《上清骨髓灵文鬼律》

Preface to the Ghost Statutes of the Shangqing (Highest Clarity) Bone-Marrow Numinous Text

Composed by the subject Deng Yougong, recipient of the Shangqing Great Cavern Register and practitioner of the Tianxin Orthodox Method (Tianxin zhengfa).

I have heard that the Shangshu (Book of Documents) says: “The Dao (the Way) of Heaven bestows blessing on the good and sends calamity upon those who abandon themselves to evil.” It also says: “Heaven employs those who possess De (Virtue/Power) and punishes the guilty.” Those who do good are sure to be blessed, and those who do evil are sure to meet with disaster; those who possess De are given employment, and the guilty are brought to punishment. This is the Dao of Heaven. Heaven governs the human world in this way, and it is no different for the ghosts and spirits of the unseen realm.

Thus spirits who have rendered merit to the state and the people are entered in the registers of sacrifice and receive regular offerings according to ritual propriety. As for evil ghosts and monstrous beings that haunt and harm people, bring disaster, harass the populace, and injure the myriad things, there are likewise means by which they may be punished. If they are not brought under governance, how could the calamities they cause ever be counted? This is why the Shangqing Bone-Marrow Numinous Text is entrusted to upright persons, that they may receive and practice it.

This numinous text has three parts: the Ghost Statutes, the Jade Regulations, and the rituals for practicing the method, known together as the Bone-Marrow Numinous Text. The Ghost Statutes were assigned by decision of the Celestial Bureau, incorporated into the Office for Expelling Evil (Quxieyuan), and put into effect under the Northern Emperor (Beidi). The Jade Regulations and the rituals for practicing the method were specially granted by the Jade Emperor to the charge of the Office for Expelling Evil. Their essential purpose is to judge the offenses of ghosts and spirits, uphold the orthodox and expel the deviant, bring blessing to the people, and ward off disaster on behalf of the state.

I have found that the Jade Regulations are ordinarily transmitted only by word of mouth among ritual masters, while the rituals for practicing the method are obscure and hard to understand. The numinous text has therefore gradually been scattered and become incomplete, and all that survives today is the Ghost Statutes. Even though the Ghost Statutes remain, ritual masters of the ordinary world are often unable to penetrate their meaning. Errors in copying have further thrown the wording into disorder, until at last the text has fallen into neglect. Ritual masters treat illness with nothing but talisman-water, and this frequently gives rise to deception and delusion. Is this not a betrayal of Heaven’s intention?

The Ghost Statutes of this numinous text comprise fifty-six articles. They honor the Northern Culmen as supreme and hold comprehensive sway over Heaven and Earth, Yin-Yang, the Five Phases (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water), and the principles of giving life and taking life. Whatever harms the orthodox by means of the deviant falls under their jurisdiction. The Jade Regulations and the rituals together comprise sixty-four articles, symbolizing the ceaseless generation of the Bagua (Eight Trigrams). Sixteen orthodox articles in which the Ghost Statutes and the Jade Regulations correspond to one another bring the combined total to seventy-two, answering to the seventy-two seasonal nodes. Once a deviant matter is carried into effect, it is handed over to the Seventy-Two Offices of Mount Tai (divine offices in charge of the affairs of the unseen world). If even one office is lacking, the method is incomplete, and the divine offices cannot act with due propriety. From this it may be seen that the Dao is the root of the method, and the statutes are the method in application. When ghosts, monsters, and deviant Qi (vital energy) intrude, one must take the Dao as the foundation and set matters right; for this reason it is called the “Orthodox Method.”

The rituals for practicing the method comprise forty-eight articles. Thirty-six correspond to the Thirty-Six Generals, and the other twelve correspond to the spirits of the twelve hours. The ritual master is to keep these divine generals and hour-spirits constantly at his side and draw them into his own person; they are therefore called the “Procedures for Conducting Affairs.” The human body may also be regarded as the dwelling of the true spirits. In action, one can transform and become an immortal; in stillness, one communes with spirit. This is precisely the wondrous principle of the natural order.

I once examined the Ghost Statutes with care and found their records thorough and exact. Traced to their source, they come from the ancestral immortal Rao Dongtian. Rao Dongtian at first served as a clerk in a prefectural office. He conducted affairs with impartiality, applied the law with strict clarity, and judged cases without injustice, and so won the deep approval of all. His virtuous conduct called forth a response in the celestial signs. Numinous light shone downward, the storehouse within the earth thereupon opened, and the secret texts appeared. From this one may know that these statutes for ghosts and spirits were indeed bestowed by Heaven.

Rao Dongtian held that, although the realm of Heaven and the human world differ, their principles are one. Taking the laws of the state as his model, he established punishments for ghosts and spirits, weighed what was light against what was heavy, and fixed the articles. Ghosts and spirits have neither form nor trace; they are difficult to seize and cannot be beaten with the whip. When they are guilty, they are made to bear hard labor. The Fengdu Statutes say that ghosts must labor by carrying mountains and dragons must serve by digging pools; these are all punishments of penal toil. The punishments recorded in the Nüqing Ghost Statutes correspond to exile to distant frontiers in the human world. What the Statutes of the Nine Earths call “supreme destruction of form” corresponds to the disposal of criminals among human beings. What the Statutes of the Mysterious Capital call “dividing the form and scattering the shadow” belongs among punishments that go beyond the ordinary statutes. For handling the affairs of the ghosts and spirits of the world, no provisions are more detailed than these.

I have been fortunate to see the true scriptures of the highest order and to meet renowned masters who transmitted them. For more than ten years I sought widely for secret copies at the Yulong Abbey on Xishan in Hongzhou, the Taiping Abbey on Mount Lu in Jiangzhou, the Jianji Abbey of Nankang Military Prefecture, the Lingxian Abbey in Shuzhou, and elsewhere, and in the course of that search I collected five editions of the Shangqing Ghost Statutes. I collated them one by one, corrected errors, and arranged their order according to the old copies. The Ghost Statutes are divided into seven sections, fifty-six articles in all; the Jade Regulations comprise sixteen articles; the rituals for practicing the method comprise forty-eight; the total is one hundred and twenty articles, in three scrolls. I checked them article by article, striving to be thorough and complete. After gathering the old and new editions, I burned a memorial to announce the matter to the celestial palace and reported it to the Office for Expelling Evil and related offices. Only when I later received a clear response confirming that nothing had been omitted was the complete text finished.

If I were merely to practice it myself, conceal it, and withhold it from the world, its efficacy could not spread widely. I fear that this would go against Heaven’s will and bring on censure from the unseen realm. I have therefore copied it and offered it up. I have also heard that when the ancients governed the world by the Dao, the ghosts and spirits among the people did not rise in disorder. It was not that ghosts and spirits had lost their numinous power, but that their power no longer harmed human beings. When people and ghosts and spirits do no injury to one another, the transforming work of De can come to rest in one and the same place. Is such governance not the grandest of attainments?

With reverence I consider that His Majesty the Emperor holds the highest authority and alone regulates the myriad transformations of the world, so that the hundred spirits each attend to their offices and the people live in peace and contentment. There is naturally a Dao for commanding the spirits. In offering this book, I hope not only that the court will promulgate it in every region and broaden its circulation, but also that ritual masters throughout the world may obtain the complete text and cultivate and practice according to it. In this way the evil specters and monstrous spirits of remote places will be unable to harm the people, and this may also be of some aid to Your Majesty’s transformation of the world through the Dao. With reverent salutation I bow my head and compose this preface.

The Upper Volume of the Shangqing (Upper Clarity) Bone-Marrow Numinous Writ: Ghost Statutes

Rao Dongtian, Primordial Lord on daily duty as envoy of the Purple Tenuity Office, received in transmission the Great Cavern Register of Upper Clarity and carries out the Celestial Heart Orthodox Method (Tianxin zhengfa). Recompiled by Deng Yougong.

Section on the Dao (the Way) of Ritual Methods: Twenty-Seven Articles

All officials who practice ritual methods are subject to assessment of their conduct in the yang realm and of retribution in the yin realm, and their merits are examined each year according to regulation. Those who can check evil, punish what is improper, rescue people in hardship and peril, deliver the dead and help them attain a higher rebirth, extend grace to beings endowed with spirit, and dissolve enmities shall be promoted in office according to ritual protocol. Those who show favoritism, engage in fraud, or foster wicked conduct and treachery may be secretly investigated and reported by the Three Officials (Sanguan, the divine offices in Daoism charged with evaluating Heaven, Earth, and the human realm); when the time comes, they shall be dismissed and punished with special severity.

Whenever urgent documents are issued, matters of critical urgency must be handled at once—for example, when a patient is in grave condition and inquiry must be made of the underworld offices and the celestial bureaus concerning the allotted span of life, whether long or short. Documents of the next degree of urgency are sent to the City God (Chenghuang, the deity who presides over a locality) and must be completed within one day; those of the degree below that are reported to the Eastern Peak (Dongyue), which is to open a case and press ghosts and spirits to carry out the business, to be completed within two days. The time allowed even for ordinary affairs must not exceed three days. Anyone who delays without authorization shall receive one hundred strokes of the rod for every half day of delay; if the delay is deliberate and motivated by private interest, the sentence shall be one year of penal servitude, increased by one degree in serious cases. Delays caused by objective circumstances, such as roads being blocked, shall be judged according to the specific responsibility involved.

Divine generals and clerical troops dispatched by the Eastern Peak to manage affairs are rotated once every three years; rotation once a year is also permitted. Their merits and faults shall be recorded together and reported to the Eastern Peak for examination and for decisions on reward or punishment. Successors shall moreover be designated one month before the rotation. Those who wish to remain in office must petition the Eastern Peak for approval. Anyone who ought to be rotated but is not, or who is rotated without authorization when rotation is not due, shall receive one hundred strokes of the rod; where there is a genuine special reason, the matter shall not be pursued.

Divine generals ordered to carry out retribution who delay and thereby mismanage the matter shall receive one hundred strokes of the rod; if in the course of their duties they harm people or accept bribes, they shall be sentenced to two years of penal servitude. Heavenly troops, commanders, and clerks must also record the offenses committed together with their causes and submit a memorial report.

