《七元真诀语驱疫秘经》

The Secret Scripture of the True Oral Formulas of the Seven Primordials for Expelling Epidemics says: During the kalpa of Longhan (the remote ancient kalpa spoken of in Daoism), the reckoning of chaos had run its course, and the Seven Primordials (the primordial Qi (vital energy) associated with the seven stars of the Northern Dipper and their divine perfected ones) condensed their essence. Each possessed secret formulas of numinous writs, and these formulas appeared at the beginning of the Longhan era.

The Black Emperor of the North (the imperial deity of the north revered in Daoism) possessed methods for summoning ghosts and spirits, and once displayed great divine might in the land of Yudan. The registers of life and death were all administered from this source: they record the three hun-souls, govern the worlds of the thirty-two heavens, and set in order the positions of the stars. The stars oversee the fate-registers of the people of the world and also record a person’s three hun-souls and seven po-souls. Evil deeds are entered on the black registers of the Right Palace, while good deeds are recorded in the cyan writs of the mysterious bureaus of the Left Palace. The Son of Heaven and the emperors likewise all receive the resonance of the stars, each occupying his proper station and presiding over the central heaven.

Therefore, among the common people of the lower realm, many accumulate offenses, defilement, and vicious, rebellious conduct, and after death all become lower ghosts, subject to examination by the Three Officials (the deities in Daoism who govern Heaven, Earth, and Water). Even if the primordial Jing (essence) of their natal destiny condenses and the qi of the upper heavens gathers, they cannot be saved. Their corpses are received by demonic filth and the Six Caverns and fall beneath the Three Realms, inspiring dread. After death they enter the path of ghosts, forever losing their true refuge; nor can they augment the spirit or prolong life. They can only perish early beneath the sun and moon. How could this not move one to lament?

All things between Heaven and Earth receive the shelter and nourishment of the Seven Primordials. In every person brought forth by Heaven and Earth there dwell the spirits of the seven po-souls, corresponding to the seven stars in Heaven; within the five viscera are the three hun-souls, corresponding to the Three Terraces (a stellar office composed of three stars) in Heaven. If a person can cultivate exhalation and inhalation, swallow and take in essence and qi, observe the precepts of the scriptures, practice with single-minded concentration in a quiet chamber, visualize the divine perfected ones, cherish primordial qi, and speak little, then the true spirits of the seven po-souls will protect the body, corresponding upward to the celestial realm and in the middle to the Palace of the Seven Primordials.

These deities are all ranked among the three thousand six hundred bureaus of the Nine Offices of the Three Officials of the Upper Prime, and their name-registers are recorded in the essence of the Celestial Prime, so that what the practitioner has studied may be brought to completion and the deities descend into that person’s numinous residence. The spirits of the three hun-souls become officials of the Three Terraces in the celestial realm, are entered in the celestial bureaus, and oversee matters of human life and death and of peril. For one who cultivates the Seven Primordials, the three hun-souls may be entered in the registers of good of the celestial bureaus, and the ghosts and spirits of the lower realm, together with the Three Officials, are then unable to seize and register them.

The Seven Perfected (the seven perfected beings revered in Daoism) say: Most of the people of the Lower Epoch (here referring to all living beings in the human world) have accumulated grave and wicked offenses, and so they cannot increase the power of the spirits or add to their lifespan. They are all bound by yin ghosts and evil demons, suffering the torment of the wind-knives, yet they do not understand the Great Dao (the Way).

The True Qi (vital energy) of the Seven Origins (the Daoist primordial energy associated with the seven stars of the Northern Dipper) can rescue a portion of people and also possesses the power to subdue ghosts and demons. The Celestial Offices (the official bureaus of Heaven) have methods for altering destiny and transferring calamity; the Imperial Lord of the Northern Pole (a revered deity of Daoism) has methods for expelling evil influences, which can help people prolong their lives. If later students cultivate these methods, they can attain long life and the extension of their years.

The people of the Lower Epoch are all bound by corpse-demons (the evil demons spoken of in Daoism) and do not receive the protection of the superior spirits, so they easily die before their time. The bones buried after death make it difficult for the hun and po souls to reach the Mysterious Capital (the immortal realm spoken of in Daoism); they become beings of corrupted corpses, lost without knowing it themselves.

The Great Emperor told the seven Perfected: In former times I received the command of the Celestial Worthy and campaigned against ghosts and demons, rescuing the common people so that they might be spared violent and untimely death. Because of these merits, the Most High ascended into the north and became the sovereign who governs the north—that is, the Emperor of Northern Feng (Beifeng Dadi), the imperial lord who presides over the northern underworld.

The Emperor of Northern Feng presides over the various charts and registers—Daoist pictorial talismanic documents used to summon deities and suppress evil. There are thirty-six ritual statutes in all, and the orthodox methods are established entirely according to the patterns of the stars. There are also the divine talismans of the Six Paths and the Six Heavens, used to seal and suppress the six ghost palaces. In addition there are the precious registers of the Seven Origins and the mysterious charts of the Three Heavens, in which the positions of the Twenty-Eight Lunar Mansions and of the sun and moon are marked. There are further precious seals that guard and protect the divine spirits (Shen), forty-eight characters in all. Each character contains the Qi (vital energy) of primordial Jing (essence)—the subtle energy that is the original beginning of heaven and earth—and this energy condenses into light. Each character is eight cun long and is engraved within a phoenix tube.

