-five and one-quarter degrees. Yin and Yang extend as they move; this is the constant Dao of heaven. A year has twelve months. The four seasons generate and transform without cease, and primordial Qi circulates through the ten directions. One must therefore make announcement to the ten directions and declare one’s sincerity to the ten extremes (the farthest reaches of the ten directions), so that the divine Dao is heard both far and near and true numinous spirits descend into the human form.

Three gold dragons and twenty-seven gold clasps

The “dragon” spoken of here is the chief among scaly creatures. Endowed with the Qi (vital energy) of lesser Yang, it harbors the pure essence of the Year Star (Jupiter) and is a divine beast possessed of the spirit of Wood, able to transform at will. For this reason, the Seven Mansions of the East (one of the Twenty-Eight Mansions by which the ancients divided the heavens) take the Azure Dragon as their emblem. Dragon Qi courses through the five directions and at times extends through all nine; according to the quarter it occupies, it bears different titles, such as the Five Dragons, the Six Dragons, and the Nine Dragons.

One who has attained the Dao (the Way) can ride a dragon just as ordinary people ride a horse, and is therefore said to be able to act freely and at ease. The scripture (jing) further says: “The dragon is used to course the heavens; the horse is used to travel the earth.” The dragon is employed here to convey memorials, reporting the merits and faults of those who study the Dao to the Celestial Bureaus and Terrestrial Offices (the administrative offices of the heavenly realm and the underworld). The cords fastened to the dragon’s body serve to control it, just as reins and a bit control a horse.

Slip Text of the Golden Dragon and Jade Disc

The length of a person’s life, good and evil, wealth and honor or poverty and low station, intelligence or dullness, hardship or success, as well as auspiciousness and inauspiciousness, fortune and calamity—and even grasses and trees, insects and fish, wind, clouds, and hail—are all governed by Heaven. Heaven is administered by the Heavenly Worthy of the Northern Pole. Though Heaven is high and remote, it can hear the voices of the human world, observe people’s good and evil, and preside over their gains and losses. If a person prays with utmost sincerity, that prayer can move and communicate with Heaven. Thus good and evil arise from within the heart, while fortune and misfortune are Heaven’s response.

With hearts of compassion, the sages broadly rescue all living beings and establish expedient methods to guide people away from evil and toward good. People pray to Heaven, state their wishes, write the words of prayer on bamboo and wooden slips, and present them as petitions to Heaven. The officers and soldiers within the body, the lads who record good and evil, and deities such as the Four Offices, the Five Emperors, and the true officials of the soil report the prayer to the Three Bureaus of the Most High, and transmit it to all the heavens and all the earths, the palaces and offices of the sun and moon, the one hundred and twenty bureaus, and the twenty-four thousand numinous offices, asking them to record the good deeds of so-and-so, bring evil deeds to rest, restore the allotted span of years, and prolong life. The legends of the Duke of Zhou praying by means of the metal-bound coffer, Confucius praying for a longer life, Ziwei shifting the stars, and Lu Yang brandishing his halberd so that the sun turned back all speak of this kind of entreaty addressed to Heaven’s mandate.

Thus the slips are documents that set forth what is sought; the jade bi disc is a token expressing sincerity; and they are also like relay stations that pass on memorials. Just as the various regions present tribute to the court and submit documents stating their affairs, the words of prayer are likewise conveyed to the court of Heaven.

The Gold Ring and the Jade Ring

The ring is round, open through and unobstructed, empty at the center and free of blockage. Gold is hard and able to cut; it is pliant, yet not easily bent. Jade is pure and unchanging, bright and gently lustrous. Practitioners should be like the ring, like gold, and like jade: they should decisively sever the entanglements of the dusty world and follow the Way (Dao) of the scriptural teachings (Jing); in the world they harmonize their light in company with others, yet remain unstained by the vulgar. Outwardly they are not bound by circumstances, and inwardly they constantly keep the mind empty and still. When they see things, the clinging and attachment that arise from feeling should also cease of themselves. Only then can one be said to have grasped the essential point. That the front and back of the ring join one another symbolizes that the mind’s intent should always remain thus, maintained without interruption.