When rites of any kind are being performed, if a situation arises in which the procedure will not work, the ritual methods must not be altered without authorization. A memorial should be submitted at once to request instructions, and a reply awaited. Examples include dispatching a ghost that then refuses to depart, or cases in which the Fulu (talismans and registers) fail and the deities give no response. Offenders are sentenced to two years of penal servitude. Anyone who is not an official charged with performing the rites, yet interferes on his own authority, is sentenced to three years of penal servitude.

If ghosts and spirits under commission fail in their duties, mistakenly seize the soul of a living person, or cause someone to go mad or fall ill, they are sentenced to exile for one thousand li. If a life is lost as a result, the penalty is increased by two degrees. Those who cast aside the statutes and do not observe the regulations are put to death.

When an official who performs the rites arrives at a place, he may carry Fulu and seals with him and establish there an office called a “mobile bureau” (xingsi). Whenever something must be requisitioned, or spirit officers (subordinates of the deities) and the like are summoned, if they defy orders on their own authority, they are sentenced to one year of penal servitude. If the matter concerns an office of the immortal realm, the full course of events should be set out in a memorial.

Anyone responsible for receiving documents who loses a document must at once turn himself in to the Exorcism Bureau (Quxieyuan, the Daoist office in charge of exorcistic affairs). After investigating, the bureau will deal with the matter separately and set a time limit for tracing the document. If it has still not been recovered when the limit expires, the offender receives one hundred strokes of the rod. If it is recovered within the time limit, the offense may be waived.

If ghosts and spirits who have received orders are required to proceed to a designated place but defy those orders and refuse to go, they are sentenced to exile for three thousand li; repeat offenders are put to death. If divine generals, spirit officers, and their troops injure others or accept bribes while pursuing ghostly afflictions, they are sentenced to two years of penal servitude. If they conceal the facts and allow the offender to escape, they are punished according to the crime the offender committed. If the guilty party appears at the ritual altar, the charges have already been established, and the person later dies for some other reason, the responsibility of the relevant spirit officers and the specific circumstances should be reported together in a memorial.

Divine generals, as well as the deities of noted mountains and great rivers, City Gods (Chenghuang), local altar deities (Sheling), and other spirits, must, on receiving documents issued by the Exorcism Bureau, verify the seals, keep the documents securely, and promptly report the results of their handling. Those who neglect or slight such documents without authorization are sentenced to two years of penal servitude.

If ghosts and spirits, after receiving a dispatch order from the Exorcism Bureau, have still not left their original place once a night has passed, they are sentenced to one year of penal servitude for each day of delay. For every additional ten days the penalty is increased by one degree, up to a maximum of three years of penal servitude.

When the various malignant spirits have already been driven off, yet deities such as the Six Jia (Liujia), the Duke of the Soil (Tugong), and the Director of Destinies (Siming) hide themselves and refuse to appear and depart, they shall be sentenced to three years of penal servitude; if loss of human life results, they shall be sentenced to three years of exile.

When the various malignant spirits have already been driven off, yet deities such as the Six Jia, the Duke of the Soil, and the Director of Destinies hide themselves and refuse to appear and depart, they shall be sentenced to three years of penal servitude; if loss of human life results, they shall be exiled three thousand li. If the Celestial Bureau (Tiancao, the heavenly office that oversees the affairs of the gods) issues an edict that they are to remain, the matter shall not be pursued.

When commoners have business and appeal to the Ritual Officer (Xingfaguan, the official who presides over rites for driving out evil), and the Ritual Officer accepts the case but does not deal with it, or deals with it only in a perfunctory and slipshod manner, or arbitrarily lays upon ghosts and gods charges that do not belong to ghosts and gods, he shall be beaten with one hundred strokes of the staff. If no one has appealed, and the Ritual Officer, for some other reason, separately orders an expulsion, the present rule does not apply.

A deity on duty who, without authorization, enters into illicit relations with a woman of the common people shall be exiled three thousand li; if the circumstances are grave, the case shall be memorialized for a decision. If a deity of the jurisdiction commits this offense, the punishment shall be increased by one degree. Ghosts and gods who take human life without cause, or who steal property in the human world, and who will not heed admonition and refuse to submit to arrest, shall be put to death. The City Gods (Chenghuang), Earth Gods (Tudi), and other deities to whom they are subordinate, if they deliberately connive, shall be liable for the same offense; if they fail to detect it, they shall be beaten with one hundred strokes of the staff.

Ghosts and gods dispatched under orders who do not go promptly to carry out their business shall be beaten with one hundred strokes of the staff; if the urgent business concerns human life, they shall be sentenced to two years of penal servitude; if death results, they shall be exiled three thousand li. Those who receive an edict together with Fulu (talismans and registers)—the command and the credentials for dispatching divine generals—yet defy the order and do not go shall be put to death.

When disasters such as locusts, drought, flooding, frost, snowfall, and hail damage the crops of the common people, and the local deities are unable to bring relief, and the Bureau of Exorcism (Quxieyuan, the office charged with driving out evil and dispatching divine generals) sends generals and clerks to join in checking the disaster, those who disobey shall be beaten with one hundred strokes of the staff. If the matter concerns an annual calamity then being carried out by the Celestial Bureau, a written memorial may be submitted.

When divine generals and their clerks and soldiers ought to be dispatched but are not, or ought not to be dispatched but are dispatched without authorization, and the Bureau of Exorcism sends generals and clerks to join in putting a stop to this, those who disobey shall be beaten with one hundred strokes of the staff. If the matter concerns an annual calamity then being carried out by the Celestial Bureau, a written memorial may be submitted.

When divine generals and their clerks and soldiers ought to be dispatched but are not, or ought not to be dispatched but are dispatched without authorization, a single offender shall be beaten with one hundred strokes of the staff; if ten offend, the punishment shall be increased by one degree, to a maximum of three years of penal servitude.

When the hardships of the common people are being relieved, and the relevant gods and ghosts who must by law be summoned refuse to answer the summons, they shall be exiled three thousand li; if they have come but do not join in the search and arrest, nor attend swiftly to the business, they shall be sentenced to two years of penal servitude. If the Celestial Administration (Tianfu, the governmental offices of the heavenly realm) has assigned them instead to other business, the matter shall not be pursued.

When the various celestial realms send down epidemics that cause people to suffer sores, swellings, pain, and similar ailments, the ghosts and spirits of these epidemics come under the authority of the Prince of the Twelve Years, who carries out the work of eliminating the pestilence in accordance with the orders of the Office for Expelling Evil (Quxie Yuan). Whoever is to be seized and taken into custody in obedience to the commands of the Celestial Bureaus (Tiancao) must be dealt with at once and with immediate effect, and the circumstances must be reported in full to the higher realms; those who disobey are beaten with one hundred strokes.

The divine offices of the mountains and rivers, the local Earth Gods, the Directors of Destiny (Siming), the City Gods (Chenghuang), and others in every locality are ordered to search out and arrest evil spirits. If, within the territory under their charge, they delay and fail to act, or deliberately allow evil spirits to harm people, they are to be sent directly to the Eastern Peak (Dongyue) for judgment; those in authority who bear responsibility through failure of oversight are beaten with one hundred strokes.

If the supervisory City Gods and the gods of the local altars (Sheling) in any locality delay and fail to act within their jurisdictions, or deliberately indulge evil spirits in harming people, they too are to be sent directly to the Eastern Peak for judgment; those in authority who bear responsibility through failure of oversight are beaten with one hundred strokes.

If the supervisory City Gods and the gods of the local altars commit faults, these must be reported in detail to the Northern Pole (Beiji) for a decision; the Three Officials (Sanguan)—the Official of Heaven, the Official of Earth, and the Official of Water—then investigate the matter and turn it over to the Office for Expelling Evil for enforcement.

When annual disasters or great epidemics occur within any locality and cause death or injury among the people and among oxen, horses, and other livestock, those who receive the report should notify the Year-King deities to gather in and contain the epidemic poison, and should memorialize the higher realms; those who disobey are beaten with one hundred strokes.

If someone in prison has long endured suffering, and the offense charged against that person is not fact but a genuine wrong, yet the parties concerned have never investigated the case and cleared the person’s name, the local City God and the Prison God should be commissioned to make the facts of the case manifest, so that the officials trying it may come to their senses, establish the truth, and at once render a just decision; those who disobey are sentenced to one year of penal servitude. If the prisoner has in fact committed an offense as determined by the underworld, this provision does not apply.

If divine generals and their clerical soldiers leave without authorization the side of an official who is performing a ritual, they are beaten with one hundred strokes. When personnel are urgently lacking, forces may be borrowed from nearby shrines, but they must not exceed five hundred persons. When the matter is finished, they should be feasted and commended as appropriate, and their merits reported to the department to which they belong.

After ghosts and spirits have received a commission from the Celestial Administration (Tianfu, the governing organs of the celestial realm), if they delay five days and still fail to carry it out, they are beaten with one hundred strokes; if they delay ten days, the offense is increased by one degree, up to a maximum sentence of three years of penal servitude. If there is a genuine reason, it should be reported in detail to the Celestial Administration.

Any demonic anomalies that haunt forests and mountain valleys and harm people shall be put to death. If the ghostly beings under their command have neither committed the same offense nor been implicated, they shall be handed over to the Eastern Peak (Dongyue, the divine office in charge of judgment in the underworld) for disposition. Those responsible for jurisdiction over these places, if they fail to detect the relevant circumstances, shall receive one hundred strokes of the rod. Those who conspire with the offenders shall be punished for the same crime.

All tall and widely scattered trees that people revere, and for which they build shrines and pray, yet from which they receive no blessings, shall be torn down. If, because a shrine has been built, they have never harmed anyone and can indeed bring welfare to people, a memorial may be submitted according to their actual merit. Those who violate the regulations shall receive one hundred strokes of the rod.

Article Seventeen of the Taiwu Section

All things born of and nurtured by earthly Qi (vital energy) shall, in a year of disaster, be drawn from the products of the locality itself. If ghosts and spirits come and go without cause, raise wind and rain on their own, and thereby ruin crops and endanger human lives, they shall in every case be banished one thousand li. When immortal officials (officials of the celestial realm) arrest and escort offenders within the six territories (here referring to the relevant earthly domains or jurisdictions), they must submit a formal written memorial to the Celestial Administration (Tianfu, the offices of the celestial realm).