The seven Perfected should recite these contents three times and make obeisance three times. This scripture (Jing) is called the Divine Chapter on Subduing Demons. Male and female officials may, in accordance with the ritual statutes, write it in cinnabar on white silk and wear it on their persons, so as to drive off malign evils and lengthen their years. The seven Perfected knocked their heads to the ground and bowed again. Receiving the charge, they took up high office, led the people of Heaven, and carried out the charts and registers. They asked how one ought to cultivate and practice these teachings in order to expel demonic defilement. Having had the good fortune to come to the Lower Origin—the human world and the lower realms that belong to it—and to encounter these mysterious and secret methods, they knelt and received the oral instructions. If people of the world cultivate these methods, they will understand that the principle of retribution for good and evil is profound and of great weight.

The Great Emperor spoke again to the seven Perfected: From this time on, the people of the Lower Origin receive the descending, all-pervading Qi of True Unity—vital energy that spreads and circulates, pure, unitary, and fundamentally true. [Here the original text is fragmentary and repeats what has already been said, so it cannot be fully interpreted from the text as it stands.]

The Great Emperor told the seven true deities: “The living beings of the lower world receive, from between heaven and earth, the Qi (vital energy) of the True One formed through the fertile mingling of vapors. Born by transformation from primordial Jing (essence), each takes on a body of its own. All are nurtured by the Three Origins and covered by the Nine Qi, and so become the common people of the world.

All living beings are born of the One Origin. Each lifespan has its fixed allotment, and flourishing and decline each have their cycles, yet all may prolong life through cultivation. Wear Fulu (talismans and registers), offer wealth and goods bound up with one’s own allotted destiny, and practice with concentrated diligence, incurring neither offenses nor obstructions. One may then receive aid through the power of the One Origin and have calamities removed.

Each Origin has thirty-six palaces, and each palace establishes one hundred twenty bureaus that keep the records and statutes of life and death, offense and blessing. Practitioners may hold a purification rite, present wealth and goods, and send money and silk to the corresponding realm of the Origin. In this way the living obtain blessings, calamities are dispelled and illnesses healed, and every kind of auspicious confirming sign appears. At that time the realm of the Origin sends down the clear Qi of primordial Jing to cover the person’s body. Primordial Jing thereby nourishes the body, settling the three hun-souls within and letting the seven po-souls support the frame, so that malign spirits dare not intrude.”

The seven true deities were charged with general oversight of the records of offense and blessing in the various offices. Each has a bureau that administers and registers the destiny records of all living beings. A person’s life and death, fortune and misfortune, are all bound up with the primordial Jing under my charge. To guard the bodily form and hold fast the root of life is called “guarding Jing.” All living beings who receive blessings bestowed by the true deities I constantly nurture, keeping them vigorous and favorably circumstanced, and having them observe abstinence and keep to the Dao (the Way).

One may wear the secret methods I transmit, ingest the solar radiance and the lunar bloom (terms in Daoist cultivation for the refined essences of the sun and the moon), and offer thanks to the true officials of the Twenty-Eight Lodges (the divinities who govern the twenty-eight stellar mansions). In this way one may lengthen one’s life, pass through the calamities of the kalpas, travel among the famous mountains, and become a true master in the world. The myriad spirits will all bow in reverence, and demonic beings will attend at one’s side. In the end one attains the Dao and becomes a perfected being, joining those who ascend as immortals, with one’s name entered in the registers and charts of the immortals.

Those who later study this scripture should all cultivate and practice according to its text, ordering worldly affairs and settling the people, and must not violate the statutes of the celestial realm, so that their practice may advance. The celestial writ is mysterious and profound and should be transmitted to later generations. The credential tallies of the true immortals and the numinous texts are listed below:

Taizhen said: The true Qi (vital energy) of the Seven Origins—the Qi of the seven origins as understood in Daoism—is the sacred script of the Purple Prefecture (Zifu, the immortal palace where gods and immortals dwell). It is entered in the Phoenix Register and accords with the statutes of the celestial realm, forty-eight characters in all. Cultivating this method enables diligent progress. The celestial scripture is profound and mysterious, and has been specially transmitted to later generations. This efficacious talisman-register document is set out below.

Taizhen further said: The true Qi of the Seven Origins is the sacred script of the Purple Prefecture, forty-eight characters in all, and should be engraved and then carefully preserved among the famous mountains. It was formerly transmitted by Lord Zitong, the Purple Youth, and is passed only to true masters of later generations; it must not be lightly disclosed. The precepts of the celestial realm are exceedingly strict. I have already made this plain to the celestial beings: those who know of this matter must be scrupulously cautious.