The Severed Ring

The severed ring is meant to cut off defiling attachment: outwardly one is not controlled by external conditions, and inwardly one constantly keeps the mind empty and still; when seeing things, one does not allow feelings and attachments to go on clinging. By the joining of the ring’s front and back, the scriptural text shows that this state of mind should continue without cease.

“Severing worldly affection” means giving up worldly attachments and romantic love and forming a shared master–disciple relationship with one’s teacher. When master and disciple are of one mind, the bond is as firm as a sharp blade that can cut through metal. Here “metal” is also taken in the sense of firmness: by moral principle one cuts away evil thoughts and turns toward good conduct; inwardly one puts an end to doubt, and outwardly one abandons craving, so that delusive thoughts and afflictions may gradually disappear.

Plain silk is fifty or one hundred chi in length and weighs five or ten liang.

Plain silk is natural in quality, soft and clean, bright and simple. It can conform to the shape of objects and also change with circumstances in the world. It can string pearls and jade and be woven into brocade; it may be worn by sages and used by ordinary people. For this reason it is prized both in the human world and in the heavens. Plain silk is used to symbolize a practitioner whose body and mind are pure and who is gentle within and without, no longer hard and unyielding, and untouched by defilement. In this way one can receive the protection of humans and heavenly beings and come into communion with immortals and sages; its subtlety and preciousness are beyond words.

“Five correspondences to the Five Qi (vital energy), the Five De (Virtue/Power) and the Five Directions, a hundred correspondences to a hundred spirits, a hundred passes and a hundred knots” uses numbers and directions to express the symbolism by which plain silk is linked to the transformations of Qi in Heaven and Earth, to virtue, to spirits and deities, and to the passes and apertures of the body. In use, one must understand the greater or lesser length; the weight must suit the things with which it is paired, and light and heavy are thereby distinguished.

Blue-green silk

Blue-green is the color of Heaven and symbolizes the binding of Qi to Heaven. It is also the color of the ancestral direction and carries the wish that goodwill may sprout. Blue-green silk is used in the hope that the practitioner will emulate the Dao (the Way) of Heaven, loving and nurturing all beings, like the virtue of spring, so that the myriad things grow and flourish.

Cutting the hair and sealing an oath with blood

Cutting the hair and swearing an oath with blood means bearing witness with one’s own person and making a vow before the deities.

Crimson cloth and blue-green cloth

The crimson cloth, in cinnabar red, stands in for the blood of the oath; the blue-green cloth, in blue-green, stands in for the cut hair. The Perfected are unwilling to harm others, and so they replace practices that injure the body with pieces of cloth, expressing compassion.

The Five Incenses

The ingredients and quantities of the Five Incenses are: one part agarwood, one part frankincense, three parts non-white sandalwood, four parts costus, five parts clove, seven parts borneol, three parts cinnabar, and four parts realgar.

The Five Incenses are used to spread five kinds of fragrance in order to welcome and draw down the numinous Qi of the five directions.

Colored squares

This means that the Five Emperors of the Five Directions have charge of the registers and name rolls that record human good and evil, and that, when the related rites are performed, goods of different colors are to be used as tokens of proof. The scripture also mentions “jing xiong si.”

This means that five kinds of fragrant Qi (vital energy) are dispersed so as to summon and bring down the divinities of the Five Directions.

Fangcai

This means that the Five Emperors of the Five Directions have charge of the registers and name rolls that record human good and evil, and that, when rites are performed, goods of different colors are to be used as tokens of proof. The scripture says that the colored goods employed are fixed according to the regulations of the senior officials of the Five Directions. The Son of Heaven uses the pi as the unit, dukes and kings use the zhang, and commoners use the chi, each presenting the quantity that corresponds to the relevant direction.