If ghosts and spirits steal property from the human world to the value of a full one thousand cash, they shall be banished two thousand li; if the value is less than one thousand cash, they shall be sentenced to two years of penal servitude. If what is stolen consists of objects permanently dedicated for offerings, then regardless of the quantity, their form shall be extinguished (causing their physical form to perish). If local supervisors deliberately indulge the evil spirits within their jurisdictions in harming people, the sun-roaming divine officers (divine officers who patrol the human world) must register and report the matter; violators shall receive one hundred strokes of the rod.

All officials charged with documents and with the supervision of heterodox demons, if sent to receive documents delivered that day by the merit officers (Gongcao, divine officers responsible for transmitting commands), and if delay, unclear delivery, defacement, or damage occurs, shall receive one hundred strokes of the rod. Those who privately break the seal to inspect the contents shall be sentenced to two years of penal servitude. If a memorial is leaked or lost, the punishment shall be banishment for three thousand li.

If ghosts and spirits seize a person’s hun and po souls without cause, they shall be banished three thousand li; if this causes loss of human life, they shall be put to death.

Ghosts and spirits who are summoned yet do not come, and who willfully defy orders or are negligent and disrespectful, shall be sentenced to three years of penal servitude.

If ghosts and spirits have not been dispatched by the offices of the human realm, they may not mingle and dwell among living beings; violators shall receive one hundred strokes of the rod. Immortals banished to the human world by order of the Celestial Administration are not included in this provision. Those who falsely assume titles and take the opportunity to demand sacrificial offerings shall be sentenced to two years of penal servitude; those who cause grave harm shall be handed over to the Eastern Peak for disposition; those who resist arrest shall be put to death.

Various ghosts and spirits who, without legitimate reason, conceal themselves in people’s homes, arbitrarily raise demonic anomalies to haunt and injure people, and who still have not departed after one night has passed, shall be beaten with one hundred strokes of the staff. For every further five days they remain, the punishment is increased by one degree, the heaviest sentence being two years of penal servitude. Those who, having been ordered to be driven out, still do not leave shall be put to death.

When a person falls ill and the illness drags on for ten days or half a month without healing, and in sleep and dreams the sufferer also consorts with ghosts and specters, the local earth deity—the spirit in charge of that tract of land—should ascertain the facts and report them to the Eastern Peak, that is, the Great Emperor of the Eastern Peak and his divine offices, requesting that the one causing the haunting be destroyed. Those who fail to report as prescribed shall be beaten with one hundred strokes of the staff.

When officials of the Bureau for Expelling Evil deploy celestial talismans—the Fulu (talismans and registers) used in Daoism to expel evil and command ghosts—they should order the lords of mountains and rivers, the spirits in charge of the local mountains and waters, to arrest the haunting ghosts. If the spirits concerned do not exert themselves in carrying out the order, but delay and resist, they shall be sentenced to one year of penal servitude.

Four Articles of Zhengyi (Orthodox Unity)

The “water” spoken of here, whatever its size or depth, so long as it can nourish crops, should do its work at the proper time. If water is not conducted at the proper time, the Water Emperor of the Nine Rivers—the spirit who governs the waters of the Nine Rivers—may examine the merits and faults involved and submit a memorial; offenders shall be beaten with one hundred strokes of the staff.

In the waters of rivers, streams, lakes, pools, and deep mountain tarns, each has a dragon spirit in charge. A dragon spirit who governs a body of water is called its “master”; if such spirits perform their duties with impartiality, people ought to offer them sacrifice. If a dragon spirit, availing itself of violent wind and rain, goes out on an excursion without cause and damages crops, it shall be sentenced to one year of penal servitude; if it presumptuously demands sacrifice, it shall be sentenced to two years of penal servitude. When the divine offices in charge of water affairs draw water, if flooding destroys fields, houses, and crops and the households harmed number fifty or more, the sentence is exile to a distance of three thousand li; if fewer than fifty households, the sentence is three years of penal servitude. Disasters that occur in a year of calamity because of local natural change are not to be prosecuted, but a memorial must still be prepared and submitted.

Dragon spirits and ghost-masters in charge of the foul currents of rivers and similar waters, if they deliberately invent pretexts to demand boats, carriages and horses, or sacrifice, shall be sentenced to two years of penal servitude. If without cause they raise wind and make rain, destroy fields and houses, and cause casualties—for one death, exile to three thousand li; for ten deaths, death; for more than ten deaths, extinction of form, that is, the complete destruction of their form and spirit. Spirits in charge where lakes and pools are concerned are punished under the same offenses. If the local spirits responsible for supervision fail to denounce them, their guilt is the same.

Gods and ghosts who remain in hiding ought to raise clouds and send rain, yet fail in good time to relieve drought and lift the hardship of the people; and spirits in charge of water affairs who know of this, yet shield and conceal it and refuse to release the water, shall all be sentenced to three years of penal servitude.

Six Articles on Hauntings by the Dead

If the dead harbor resentment toward the living, have already brought a complaint before the underworld, and the matter is not yet settled, yet they take it upon themselves to remain in a household and cause a haunting, harming others through strange phenomena in order to demand merit as recompense, then even if they have not taken a life, so long as this gives rise to a wrongful case and causes innocent people to be treated with hatred and grievance, they shall be handed over to the underworld for judgment and their physical form destroyed.

All manner of baleful spirits and ghostly beings that appear and vanish, set fires, scatter blood, or startle livestock and the like, thereby frightening and offending the living, shall be exiled three thousand li; if they cause loss of life, they shall be put to death.

If a haunting spirit sets a fire inside a dwelling, or burns property and houses, and the households harmed reach ten, it shall be put to death; if they number fewer than ten, it shall be sentenced to three years of penal servitude and sent to Fengdu (the city within the courts of the underworld) to perform heavy labor. Anyone who knows of this yet deliberately condones it and fails to stop it shall be exiled three thousand li.

Ghosts of uncertain origin, such as corpse-spirits and the sprites of ancient objects, who falsely claim that they are not entered in the ghost registers and who after death remain in the human world unwilling to depart, shall be sentenced to one year of penal servitude. If they impersonate powerful deities, forcibly demand sacrifice, and bring harm upon the living, they shall be exiled two thousand li. The local authority responsible, if aware of the matter yet failing to investigate and deal with it, shall be punished under the same charge.

If a haunting spirit harms the living and, once pursued, hides and flees, it shall be sentenced to three years of penal servitude; if it resists arrest and fights with officials and soldiers, it shall be put to death.

Malevolent ghosts who have no one to rely on and no one to offer them sacrifice, and who, when a person has just died or there has been a death in a household, cling to the living and seize the chance to make demands, shall be exiled one thousand li; if they take a human life, their physical form shall be destroyed. If it is truly the case that, after a kinsman of the household has died, the spirit causes trouble because the sacrifices have been lacking, one may offer wine and food in sacrifice and repay it with good deeds and merit, then admonish and guide it so that it departs. If the ghost, after accepting the sacrifice and the merit, continues to harm the living, it shall be sent to the Eastern Peak (the underworld tribunal presided over by the Great Emperor of the Eastern Peak), entered in the register of lower ghosts, and held in confinement.

Five Articles on State Sacrifices

Gods and ghosts not recorded in the sacrificial registers of the various states, if they arbitrarily produce demonic anomalies, delude the common people, and freely claim the power to send down calamity or bestow blessing, shall be punished by exile for three thousand li. Those who have previously harmed human life shall have their bodily forms annihilated.

Gods and ghosts that, though not entered in the sacrificial registers, truly bring welfare to the people shall have their merits examined and, once reported upward, shall be rewarded as circumstances warrant. If they boast of their own merit, arbitrarily create anomalies, bring sickness and plague upon the human world, and press the people into prayer and sacrifice without ceasing, they shall be sentenced to three years of penal servitude. Those who harm human life shall be exiled three thousand li; those who cause the death of ten persons shall be put to death; those who exceed ten shall have their bodily forms annihilated.

Within the jurisdiction of each village shrine (lishe, a place where the locality sacrifices to the earth god and the like), whether by waterway or by land route, any numinous beings that remain in the human world and refuse to depart shall be sentenced to three years of penal servitude. Those who harm human life shall be exiled three thousand li; those who cause the death of ten persons shall be put to death; those who exceed ten shall have their bodily forms annihilated.

Deities who, within the jurisdiction of each village shrine, have charge of the water and land routes, if they are orthodox gods recorded in the sacrificial registers of the yang world and able to respond and extend protection, must not accept sacrifices that the people set up privately on their own, nor accept arts of the human world used for suppressive curse-magic (yansheng) that harms life. Offenders shall be investigated and reported to the Three Officials (Sanguan; in Daoism, the Officials of Heaven, Earth, and Water), after which a severe disposition of removal from rank, or of promotion or demotion, shall be deliberated and fixed.

If gods of blessing recorded in the sacrificial registers do harm in the human world, the offenses they have committed shall be set out in detail and memorialized upward for a decision.

When renowned ministers, meritorious officials, and worthy scholars of the court receive sacrifice after death because temples have been built for them, if they later harm the people they shall at once be sent away. If they still defy the command and will not leave, they shall be escorted to the Eastern Peak (Dongyue), and their crimes shall be memorialized together with them.

Two Articles of the Flying Memorial Gate (Feizou men)

Every urgent memorial must receive a response within two double-hours (shichen). If the matter is urgent and Heaven dispatches the numinous officers of earth and the peaks (Diyue lingguan, spirit clerks charged with carrying out reports) to handle it, the time limit to be used is stipulated separately. If the time limit is missed and no report is returned, or if error is caused by a mistake in copying the memorial, the penalty is in every case one hundred strokes of the rod. One may still submit the memorial again afterward, await the response, and then act according to the command. If the delay is caused by a false report from the Office for Expelling Evil (Quxie yuan), the matter shall not be pursued.

All memorials submitted to the celestial court must, if the matter is urgent, be delivered within one day; those of secondary urgency are limited to three days; and ordinary affairs must receive a reply within seven days. Every memorial is to be transmitted by means of a yinzha (a transit credential attached to the document) and escorted out of each locality along the route. If anyone intercepts or detains a memorial without authorization, the punishment is fixed according to the number of days of detention: one hundred strokes of the staff for a single day, with the penalty increased by one degree for every full ten days thereafter, up to a maximum of three years of penal servitude. If the matter is of great consequence and the harm is pressing, the reasons shall be set out together with it and memorialized to the celestial court.

End of the Upper Scroll of the Shangqing Gusui Lingwen Guilü (Ghost Statutes of the Bone-Marrow Numinous Text of Supreme Clarity).

Middle Scroll of the Shangqing Gusui Lingwen Guilü.

Collated and settled by Rao Dongtian, Commissioner of the Purple Tenuity Palace and Primordial Lord on Daily Duty; recompiled by Deng Yougong, who practiced the Tianxin Zhengfa (Orthodox Methods of the Celestial Heart) in accordance with the registers of the Great Cavern of Supreme Clarity.

The Sixteen Proper Articles of the Jade Regulations.

The ritual vestments used by the officials of this bureau shall be the star crown and vermilion shoes. Anyone who is not acting in order to perform ritual methods and subdue ghosts and demons may not wear them; violators are sentenced to one year of penal servitude. If one troubles ghosts and Shen (spirits) otherwise than for a proper ritual service, the sentence is two years of penal servitude.

The ritual offices of the officials of this bureau must be filled by enrollment in, and conferred from, the Jade Registers of Supreme Clarity (Shangqing yuji, the name-rolls of Shangqing Daoism), giving command over the evil demons of the Three Realms. The patents and register-diplomas of the orthodox methods received shall be written on yellow silk, inscribed in alternating vermilion and ink, mounted as scrolls, and then delivered. The master who transmits the teaching must admonish the recipient of the methods: one should be diligent in keeping the precepts and in cultivation; secret words and numinous texts belonging to the tradition of the methods must be passed from master to disciple by oral transmission and mind-to-mind instruction, and may neither be concealed nor omitted. Violators are investigated by the Three Officials (the divine bureaus charged with the affairs of Heaven, Earth, and Water).

If a ritual official is able to transmit the orthodox methods to a person possessed of the Dao (the Way), and to enable that person to apply the methods so as to rescue the people and obtain a response, a memorial may be prepared and submitted each year; after deliberation, the person may be recommended and granted favor without being bound by ordinary procedure.

Whenever talent fit to be recommended is encountered yet not reported in a memorial, or when one knows full well that a report ought not to be made and nevertheless submits a memorial, the sentence in either case is one year of penal servitude. Transmitting the seal-formulas (the seals and oral formulas used in performing the methods) on one’s own authority, without having first submitted a memorial, incurs the same punishment. If the master himself becomes aware of the matter within one hundred days yet does not voluntarily report it within the time limit, the punishment is likewise the same.

Those who, according to the regulations, ought to have their names memorialized and be granted a ritual office, if afterward they fail to follow their master’s instructions or violate the relevant ritual procedures, shall be sentenced to one year of penal servitude. If the circumstances are serious and real harm results, the master shall report the facts truthfully; the offender himself shall first be put to death, and only afterward shall the guilt of his nine clans be punished.

When a Daoist priest transmits ritual methods according to the Orthodox Method (Zhengfa) in order to rescue the common people, yet the master schemes for wealth and deliberately sets up obstacles, he shall receive one hundred strokes of the staff. If, in the name of transmitting the method, he accepts property, the receipt of one bolt of silk shall be punished by one year of penal servitude; the receipt of ten bolts shall, according to the regulations, increase the penalty by one degree, up to a maximum of three years of penal servitude, and his graded ritual office shall be reduced by two ranks. If he receives less than one bolt, he shall receive one hundred strokes of the staff. Gifts of wine and food that are accepted shall likewise be treated as the acceptance of property.

A practicing ritual officer—a Daoist official who exercises Daoist ritual methods—who each year rescues twenty critically ill persons may be advanced one grade in the order of rank; if he rescues more than twenty, he shall be promoted according to the regulations of the immortal ranks, the graded sequence of Daoist immortal officials. Once merit and cultivation have reached the standard for promotion, a memorial shall be submitted requesting advancement in ritual rank. If someone comes seeking help and the officer neither accepts the case nor gives treatment at once, or if he falsely reports merit and fraudulently obtains a transfer or appointment to ritual rank, he shall in every such case be sentenced to one year of penal servitude.

A nominee for memorial—a person already entered on the list to be memorialized for the conferral of office—who has not yet been memorialized, yet falsely claims that he already holds a ritual office, shall be sentenced to two years of penal servitude. A person who has already been memorialized but has not yet received the reply granting office, if the recommendation or the review was improper, shall be memorialized again; if, before the reply arrives, anyone falsely claims to be another person’s master or disciple, each of the persons concerned shall be sentenced to two years of penal servitude.

Whenever a ritual officer newly appointed to this court is granted a ritual rank that does not accord with the facts, he shall in all cases be sentenced to one year of penal servitude.

Whenever a ritual officer newly appointed to this court practices inscribing the talismanic script of the Celestial Heart (Tianxin), the seal-formulas of the stars and the Dipper, the guiding steps (gangbu), and other ritual methods, he shall write them on boards made of gold, jade, or fragrant wood; when the practice is finished, he shall wash them away with perfumed water and cast the boards into a long-flowing stream. Those who violate these regulations shall be sentenced to one year of penal servitude.

Anyone who, in the name of the Orthodox Method, recklessly transmits ritual methods to unsuitable persons and takes the occasion to seek wealth, or who, after receiving money and goods, changes his mind and transmits them no further, shall in all cases be sentenced to two years of penal servitude; those who have not yet received the money and goods shall be punished in the same way. Those who borrow other ritual methods and falsely pass them off as the Orthodox Method when transmitting them shall be sentenced to three years of penal servitude.

Anyone who displays the ghostly statutes of the Orthodox Method—the Daoist ritual methods and precepts—to unsuitable persons, or lends them to others to copy, so that they are slighted and profaned; or who divulges the essential formulas of the ritual methods to persons not authorized to practice them—persons who have not been permitted to perform the methods—shall in all cases be sentenced to three years of penal servitude. Those who offer the ritual methods for others to make sport of shall likewise be sentenced to three years of penal servitude.

Anyone who expounds the ghost statutes of the Orthodox Method (Zhengfa) to persons not qualified to hear them, or lends them to others to copy, or treats them as a plaything with a disrespectful attitude; or who disputes with those not authorized to transmit and practice this method, or divulges the items of the secret instructions, shall be sentenced to three years of penal servitude. Using magical arts to toy with ghosts and spirits is punished by one year of penal servitude. Deliberately causing another to use magical arts to entrap ghosts and spirits is punished by two years of penal servitude; if death results, the penalty is exile for three thousand li. When reciting or contemplating and practicing the Jing (scriptures) without the proper ceremonial bearing, and without maintaining purity and reverent care, the sentence is exile for two thousand li.

Whenever memorials and documents of the Shangqing school are submitted (petitions presented to the deities), one should notify the Gongcao on duty (the divine clerks responsible for transmitting documents that day), then circulate and deliver the documents to the relevant Marchmount bureaus, and entrust the Earth Gods along the route to seize and arrest baleful ghosts; at the same time, the divine generals and clerical troops of this bureau are dispatched to determine the disposition according to the gravity of what has been memorialized. Failure to report what ought to be reported, or unauthorized reporting of what ought not to be reported, is in every case punished by one hundred strokes of the staff.

When the celestial writs, secret registers, and Fulu (talismans and registers) of the Orthodox Method are transmitted to another, one is permitted to copy a single original and store it in a spirit niche, a rock cave, or a stone casket among the famous mountains and great rivers. When a ritual official’s term of office has expired, the patents, talismanic writs, and Jing received and conferred during that term shall all be burned together, and the ashes cast into rivers and lakes; only documents still in use while in office may be retained. If they are not burned, they should be wrapped in an old ritual robe and then cast into a river. Seal-talismans that have been replaced, together with brushes, ink, cinnabar, paper, inkstones, water, Daoist caps, ritual vestments, and other articles used in ritual services, should likewise be burned and sunk in water, or buried in a stone chamber of a grotto residence. All these articles must be properly sealed and stored according to the secret instructions; violators shall be sentenced to one year of penal servitude.

When the Orthodox Method is transmitted, one is permitted, on a Jiazi day, a Gengshen day, a Sanyuan day, one of the Eight Nodal days, one of the Five La days, or one’s Benming day, to memorialize the names, to kneel and receive the sword, the seal, the items of the secret instructions, brushes and inkstones, vermilion and ink, and other ritual implements, and to use them after the sacrifice. Ring-tallies, vessels given as pledges of faith, and objects of gold and silver shall be melted down and sold, and the proceeds used to make offerings to the deities and to relieve the poor; they may not be taken as one’s own or diverted for private use. Violators shall be sentenced to three years of penal servitude.

Whenever an officer of the ritual law who cultivates ritual methods (a Daoist office-holder) dies suddenly, if unusual signs have appeared beforehand during his life, this means that Heaven has sent down an auspicious mandate and has therefore allowed him to depart in peace. If no unusual signs have appeared, the authorities have summoned him to deal with matters that have not yet been clarified and still require verification. His successor in the ritual lineage (a relative who inherits his line of transmission) should then quickly prepare documents such as talismanic notices and writs of rescue, burn his ritual robes to ash, cast the ash into the Yangtze River, and ask the Water Official (the divine officer who governs the waters) to convey them to the deceased, so that the offices of the unseen realm may act upon them. Anyone who violates this is sentenced to two years of penal servitude.

When an officer of the ritual law whose cultivation and merit are complete is summoned away, and the summons comes from the authorities so that he may deal with matters not yet clarified, his successor in the ritual lineage should likewise follow the procedure above: prepare documents such as talismanic notices and writs of rescue, burn the ritual robes to ash and cast them into the Yangtze River, have the Water Official convey them to the deceased, and leave the matter to the offices of the unseen realm. Anyone who violates this is sentenced to two years of penal servitude.