Mingzeng

This means that, at birth, Heaven bestows on a person 43,200 suan—an ancient unit for reckoning lifespan—amounting in all to a life of 120 years. If a person does not live out this span, the scripture holds that it is because that person has offended Heaven and Earth, the sun, moon, and stars, broken covenants, turned away from the Dao (the Way) and from teachers and elders, and failed to observe the scriptural precepts, and has therefore had the lifespan reduced by the Three Officials. Patterned silk is then offered to pray for a longer life, and this silk is called mingzeng. The Son of Heaven uses 120 pi of purple patterned silk or gauze; the empress and the crown prince follow the same practice. Others convert the amount according to the number of years, using the pi, the zhang, or the chi respectively. Princes, dukes, and nobles use the pi, the wealthy use the zhang, and the poor and lowly use the chi.

Mingmi

This means that food is the root on which human survival depends: if people do not eat, they die. Rice is what a person eats every day and is closely bound up with one’s own person; rice is therefore used to pray for an increase in lifespan and in blessings and emolument. The quantity used depends on status and means: the wealthy reckon by the zhang, and the poor and lowly by the chi.

Mingmi

This means that the length of a person’s life and the measure of blessings and emolument are in the charge of the Heavenly Storehouse and the Heavenly Emolument. When the allotted lifespan is exhausted, a person comes to an end; mingmi is therefore offered in order to increase the stores in the Heavenly Granary, in the hope of lengthening a life that would otherwise be short. What the Zhengyi Jing (Orthodox Unity scripture) means by “when the suan are exhausted, they are extended; when emolument is exhausted, it is increased” is precisely this: when the lifespan is about to run out, one prays for its prolongation, and when blessings and emolument are about to run out, one prays for their increase.

Jinyang

This means that the sheep kneels to nurse and is called a beast that understands ritual propriety. The golden sheep expresses this wish: the practitioner should be filial toward master and parents and compassionate toward all living beings.

Yuyan

This means that the wild goose is also called the yangwu. In autumn it flies south and in spring it returns north, coming and going in accord with the changes of Yin-Yang; in flight it forms ranks and understands the order of precedence. To offer the jade wild goose as a rite is to hope that the practitioner will comply with the religious teachings, conduct himself or herself in keeping with dignified ritual bearing, understand his or her own station, and not violate the order of rank and precedence.

Jinyu and Yuyu

The fish is a Yin (yin) creature of the water and a messenger of the Water Officials. It carries official documents to the Lord of the River, can cut off the long register of the Northern Emperor, and presents talismanic texts and written statements to the Water Officials. Jade is chosen for its purity and whiteness, since it keeps its true color even when soaked in water. Gold is chosen for its hardness and strength, yet it becomes soft and lustrous when it meets water. Fish, jade, and gold also carry the meaning of guarding one's mouth in silence and dwelling hidden and withdrawn.

Five-Colored Brocade

The word for "brocade" (jin) carries the sense of restraint (jin). Five colors are woven into a pattern, which signifies that a person who wishes to cultivate the Dao (Way), when facing the five desires (the many kinds of craving), must first observe the precepts and regulations, using discipline to restrain the heart and mind.

Blue-Green Gauze and Purple Gauze

Among silk fabrics, gauze is woven the most finely and lightly, and is also the most exquisite. Blue-green and purple are the colors of Heaven. This signifies that a person who wishes to cultivate the Dao, when facing the many desires, must first observe the precepts and regulations, using discipline to restrain the heart and mind.

Blue-Green Gauze and Purple Gauze

Among silk fabrics, gauze is woven the most finely and lightly, and is also the most exquisite. Blue-green and purple symbolize Heaven. Practitioners who revere the scriptures and value the Great Dao take these precious fabrics as their ritual robes (the garments worn when performing rites), hoping through them to perceive the subtle and hidden, and to be in accord with Heaven and with the Dao.