When an officer of the ritual law has completed his merit and is about to be summoned away, the body shows these signs: the upper body inclines twice and the lower body inclines three times, like insects crawling in the soil; wind is heard in the ears; the eyes lose their luster; the “Celestial Pillar” at the crown of the head will not stand upright, and the “Celestial Drum” within the body no longer sounds. Pain then arises in the waist, the kidneys, and related places, and Shen and Qi (spirit and vital energy) rise from the Yongquan point on the soles of the feet and pass out through the crown. At this time the patents of appointment, the registers, and the talismans and seals should be stored together in one place. He should change into clean ritual robes, sit upright, entrust his final affairs to his successor in the ritual lineage, and then shed his form and depart. If auspicious clouds and an escort of immortals have already come to receive and guide him, he will go directly to a grotto-palace, be enfeoffed as an immortal official, and assume his duties.

If the officer of the ritual law is still conscious but can no longer support himself, the local Earth God should assist his successor in the ritual lineage in storing the documents, talismans, and seals according to the method above. Anyone who violates this is exiled three thousand li; if the circumstances and the grounds are especially grave, the penalty is death.

End of the Middle Scroll of the Ghost Code of the Marrow of the Numinous Writ of Highest Clarity (Shangqing Gusui Lingwen Guilü)

Lower Scroll of the Ghost Code of the Marrow of the Numinous Writ of Highest Clarity (Shangqing Gusui Lingwen Guilü)

Established by Rao Dongtian, Purple-Penetrating Commissioner and Day-Duty Primal Lord; recompiled by Deng Yougong, who formally received the Great Cavern Register of Highest Clarity and practiced the Orthodox Method of the Celestial Heart.

Thirty-Six Articles of Ritual

All documents and talismanic inscriptions relating to the Orthodox Method and the Ghost Code should be kept in scented boxes, colored pouches, or cloth cases (a kind of container used for storage). When they need to be consulted, the matter is handled according to this ritual.

Established by Rao Dongtian; recompiled by Deng Yougong, who formally received the Great Cavern Register of Highest Clarity and practiced the Orthodox Method of the Celestial Heart.

Thirty-Six Articles of Ritual

All methods that ought properly to be used, documents of the code governing ghosts, and talismanic seals (Fulu) are to be carefully stored in incense caskets (boxes for holding fragrant things), colored pouches, or cloth wrappers (bundles for keeping scriptures and scrolls). When they are consulted, one must first preserve the spirit (concentrate the spirit and guard the intention), set a ritual boundary (establish a protective range within the method), and enter stillness; only then may they be opened. No more than five scrolls may be consulted at one time. Scriptures and methods are to be transmitted in secret and guarded with care, and must not be exposed to the gaze of ghosts and spirits. For good persons who can truly drive out the deviant, uphold the upright, and bring aid to living beings, their names should be entered on the register and reported to Heaven; the orthodox method should be transmitted to them, so that they may be appointed to office and receive divine rank.

Ritual implements in the court, such as swords, seals, brushes and ink, cinnabar inkstones, caps, shoes, and ritual water, may not be taken and used on one’s own authority if they have not first been reported and announced in sacrifice.

When a disciple is transmitted and ordained, the disciple must pay homage to the master with the rite of elbow-steps. The master ascends the altar and proclaims the precepts; the disciple offers a name-card, drinks the elixir water, then divides the tokens of faith and destroys the certificates of the covenant, making his resolve known by oath. The master then transmits the oral formulae and the talismanic texts, proclaims the True Announcements (the sacred instructions of Daoism), and has the disciple kneel to receive such ritual objects as office, seal-credentials, and the precious sword. The master memorializes the higher sages, asking that the Three Corpses in the disciple’s four limbs be expelled (the foul influences which, according to Daoism, dwell in the human body and obstruct cultivation), that the sins of successive lifetimes be pardoned and released, and that the disciple’s work of cultivation be reported to the divine offices to which it belongs, so that what he practices may accord with Heaven’s will.

Whenever divine generals and clerical soldiers dispatched by the Eastern Peak have clearly received the notice and arrived at the court, they should be rewarded with wine and food, money, and paper horses. They are thereafter to keep their posts in the usual way, await orders, and stand ready for service; they must not be sent out on private commission.

When a ritual officer passes a place where a shrine to the gods has been set up, he should form the Heavenly Ding mudra, beat the Heavenly Drum, and summon the numinous officers and the guardian generals and clerks of his own command to attend him, so as to display majestic bearing and cause the deities to stand in awe and submit. After the summoned divine generals and clerical soldiers have clearly arrived at the court, they too should be rewarded with wine and food, money, and paper horses, and made to keep to their duties, await orders, and stand ready for service; they must not be privately dispatched.

In the early morning the ritual officer should gather and take in the Qi (vital energy) that is then at its height, for use in performing the method and presenting memorials. When a jiao is established (when a Daoist sacrificial rite is performed), frankincense must not be burned.

The lifespan and the fortune and emolument of people in the world are determined by Heaven. If this court has already applied methods to save the sick, and the patient still cannot rise and recover, it means that his allotted years are spent and his destined term has ended. To send documents and make a further report at that time is of no help; it is effort spent in vain.

When relief is extended to people of the world, the documents issued should be concise and must not be cumbersome. One may state the matter directly, express the utmost sincerity, and give the name of the person seeking help.

The registers of allotted lifespan belong to the Celestial Offices (the divine bureaus that administer the documents of heaven). Any petition that seeks to seize another’s fortune and allotted fate, or to shorten a lifespan, does not fall within the scope of the matters set forth here; it should be clearly stated, and retribution requested.

Whenever the handling of madness and malign affliction, demonic hauntings, and strange anomalies is transmitted, the ritual officer (the Daoist priest who presides over the rite) must assume divine identity (enter the divine office proper to the ritual), receive the plaint, affix the seal, and dispatch it for execution.

Whenever a jiao is held according to the regulations (an altar is set up and a Daoist rite of prayer performed), one may not, except where authorization has been granted to present paper money and paper horses (paper offerings made to the gods) to the Three Pure Ones (Sanqing) and the Jade Emperor, offer prayers on one’s own authority at an inappropriate time. This does not fall within the scope of the matters set forth here; it should be clearly stated, and retribution requested.

Whenever the handling of madness and malign affliction, demonic hauntings, and strange anomalies is transmitted, the ritual officer must assume divine identity, receive the plaint, affix the seal, and dispatch it for execution.

Whenever a jiao is held according to the regulations, in the rite for which one has been authorized to present paper money and paper horses to the Three Pure Ones and the Jade Emperor—apart from this case—one must not, at an inappropriate time, presumptuously profane the gods. Before the paper money and paper horses used with the burned memorial are incinerated, the colored silks that serve as pledges of faith must first be burned together with them; the Merit Officers (divine clerks who transmit documents in the Daoist rite) and the Direct Talisman Officers (divine clerks charged with conveying talismanic commands) are then dispatched to escort them.

Whenever a memorial is submitted in a jiao addressed to the Three Pure Ones and the Jade Emperor, the spirit seat of the Commissioner of Investigation (a class of deities who supervise and tour on inspection) should be set up separately at the side; no other spirit seats may approach the imperial throne.

Whenever one enters the oratory (the place where a Daoist cultivates the rites and practices quiet retreat) to burn incense and conduct ritual business, or when writing the characters used in the ritual method, one should first cover and shield them with a dou (a ritual implement whose precise form depends on the Keyi (liturgy)), so that ordinary people cannot see them. In cases where someone accused of causing a person’s death comes on that account to “call the sha” (to pursue or drive out the lethal malign influence), the original text reads “cover and suppress it with t,” in which “t” is suspected to be a symbol introduced in copying or in data entry; taken literally, it can only be understood as covering and suppressing the influence with some object.

Whenever one treats warm epidemics (contagious pestilences) among the six kinds of domestic animals, such as cattle and horses, one should inquire how many animals have been lost and then submit a document, asking the Year-King deity (the spirit who governs the year and calamitous epidemics) to drive out the pestilence.

Whenever pledges of faith are given and received (goods offered as tokens of good faith), one should weigh the other party’s sincerity before accepting them and selling them. The price obtained is divided into three portions: one for offerings, one given to the poor, and one for the support of the Daoist order.

Whenever a prison is established to treat illness (curing disease by ritually arresting and disciplining malign influences), if the malign influences do not submit to the transferred documents (the official papers or talismanic commands that are transmitted), they are to be seized together and subjected to examination and punishment.

Whenever bewitching evils cause disturbance, leaving a person’s mind and spirit unquiet and the heart and kidneys weak and exhausted, one should apply Fulu (talismans and registers), having the person swallow them or wear them, so as to suppress the malign influences.

Whenever one treats a child who has been frightened and cries at night, one should install and make offerings to the household Stove-Eaves deity, the Four Heavenly Kings, and the Swift Spirit Who Flies through Heaven, and carry out the treatment with the Talisman of the Three Luminaries (a fulu that takes its imagery from the sun, the moon, and the stars).

All ritual judges commissioned to perform ritual arts—the officiants who preside over Daoist rites—should each day bring aid to the people of the world. The expenses required should be supplied by the Daoist order, and they must not accept bribes from ordinary people. In this way they will naturally receive the stipend bestowed by Heaven. If funds run short, they should submit a petition declaring their sincerity, and help will come of itself from the unseen, so that they will not be in want. If they take the property of ordinary people at will, what they need from day to day will prove insufficient.

If a household’s stove, or the trade of a shop, is pressed down and cut off by evil spirits, one may use the Talisman of the Three Luminaries—a Fulu (talismans and registers) symbolizing the power of the sun, the moon, and the stars—to dispatch deities to go and set the matter right.

In all matters of building, constructing, or repairing houses and the like, one should present a written report to Taisui (the deity who rotates in office according to the year), inform him and pacify him, and also notify the Earth Dukes and the other deities under his jurisdiction, so that they do not raise calamities or do harm.

If anomalies appear around ponds and embankments, or if damage is caused by construction that departs from established practice and is undertaken at an unsuitable season, one should have the earth god drive the anomaly away so that it leaves the place, and then suppress it with the Talisman of the Three Luminaries. If it defies the command and will not depart, it is to be dealt with according to the ritual statutes.

When pestilence is spreading and the common people fall ill and suffer, besides issuing documents according to regulation to commission the earth gods and other deities, one must also present a memorial to the Year-King deity (the deity who governs the seasonal order of the current year), asking it to withdraw the poisonous qi. When the matter must be reported upward in a flying memorial, the ritual judge of this court should tread the Pace of Yu—the footwork used in Daoist rites to pace the stars and tread the Dipper—transform into divine form, and silently recite an oral petition, conveying the circumstances up to the celestial realm.