Blue-Green Cloth

"Blue-green" (qing) carries the sense of purity and tranquility, and is also the color of spring. "Cloth" (bu) carries the sense of spreading everywhere. Together they signify that practitioners should purify their hearts, correct their conduct, practice good deeds widely, and love all beings with the warmth and kindness of spring sunlight. Another account holds that immortals eat gold and jade and wear plain blue-green garments, and that gold, jade, and plain blue-green garments were therefore used as pledge objects for oaths. This is only the view of one school and is not a settled conclusion.

Paper, Brush, and Ink

Although the Celestial Bureaus (the offices in Heaven that administer affairs) are far away, the spirits are in communication with the human world. Paper, brush, and ink are needed to state one's circumstances to Heaven and to submit documents. These items are therefore prepared so that written words can be sent up and what is stated can be kept on record.

Contracts and Tallies

On the day of receiving the Dao (the Way), one must report to the Celestial Bureaus, the Earthly Courts, the Four Offices, the Five Emperors, and all the gods and immortals, inviting them to serve as witnesses. One must also ask the Seven Ancestors—the ancestors of seven generations—to oversee and attend, and establish a certificate of proof before the Five Emperors. If later one breaks the covenant, abandons the Great Dao, or treats one’s teachers and elders with disrespect, the contracts and certificates are to be examined and taken as evidence. This is like a transaction in the world, in which each party holds a contract and the two trust one another on that basis. Such a certificate is also called a “Certificate of Ascent to Heaven.”

After one has attained the Dao, when passing through Heaven’s Gate and Earth’s Door, the Demon Kings in charge of the offices and the Five Emperors check the contracts and certificates against one another. At the grotto-abodes of the gods and immortals and at the various offices of the Celestial Bureaus, they are likewise inspected, just as official credentials are in the world. The certificates include the True Certificate of Zhengyi (Orthodox Unity), the Five-Colored Certificates, the Eight Ways Certificates, the Three-and-Five Certificates, the Dongshen Certificate (Cavern of the Spirit), the Certificate of Ascent to the Mysterious, the Certificate of Spontaneity, and the Seven Certificates of Shangqing (Highest Clarity), among others. The covenants include the Yellow Covenant of Zhengyi, the Three-and-Five Covenant, the Covenant of the Thirty-Six Venerable Scriptures, and the Four Covenants of Shangqing, among others.

Covenant

A covenant (meng) means “making clear” (ming). When the parties do not yet trust one another, they make a pact before the gods so that the agreement may be verified. The gods are formless, and the divine officials of the unseen realm are hard to fathom; people cannot see their traces. If one breaks the covenant, disaster and punishment will surely follow—this is the covenant taking effect. If one acts according to the covenant, blessed recompense will likewise not go amiss.

Yet the hearts of ordinary people are easily shaken, while the principles of the divine are hard to see clearly. A pact is therefore needed as a restraint, so that the covenant may reach the gods and accord with the Great Dao. Such covenants include the Initial Covenant, the Middle Covenant, and the Great Covenant of Lingbao (Numinous Treasure), and others.

Vow

A vow (shi) means “restraint” (zhi). With words one makes one’s intention plain, declares the covenant to the gods, and at the same time restrains one’s emotions and desires so that they are not indulged, hoping thereby to reach accord with the Dao. Those of superior capacity, however, upon hearing the Great Dao, cultivate diligently and have no need to make a vow.