When pestilence is spreading and the common people fall ill and suffer, besides commissioning the earth gods and other deities according to regulation, one should also present a memorial to the Year-King deity, asking it to withdraw the poisonous qi; when a flying memorial is required, the ritual judge of this court should tread the Pace of Yu, transform into divine form, and silently recite an oral petition to convey the matter up to the celestial realm. For men and women who are poor and have no offspring, one should first, according to the rites, send away the stars of the Three Punishments and the Six Harms—inauspicious stars held to bring penal injury and obstruction—and then confer the register-pendant, the token bestowed when Daoist registers are transmitted, serving as proof of ritual office and as a protective credential.

If the dwellings of people in the world are inauspicious, Yin-Yang falls out of harmony, and those above and below in a household overcome and harm one another, so that year after year they are worn down and weak and for many years they have no peace, one should confer upon them the Orthodox Registers, the orthodox Fulu of the Daoist tradition.

The Shoujie Yi (the ritual of receiving the precepts) says: In cultivating the methods of the Dao (the Way), one must first set one’s own heart aright; only then can one, by means of a correct heart, teach and transform others so that they too return to the correct Dao. Thus, all methods arise from the heart and also change along with the heart. One who can set one’s own heart aright so that it accords with the heart of Heaven can cause people to be moved and transformed by the correct Dao. When deviant conduct is corrected by the correct Dao, deviant Qi (vital energy) will naturally and gradually submit.

Deviant and crooked conduct arises because the inner heart is not upright and one is further tempted by external things. External deviance obscures the heart and Shen (spirit); the inner heart then loses the ability to discern clearly, and one’s upright nature is also impaired. Wallowing in deviant thoughts and indulging freely in roaming and hunting makes a person’s heart and spirit wild and disordered—this is being obscured by external things. Drinking alcohol disturbs one’s correct nature; sensual desire submerges true feeling; coveting wealth and profit makes one forget benevolence and righteousness; and judging right and wrong according to personal likes and dislikes—all of these are cases of losing the proper principle through passion and desire, and they are great calamities. If one further creates the three evil karmas, forming sinful karma and implicating the Three Officials (the divine offices in Daoism that preside over bestowing blessings, pardoning offenses, and relieving adversity), one will continually sink within the Three Realms (the Realm of Desire, the Realm of Form, and the Formless Realm) and find liberation hard to attain.

Not to kill is benevolence; not to steal is righteousness; not to engage in illicit sexual conduct is propriety; not to deceive is trustworthiness; not to be deluded is wisdom. The faults brought about by the six sense faculties (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind), the seven emotions, and the ten evils (the ten kinds of evil conduct spoken of in Buddhist and Daoist scriptures) should all be abstained from. One must also support one’s parents with filial care, respect teachers and friends, care for orphans and young children, repay the grace of the state, practice correct faith, and understand the order of high and low—none of these may be transgressed.

Practitioners should discipline body and mind, revere parents and the Dao of Heaven, and study the methods of the Most High (the supreme methods of the Dao revered in Daoism), so as both to benefit themselves and to help others, and to teach the methods of the Dao to later generations. One should trust teachers and friends and follow their instruction; one should not insult those who awakened earlier, not slight trustworthiness and righteousness, not commit acts of rebellion, not give or accept bribes, and not defy Heaven or turn against Earth. If even a single item is not observed, the blame is hard to bear; nor can the methods of the Dao manifest their spiritual efficacy in such a person. One will suffer calamity oneself and may even implicate the nine clans.

Therefore, one should take refuge in the unsurpassed Dao and the inexhaustible methods, and make a great vow toward innumerable living beings; only afterward may the formulas and essentials of Shangqing (the cultivation oral instructions and ritual essentials of the Shangqing school) be transmitted, so as to assist Heaven in promoting moral transformation, aid the state and relieve the people, treat illness and support those in peril, expel deviant influences, and uphold the correct Dao. When the ritual is held, one should face the Great Dao and the full assembly of exalted perfected ones (revered deities of Daoism), recite silently in the heart and swear aloud with the mouth, from this day constantly cherishing the vow and never forgetting it, and then kowtow in salutation to express the utmost sincere gratitude. The above ritual sections are liturgical texts chanted when one ascends the altar, jointly praised and intoned by the officials present.

In handling any matter of administration, one should determine the procedure according to the gravity of the affair, and must not dispatch spirit-generals and clerical soldiers at will. When conducting such business as escort, the submission of written plaints, or the selection of a time for dispatch, one must also not arbitrarily place ghosts and spirits on the list of the guilty.

Whenever the orthodox method is transmitted, one should, on the day prescribed within the method, set up a jiao rite—a ceremony of petition and offering to the deities—called the “Jiao of Transmission and Ordination” (chuandu jiao). One memorializes and presents one hundred and twenty portions of ritual money and paper horses, arraying and offering them in the memorial-and-jiao ceremony according to the order of the sacred seats. If half of the number specified has already been submitted in memorial, one may proceed in the same way. One then reports to Heaven and Earth and to the Receiving-and-Recommending Officials (spirit officers in charge of accepting recommendations), obtains a written certificate of guarantee, and, in accordance with the method, delivers the ritual objects and documents, such as talismanic formulas, patents of office, and true registers. One must further notify the Eastern Peak (the Great Emperor of the Eastern Peak and the spirit offices belonging to him), requesting that the name-register be excised and transferred and entered in the rolls of the Celestial Bureaus, so that the person may be pardoned, leave the dark underworld, and rise to the realm of the living. Every part of the rite of ascending the altar is performed according to this method.

All who serve as officers of ritual law in the “Bureau for Expelling Evil” (Quxieyuan) are called “Duda,” and they are charged with commanding the evil spirits of the Three Realms. On taking office, one is first appointed Right Assistant Judge, then advanced to Right Grand Assistant Judge, Left Assistant Judge, and Left Grand Assistant Judge; all these posts are spoken of as jointly administering the affairs of the Bureau for Expelling Evil. Those of outstanding merit may rise into the ranks of the immortals, serving as Grand Ritual Master of All Heaven and jointly adjudicating the bureau’s business.

Within a single year, if in a time of famine, drought or flood, or the withering of grass and trees, one offers prayers at the appointed times and rescues more than twenty people, one may be promoted to Grand Master of the Golden Portal of the Nine Heavens. If within a year the number rescued exceeds twenty, one may be promoted in turn to Minister of the Water Bureau, the Wood Bureau, the Earth Bureau, the Metal Bureau, and the Fire Bureau; if one’s merit and conduct are especially excellent and one brings relief in a major calamity, one may also be transferred grade by grade to still higher posts.

At the year’s end, if one can assist the state in dispelling disasters and securing its territory, and dispatch ghost-soldiers to protect the emperor in secret, so that the realm is at peace, one may be promoted to Yuanjun on Daily Duty, Commissioner of the Purple Tenuity Palace (the Yuanjun who keeps the daily watch within the Purple Tenuity Palace). Thereafter, if within one year one can, according to the ritual law, drive out locust plagues and prodigies in the astral field of one’s own region, one may be additionally granted the title Censor of the Golden Portal of the Nine Heavens. After one further year, if one vows to establish an altar on a famous mountain, submits documents of prayer, offers prayers for the sovereign’s long life, and there is indeed a response, one may be additionally granted the title Palace Attendant to the Superior Immortals of the Golden Portal.

If one can further comprehend the principles of inner nature, transcend the secular world, lead living beings out of the Five Sufferings, and go in person to the Southern Bureau (Nancao, the divine office that keeps the registers of merit and fault) to supplement the records, so that the sovereign is sagely and enlightened, the ministers worthy and good, the nine degrees of kin ascend to heaven, and the myriad beings receive grace, one may be additionally granted the title Supreme Minister of the Purple Prefecture. Thereafter one is promoted in sequence to Grand Minister of the Mysterious Metropolis, Supreme Minister of Great Mystery, Supreme Minister of the Taiji (Supreme Ultimate), and Supreme Minister of the Golden Portal.

If one goes further and realizes the inexhaustible great Dao (the Way), without clinging to written words, so that every pointing instruction and every shouted command meets with a response; and if one can also govern such disasters as jiao-dragons working harm in the rivers, lakes, and seas, and the collapse of mountains and the bursting of dikes, truly establishing merit that benefits the state, relieves the people, and roots out great calamities, one may be additionally granted the title Supreme Minister of the Limitless.

From the Yuanjun on Daily Duty to the Supreme Minister of the Limitless there are nine grades of promotion in all. Only one who has been granted the Nine Grades of Great Registers of Shangqing (the advanced ritual registers of the Shangqing tradition) may be entered in this system of ranks; other posts are handled according to the ordinary grades of immortal officials. Promotion takes the Three Primes as its head, and ranks of the Dongshen (Cavern of Spirit) grade and below are conferred in succession: one first serves as Immortal Official of the First Rank of the Lower Prime, then as Commissioner in Charge of the Northern Pole Bureau for Expelling Evil; next one serves as Immortal Official of the First Rank of the Middle Prime and Judge of the Northern Pole Bureau for Expelling Evil, and is then promoted to Immortal Official of the First Rank of the Upper Prime and Commissioner-Judge of Fengdu. All whose merit, conduct, and cultivation attain the corresponding results are promoted in due order, until at last they personally ascend the Golden Portal and attend in the ranks of the Three Pure Ones (Sanqing).

Whenever talismans of the Three Pure Ones (Sanqing), the Jade Emperor, the Three Luminaries of the Northern Dipper, and the like must be issued, the ritual officer must first transform into a divine general, memorialize upward the reasons for the business being requested, and say: “Your servant now issues talismans and dispatches envoys in accordance with the ritual formula. May this matter be as your servant has stated.” When the prayer is finished, the officer delivers the Fulu (talismans and registers) to the talisman envoy on duty and orders the envoy, upon receiving the talisman, to act as commanded.

Whenever the ritual officer goes out or comes in, the officer must continually visualize the Six Ding, the earth gods of the four duty periods, the seal-supervising strongmen, and other spirits in attendance, and, according to the ritual arts, charge them with their tasks so that nothing goes amiss.