What is called a “vow” is a binding of oneself: through an oath one expresses an inner commitment, makes it known to the deities, and establishes a covenant. By this means a person restrains emotion and will, does not give way to indulgence, and hopes thereby to come into accord with the Great Dao (Dao, the Way). Those of superior capacity, on hearing the Great Dao, practice it with diligence; they need not swear an oath, for they come into harmony with the Dao of themselves. Those of middling capacity and below advance when someone guides them, but readily fall back when no one urges them on. An oath-covenant is therefore needed to bind the mind, so that they do not abandon their first resolve. The sages, with compassionate hearts, teach the multitude; the regulations and precepts they establish are all meant to bring people into accord with the Dao. Once a method has been conferred, the recipient is also required to observe the liturgical precepts and not transgress the prohibitions, and in the end to complete the cultivation and attain the Dao. Thus, in later ages, whenever the methods of the Dao are transmitted, master and disciple together establish an oath-covenant, such as the “Six Vows” or the “Twelve Vows.”

The way of the divine has no bodily form. The principle of Heaven is vast and far-reaching, subtle and difficult to fathom, and hard to set forth in words. If one’s cultivation is single-minded and utterly sincere, one can come into resonant communion with it. Therefore, in transmitting the Dao, the recipient must be brought to concentrate the mind and hold the teaching firmly in the heart. When the heart is sincere, one can regard wealth lightly; only by regarding wealth lightly does one come to revere the Great Dao. When wealth is treated lightly and the Dao is honored, the deities may descend to receive and guide one, granting length of years and even the attainment of immortality. Immortals are able to embody the Dao and its transformations, enter the realm of divine transformation, and endure together with the Great Dao.

Worldly people do not understand these principles and criticize them without cause. Outwardly they do not practice goodness or establish De (Virtue/Power); inwardly they do not wash away defilement or purify mind and Shen (spirit). Their hearts are filled with craving and filth, and love and hatred are left to take hold. They speak of entering meditative absorption, yet their thoughts are restless; they speak of purifying the mind, yet within they are filthier than a pigsty. Some sit outwardly in meditation, while the ill will in their hearts grows deeper and the impurity of their conduct becomes all the more plain. They claim to cultivate inwardly, yet there is no genuine cultivation within. When hunger and cold, pain and itch, illness and vexation come upon them, they are no different from ordinary people, and yet they falsely claim to stand apart from the world—truly pitiable. Foolish people, hearing these words, may say that I am slandering others. I do not seek the satisfaction of sharp speech, nor do I wish to fall into fault myself; I only hope that people will set delusion aside and turn toward awakening. The wise should consider this carefully and not be ruled by empty and delusive words. The tokens of faith used in the ritual should, when the rite is finished, be distributed according to the provisions of the scripture (Jing).

Some of the tokens of faith named in the scriptures are said to come from the Divine Continent (Shenzhou, an ancient name for China) and are not things commonly met with in the world. Certain substitutions are permitted here in order to receive and guide the poor, so that they too may enter the Dao. If a wealthy household has the means to provide the proper items, substitutes should not be used. Gold, money, and the seven treasures can be possessed only by the Son of Heaven, the crown prince, the empress, imperial consorts, princes, and nobles; commoners can hardly obtain them. Golden dragons and jade dragons, golden fish and jade fish, golden sheep and jade geese, gauze and brocade, and the like are likewise beyond the reach of poor cultivators. Substitution with other things is therefore allowed in all these cases. If every item had to be prepared strictly as the scripture prescribes, the methods of the Dao would be difficult to transmit and practice, and it would not be easy to guide the many.

The ritual objects listed in the scriptures, however, each have their own prescription. They are offerings to the deities and should be prepared, item by item, to the best of one’s ability. The tokens of faith that a disciple offers the master have no fixed quantity. They may include clothing, bed-curtains, bedding, mats and cushions, tables, staffs, vessels, jars and bottles, shoes, carriages and horses, estates and houses, gold and silver, pearls and jade, silk and brocade, money and cloth, ornaments, rice and wheat, flowers and fruit, and the utensils used to support the rites. One may also devote all that one possesses to serving the Dao and serving the master: to founding Daoist abbeys, delivering and transforming others, copying scriptures, fashioning images of the deities, redeeming living beings and setting them free, relieving hunger and cold, bettering the condition of people of humble status, pardoning prisoners, practicing charity widely, and succoring those in distress. One may further seek blessings for family, state, and all beings, and rescue oneself together with beings in the three paths of suffering (in Buddhism and Daoism, commonly the hells, hungry ghosts, and animals). Offering and doing good should follow each person’s intention and capacity, carried out to the utmost at the time, with no fixed standard.