When the ritual officer has an audience with the Supreme Thearch, expels pestilential evils, or cuts off strange baleful influences, the officer must first put on a headdress emblematic of the Three Terraces and the Northern Dipper and visualize transforming into the Commissioner of the Bureau for Expelling Evil. Here, “transforming” means, through meditative visualization and ritual, assuming the identity and ritual power of the corresponding divine office.

After the audience with the Supreme Thearch and the presentation of the petition are complete, the ritual officer proceeds to the Bureau of the Celestial Pivot, takes command of the Four Heavenly Kings, the Twelve Great Spirits, the Eight Vajra Guardians, the Six Ding and the Six Jia, Marshals Tianpeng and Tianyou, and the divine generals of the Fire Bell and the Northern Dipper, and then transforms into the Commissioner of the Bureau for Expelling Evil.

After the audience with the Supreme Thearch and the presentation of the petition are complete, the ritual officer proceeds to the Bureau of the Celestial Pivot, takes command of the Four Heavenly Kings, the Twelve Great Spirits, the Eight Vajra Guardians, the Six Ding and the Six Jia, Marshals Tianpeng and Tianyou, General Fire Bell, and the spirits of the Five Thunders, wind, and rain, and goes straight out through the Gate of Heaven.

Whenever a Celestial Prison is to be established, a memorial must be submitted and a report made to Mount Tai, setting out the relevant matter and the ritual procedure, stating that a Celestial Prison has been established on such-and-such a day of such-and-such a month, in such-and-such a direction, and then reporting this to the Supreme Thearch. In the memorial it is to be called the “Prison of the Five Dippers.”

Article Twelve of the Ritual Formula

The seal of the Bureau for Expelling Evil is made with a square face one cun and eight fen on each side, of gold or jade, and inscribed in seal script with celestial writing. Wood struck by lightning may also be used. The envoys of the Six Ding and the Six Jia are to be summoned to establish a ritual boundary and stand guard. Once the seal has been made, its face is coated with vermilion. The making of the seal must first be reported to the upper realm; this is the only ritual seal used in services of this kind. Thereafter, the seal, together with the personal cipher corresponding to the office conferred, must be submitted to the Eastern Marchmount for verification, and only after verification is complete may it be used.

I received instruction from the Dongtian Pushou Zhenren—a Perfected who dwells in the grotto-heavens and transmits the methods of the Dao—and obtained the star seal of the Tianzhuan Lixie Yuan and of the Dutian Dafazhu, the Great Master of Methods of All Heaven. After the seal inscription had been copied out as duplicates on both faces, it was buried at the former site. Later, when it was checked against the form of the seal and the method of matching, it was found to agree with the measurements now current in the world: one cun and eight fen by the large chi, two cun and one fen by the small chi, and two cun and four fen by the millet chi. The measurements spoken of here are the scales fixed by the statutes of Heaven. They serve to mark the standard of the ritual art, so that ghosts and spirits cannot discern the slightest detail, and they are therefore specially recorded as the established rule for performing the methods.

All celestial seal scripts and celestial-script Fulu (talismans and registers) must be prepared according to the transmitted methods and formulas. One collects the waters of Tiande, Celestial Virtue, and Yuede, Lunar Virtue, writes with the brushes of the Six Ding and the Six Jia, uses the ink of the Black Emperor and the numinous vermilion of the sun, and employs the precious inkstone of the Five Dragons. Only after these preparations have been completed in accordance with the transmitted formulas, and a memorial has been presented to the upper realms, may they be put to use.

Whenever fierce ghosts and spirits are to be subdued, divine generals must be dispatched and mudras formed with both the left and right hands. One must also protect oneself with the left and right Dipper mudras, while proclaiming the command: “Your offenses have already been entered in the register. My heart is set on saving the people.”

Whenever a Jiao ritual is performed for another person to pray that calamity be removed, one must first submit a ritual memorial—the petition used in the rite—to the Perfected Lords of the constellations. Thereafter, in the ritual, one styles oneself a disciple and prays that disasters be dispelled, blessings gathered, and life prolonged, offering the life-silk to bear the misfortune in the person’s place. Clothing, emoluments, and the other offerings of the rite must be prepared with sincere devotion, so that the deities may know of them and examine one’s earnestness.

Whenever one performs the gang steps of Shangqing, Highest Clarity, and recites the Dipper incantation, upon reaching the station of Tiangang and coming to a halt, one flicks the seal mudra and then indicates the direction with the Tiangang seal. If the incantation is to be recited together with the Fulu, one begins the spell with the single character dou, “Dipper,” alone, and starts from the star Tanlang, the Greedy Wolf.

When offering sacrifice to deities and spirits, one must fix the dates according to the “Six Jia” and related days of the four seasons—spring, summer, autumn, and winter: in spring select six Jia days, in summer six Bing days, in autumn six Geng days, and in winter six Gui days. On the chosen day, set out plain and pure fruits, incense, dates, and broth outside the doorway, divided into three portions, as offerings to the Direct Talismans of the Three Realms and the Four Duty Merit Officers (divine functionaries charged with transmitting the documents of the celestial realm and assisting in the performance of ritual methods).

First erect an earthen altar, then place money upon it. Afterward declare one’s intention, saying: “I have received the edict of the Jade Emperor to assist Heaven in promoting moral transformation, to aid the state and relieve the people. Whenever talismanic methods (Fulu) are carried out—whether cutting off the malevolent forces that cause harm, healing illness and rescuing those in peril, or praying for blessings and good fortune—I must rely on the emissaries to communicate on my behalf with all the holy beings above and below. Today I have prepared wine, fruits, and paper money in order to perform the rite of the jiao offering. I earnestly beg the emissaries to bestow grace and spread De (Virtue/Power), to manifest their awesome numinous power, and especially to grant protection.”

Then present wine three times, burn the paper money while reciting incantations, and address the Merit Officers in blessing: “I have heard that you formerly cultivated the Great Dao (Dao) and have now become deities and spirits, and that none of you fail to take the accumulation of merit as foremost and the salvation of the people as essential. For this reason you can travel between the manifest world and the hidden darkness, enter and leave water and fire, display every kind of transformation, and extend your power in all directions. Clad in armor and grasping halberds, with drums on your backs and bells raised high, you go forth on your commissions unhindered in every direction, coming and going freely. Deviant spirits tremble at the mere sound of your names, and the sick find peace when they see you. I subdue demons and monsters by the orthodox method. I ask to draw upon your numinous power to seize and subdue ghostly afflictions, cut off the root of calamity, extend blessings to all the people, and return merit to the orthodox Way. Today, by this sacrificial rite, I offer a modest token of recompense, thanking you divine spirits for your toil and utmost effort, and I earnestly invite each of you to eat and drink your fill.”

Text of the Oath to the Divine Generals (the wording of the address offered in blessing to the divine generals).

Each of you ought to have wine and food in plenty, to set your appearance in solemn order, to keep the heavenly precepts with reverence and strictness, and to stand in awe of the commands of the Celestial Emperor. You are to wield the authority of martial might and accomplish the work of pacifying calamity and disorder. When the merit is complete, commendation and response will come of themselves.

I respectfully make this known to Shuyue (the spirits who preside over the mountains): the divine generals and their officers and soldiers who have been dispatched have long kept divine martial prowess stored within and have long possessed strategy; their reputation is pure, upright, and solemn, and their bearing and virtuous conduct are heroic. They come by the command of those who stabilize the peaks, and they alone hold the authority of punitive expedition. When their awesome force is set in motion, fierce and evil ghosts and demons have their bodies rent apart; when they glare in anger, wind and cloud change color on their account. Wherever the numinous halberd points, even powerful wickedness has no means to withstand it.

You have come to assist the state and save the people, to relieve the age and benefit all beings. You ought to serve the Dao (the Way) with a single mind and not covet merit or fame. This court long ago received the patents of the immortal realm and has always been graced with Daoist office. Although I have taken up the authority of an official of Heaven, I must still look to the protection of the supreme spirits.

From the higher standpoint, one must steady and protect one’s own person, preserve nature and life, study the Dao and serve Heaven, cultivate one’s own true nature, and hope to obtain noble rank in the celestial realm. From the middle standpoint, one must make manifest the transformative teaching of the holy Dao, widely bestow hidden De (Virtue/Power), rely upon divine majesty and numinous power, and hope that meritorious work may continue. From the lower standpoint, one must rescue the people of the world and bring benefit to the myriad things, heal illness and drive out evil, execute and remove the fierce wickedness of former times, and cause the fortune of blessings to grow still more abundant. May good deeds accumulate without cease, and may good fruits appear in their wake. The De accomplished in what is obscure and subtle is a share you hold in common; when the work is achieved, you likewise share in the glory. You ought to do your utmost to seek what benefits the present age, and together honor the orthodox law, causing it to surpass the multitude of methods. Bestow benefit and yet do no harm; display awe and yet be able to chastise.

In every matter, if one loses the mean and the upright, goes against what accords with principle, and harms the myriad things, one contravenes the mandate of Heaven and brings punitive action upon oneself. Therefore the wicked must be slain and the correct Dao upheld, ferocity overcome by divine merit, and treacherous schemes overcome by wondrous method. Who can withstand? And who can resist? Only you spirits, who guard and assist my great Dao. Let this be carried out with all speed, as the statutes and ordinances set forth.

To all the divine generals and their officers and soldiers who have come in answer to the summons, I now charge you by ritual formula: you must at all times guard the one who puts this method into practice.

Proclamation of the Orthodox Law

The Northern Pole Bureau for Expelling Evil (the divine office in Daoism charged with driving out evil and protecting the law):

The generals, officials, and soldiers now under the unified command of this Bureau were all dispatched by order of the Jade Emperor to come to this Bureau, there to uphold the orthodox law, instruct and transform the people, assist the state, relieve the common folk, and save all living beings, so that every one of them may return to the correct Dao (the Way). Notice is hereby given: this Bureau possesses a Heavenly Seal, whose face is made in such sizes as one cun and eight fen, two cun and one fen, three cun, or five cun. The heavenly soldiers governed by the Heavenly Seal number as many as hundreds of thousands of millions of myriads of gai (an exceedingly large unit of quantity); each single line upon the seal can contain three hundred and sixty thousand gai of soldiers and generals. They act in accordance with the commands of my seal. When deviant demons hear of it, they tremble with fear; when the sick behold the Heavenly Seal, they are able to grow calm.