The poor may also support the master through labor. Undaunted by hardship, they attend the master near and far, tend the incense, build and repair abbeys, plant fruit trees, open fields and gardens, and cultivate flowers, herbs, and medicinal plants—even to the point of giving themselves over, leaving the household, shaving the head, and cultivating the Dao. Restraining themselves and laboring diligently, sparing nothing, from morning to night without slackening, they serve the master with their whole heart. Cultivating through such diligent hardship, they too can enter the path of attaining the Dao.

I once saw the two princesses, Princess Jinxian and Princess Yuzhen, on the eighteenth day of the first month in the second year of the Jingyun era (711), pay their respects at Guizhen Abbey within the palace to the Venerable Master Shi, Great Ritual Master of the Three Caverns (Dongzhen, Dongxuan, and Dongshen), and receive the methods of the Dao. Master Shi held the offices of Grand Master for Splendid Happiness with Gold Seal and Purple Ribbon, Chief Minister of the Court of State Ceremonial, Dynasty-Founding Duke of Henei Commandery, and Supreme Pillar of State, and he was abbot of Taiqing Abbey. The two princesses received the Lingbao Covenant of Spontaneity, the forty-seven scrolls of the Middle Covenant scriptures in eight cases, and two registers of the True Writs; they wore the talismans and registers (Fulu) and held the ritual staff in their hands.

At that time an earthen altar of three tiers was raised, one zhang and two chi in height. Upon it were set ornaments of golden lotus and inscribed plaques of purple gold, and its interior was enclosed on all four sides with blue-green silk. According to the directions, brocade cushions of the five colors—blue-green, cinnabar, white, purple, and yellow—were spread on the altar, together with mats of dragon whisker, phoenix pinion, and the like. Five tables were arranged according to the five directions and anchored with brocade horned dragons, golden dragons, and jade disks. The altar was further arrayed with gauzes of various colors, brocades, bolts of plain silk, money and cloth, gold, incense, blue-green silk, paper for memorials, brushes and ink, book knives, kerchiefs for the knives that guard the precepts, golden dragons, golden knobs, and other such things, used both to secure the altar and as tokens of sincerity offered to the numinous officers (in Daoism, divine generals who guard the altar and convey the commands of the gods).

There were also incense burners in the forms of coiling dragons, dancing phoenixes, auspicious leaves, auspicious flowers, lotuses, and numinous mushrooms, together with incense boxes and incense caskets, all made of pure gold and pure silver. There were paired ornaments of immortal cranes, luan birds, flying dragons, and phoenixes, as well as brocade cloths and scripture curtains depicting divine kings, immortal lads and divine maidens, mist and cloud, mountains and waters, plants and trees, insects and fish, auspicious beasts and rare birds. The tables for offering the scriptures were of carved jade, openwork gold, purple sandalwood, white sandalwood, and aloeswood, adorned with flying luan, dancing cranes, golden blossoms, and jade leaves. The scriptures were placed in cases of the seven treasures, cases of the nine immortals, cases of yellow gold, and cases of white jade, while the ritual registers (Fulu—the certificates of religious office conferred in Daoism, together with the related documents) were kept in brocade pouches of various colors. There were also chests, trunks, cabinets, and caskets ornamented with pearls and jade, exquisite in workmanship, splendid and precious, and of extremely great value.

On the four sides of the altar hung banners of Perfected beings, jade lads and jade maidens, vajra divine kings, and the like, together with banners patterned with lotuses, numinous mushrooms, coiling dragons, dancing phoenixes, soaring luan, and flying cranes. Upon them were depicted clouds and vapors, sunlight, mountains and waters, birds and beasts, and auspicious flowers and felicitous plants; some were adorned with gold and jade, others painted in rare and marvelous forms. Above and below the altar and throughout the abbey courtyards stood flower-trees of gold, silver, the seven treasures, and the five colors, great in number, their brilliance shining.

Many kinds of ornamental candles and lamps were also set upon the altar, including five-colored floral candles, candles shaped as dragons and phoenixes, lotus candles, and cloud candles, as well as united-heart lamps, strung-pearl lamps, turning-wheel divine lamps, flying-terrace numinous lamps, purple-flame orchid lamps, blue-radiance mushroom lamps, hundred-branch lamps, and thousand-petal lamps, together with lamps symbolizing the five planets, the seven luminaries, the twenty-eight lunar lodges, and the thirty-six heavens, illuminating the altar within and without.

The purification ritual (Zhaijiao) continued for fourteen days and nights, during which the rite of pacing the Way was performed, worship offered, and scriptures recited. Just as the purification liturgy began, auspicious snow was said to fall like flowers; when the True Writs were about to be proclaimed, auspicious clouds appeared like a canopy. It is said that at the fourth watch of that night the Lord Lao descended to the altar and conversed with the princesses. On the day the methods were transmitted, five-colored auspicious clouds appeared, and the incense smoke coiled in eight paths. When the transmission was complete, the two princesses further gave couches and beds, bedding, musical instruments, and everyday clothing, five hundred sets of each, together with ten thousand bolts of plain silk, gauze, brocade, money, and utensils for supporting the methods, worth more than ten thousand strings of cash. These did not include the ritual objects used to secure the altar.

Later, on the twenty-eighth day of the tenth month in the first year of the Xiantian era (712), the two princesses again, in accordance with the liturgy (Keyi), established an altar in a separate courtyard and received five kinds of methods together with the scriptural methods of Highest Clarity. The altar was laid out after the forms of Heaven and Earth, round within and square without, solemn and magnificent in its adornment. The ritual objects, tokens of faith, colored silks for securing the altar, silks of the life-mandate, and other offerings exceeded those of the previous occasion by a hundred, a thousand, and ten thousand times. The scriptures were written in gold, mounted on precious rollers and kept in embroidered brocade wrappers, and adorned with pearls and jade. They were seldom seen in the world and cannot be listed one by one.

I, Zhang Wanfu, regard myself as of ordinary and shallow origins, and in keeping the precepts and cultivating the Way I have nothing worthy of praise. Yet I received the favor of an imperial command and was undeservingly ranked among the eminent worthies of the ritual altar, serving as one of the three ritual masters who certify the ceremony. Having seen this ritual assembly with my own eyes, I felt both awe and deep emotion, and from this came the reason for making a record. The princess’s reception of the Dao is set down in a separate, dedicated account. Here I write only a rough outline, hoping that after a thousand years people may still know the dignity of the methods of the Dao.

In the first year of the Xiantian era of the Tang dynasty (712 CE), the year being renzi, on the bingshen day of the twelfth month, the twelfth day being dingwei, Zhang Wanfu, a Daoist priest of Taiqing Abbey, carefully recorded this.

Transmission of the Scriptures (Jing), Precepts, and Methods of the Three Caverns (Sandong). In the first year of the Xiantian era of the Tang dynasty, the year being renzi, on the bingshen day of the twelfth month, the twelfth day being dingwei, Zhang Wanfu, a Daoist priest of Taiqing Abbey, carefully recorded this.

A Brief Account of the Transmission of the Scriptures, Precepts, and Ritual Registers of the Three Caverns, Lower Scroll: a concise account of the lower scroll on the transmission of the scriptures, precepts, and ritual registers (falu) of the Three Caverns. The Three Caverns are the system by which Daoist scriptures are classified; ritual registers are the talismans and registers (Fulu), together with the credentials of identity, that Daoism confers upon practitioners.