This is the Heavenly Seal bestowed by the Supreme Thearch, borne in the hands of mighty warriors, and it moves wherever I go. The soldiers and generals within the seal are as numerous as hundreds of thousands of millions of myriads of gai; they come and go like the wind, without form and without bounds, transforming without end. They lie hidden within my seal, and the moment they are summoned they arrive at once.

Sometimes they manifest in gigantic bodily forms that fill the whole of empty space: their heads wear Mount Kunlun, their shoulders bear the sun and moon, their hands grasp the imperial bell, and their feet tread the kui dragon (a strange beast of legend). At other times they appear utterly minute, able to enter into a speck of dust and conceal themselves between the strands of a silken hair. They possess vast might and numinous powers; they uphold the orthodox law, transform in countless ways, and save all living beings, yet they do not boast of their own merit. Their power is mysterious and subtle, and their methods are inexhaustible.

Lest the divine generals, officials, and soldiers under this jurisdiction fail to know this decree and willfully resist or neglect it, warning is specially given: whoever violates the order shall be punished, and the punishment will on no account be treated lightly. The heavenly soldiers, generals, and officials, together with the mountain soldiers, generals, and officials (the divine troops and officers under the command of the mountains and peaks), are now posted in successive detachments and take turns on duty, so as to be ready for urgent need. Upon hearing the summons of this Bureau, they must arrive at once; if they are not among those on duty, or have not received a summons, they are all to lie concealed within the six directions (heaven, earth, and the four quarters), hiding themselves and awaiting orders. The particulars are as follows:

The soldiers, generals, and officers of all Heaven must at ordinary times stand ready at any moment to await a summons; unless a summons has been received, they may not leave the celestial realm on their own authority. The divine troops listed are three thousand six hundred celestial soldiers of the Southern Dipper, fifty thousand divine soldiers of the Black Killer, the troops and generals of the Northern Dipper division, the troops and generals of the Sanwu division, the troops and generals of the Zhengyi (Orthodox Unity) division, and the troops and generals of the Fangguang division, together with the host of deities including the Heavenly Stalwarts, the Strongmen, the Vajra guardians, and Great Brightness. The mounted officers of the Flying Dragon, the mounted officers of the Dragon-Slaying, and the mounted officers of the Yanglong number one thousand each, and there are in addition two divine generals who command the troops and assist the ritual method.

The troops and generals dispatched by Mount Tai are to be divided into two shifts, one shift rotating each day to attend the ritual officers of this court as they come and go. When urgent business arises, they are not bound by this rotation. These troops and generals may be quartered only at this court; they must not grow idle or disrespectful at will, and they are to be commanded by the divine generals who lead the troops and assist the ritual method. One divine general commanding the troops, one divine general assisting the ritual method, and a number of cavalry and infantry are to be inspected regularly, and the number of troops and generals sent from the pass of the Eastern Peak is to be registered.

The orders concerning the troops, generals, and divine officers above should be posted on a public notice and made known to all, and one divine general commanding the troops, one divine general assisting the ritual method, and a number of cavalry and infantry are required to carry them out conscientiously in accordance with the regulations set forth above. Anyone who violates them will certainly be severely punished; those who earn merit will be rewarded, and a report will be submitted to the upper realm so that favor may be bestowed. This order is indeed in force, and all parties should take note of it.

Posted in a given year, month, and day.

Enter the official post, title, and surname, and affix the signature.

Declaration of a Disciple Seeking a Master and the Transmission of the Method

The disciple of a given surname, residing in a given prefecture, county, township, ward, and village, born in a given year, month, day, and hour, whose governing star-lord of the Northern Dipper is a given star-lord, respectfully prepares nine taels of gold, one pair of gold rings, and a length of life-silk as tokens of faith; four taels of black silk thread, symbolizing the ten thousand strands of hair; and seven taels of cinnabar, symbolizing the blood-smearing oath. The disciple respectfully presents these tokens…

The disciple so-and-so, of a ritual master’s school, earnestly requests transmission of the Tianxin Zhengfa (Orthodox Method of the Celestial Heart).

I wish to cultivate the Tianxin Zhengfa, to assist Heaven in carrying out its transformative teaching, and to dispel calamities and relieve distress for the state and the people. Privately observing the many destinies of the world, I am often anxious that human life is brief and that body and allotted span are fragile. I am ashamed that I lack the power to remove harm. I also wish to benefit the people of the world, yet I lack the support and the conditions in which to put this into practice. My cultivation has grown slack, and for this my heart is all the more fearful. I never expected that, after passing through many kalpas, I would today have the fortune to meet with this opportunity. I have heard that so-and-so does not close the road to Xuandu (the capital of the celestial realm in Daoist legend), but specially propagates the teaching of Taishang (the honorific by which Daoism refers to the Dao) and, with the wish to transmit and practice the methods of the Dao, causes the Daoist teaching to flourish and saves all living beings.

I wish to escape the cage of the dusty world. Although I know my own foundation to be withered and weak, I am still willing to keep to the cultivation, and I must also rely on a master’s nurture and instruction. As for my own conduct, how would I dare do anything contrary to the Dao and to righteousness? Should I forget the grace of a master’s teaching, I willingly accept the retribution of sinking into suffering. I hope that, amid the turning of rebirth, I may be delivered, and I will exert heart and strength to the utmost in upholding the practice. Having met with this mysterious turn of fortune, I shall certainly repay it with all my heart. I earnestly beg so-and-so to extend compassion widely, to take some notice of my slight sincerity and my presumptuous words, and in pity to grant my request. The gratitude in my heart cannot be put into words. I respectfully submit this petition.

In such-and-such a year, month, and day.

A Document in Which a Disciple Requests a Master to Recommend and Sponsor Him

A disciple of such-and-such a surname, residing in such-and-such a prefecture, county, township, ward, and village:

I, so-and-so, on such-and-such a year, month, and day, prepared a document and went in person to the school of Shangqing (Highest Clarity) ritual master so-and-so, earnestly requesting transmission of one corpus of the Tianxin Zhengfa. I have resolved to assist Heaven in carrying out its teaching, to aid the state and rescue the people, to treat illness and support those in peril, and to cut off the disorders wrought by evil spirits. I have now received the ritual master’s consent. When the appropriate month arrives, my name is to be submitted in a memorial and, in obedience to the command and in accordance with the rite, I am to seek out a renowned master possessed of the Dao and request that he recommend and sponsor me and transmit the method.

I consider that I have been fortunate to be born in the Central Realm. In my heart I have long yearned for the methods of the Dao beyond the dusty world. After seeking masters and kindred spirits many times, I have at last, with a sincere heart, met an enlightened master. Before this…

So-and-so has cultivated the methods of the Dao (the Way) to a profound level, vigorously promotes the Great Dao, and is deeply earnest in aiding the common people, with substantial merit in relieving the world and saving lives. So-and-so respectfully submits a letter to so-and-so, earnestly begging you to recommend and vouch for me. Should I be favored with acceptance and enrollment, I will certainly firm my resolve, keep the charge engraved in my heart, and devote myself wholly to cultivation. Only thus can I repay the kindness of your elevation, and I feel greatly honored. I respectfully prepare this document to present my report and humbly await the ritual decree.

In such-and-such year, month, and day, a person of such-and-such surname, residing in such-and-such place, submits this document.

The Form of the Board-Talisman and Iron Covenant Used by Those Newly Invested with the Orthodox Method (Zhengfa)

The board-talisman and the iron covenant are nine cun in height: five cun correspond to the five members of the human body, and four cun symbolize the Four Numina of the body. They are four chi and nine cun in length, the four chi symbolizing the Four Corners and the nine cun symbolizing the Nine Stars. They should be made of silk with yellow patterns. Nowadays those who practice the method mostly make the talisman of cypress wood and the covenant of an iron plate, none of which accords with the intent of the immortals. In the ordinary understanding, the board-talisman is a tally-contract by which one is entered on the registers and by which the conferral is certified, while the iron covenant symbolizes an oath that is firm and will never be altered. This is the meaning handed down by the Great Immortal Lord Rao, recorded below.

Edict under the Gate of the Three Terraces (Santai):

You, so-and-so, Right Judge of the Office for Expelling Evil, in carrying out the affairs of the Tianxin Zhengfa (Orthodox Method of the Celestial Heart), are to act in accordance with the decree of the Jade Emperor. You must reverently practice according to the teachings and methods, expelling evil, upholding the orthodox Way, bringing blessings to all living beings, and promoting the Great Dao. Your conduct must accord with the will of Heaven. You must on no account be perverse or deceitful, nor recklessly abuse the ritual arts. You must be filial toward your parents, respectful toward your teachers and elders, and live in harmony with your kin. Do not pursue power and profit, and do not transmit the methods to unsuitable persons. If you do not comply, then when you apply the methods in an actual matter they will not prove efficacious.

The Three Officials (Sanguan) will examine and record your merits and faults, and will reward or punish according to the regulations.

Om, hum, hum! The assembled deities are present in person. You must be respectful toward your teachers and elders and live in harmony with your kin. Do not pursue power and profit, and do not transmit the methods to unsuitable persons. If you do not comply, then when you apply the methods in an actual matter they will not prove efficacious.

The Three Officials will examine and record your merits and faults, and will reward or punish according to the regulations.

When the mantra “Om Hum Hum” sounds, all the gods bow their heads in homage, and demons and the deviant return to the orthodox path. All who are vicious and rebellious will be shattered and reduced to fine dust.

The Supreme Emperor of Grand Tenuity (a revered deity of Daoism) decrees: every action is to be carried out swiftly in accordance with the statutes.

The Kings of the Four Heavenly Gates, the Eight Great Vajra Guardians, the Great Wheel Kings of the Five Divisions, and the guardian deities of the Ten Directions, together with the stellar gods and immortals named in the Fulu (talismans and registers) of the Four Heavens and the Three Realms, the Six Ding and the Six Jia (protective divine generals of Daoism), the Great Sage of the Dark Warrior, the Heavenly Ding Strongmen, the Earl of Wind and the Master of Rain, the Envoys of the Five Thunders, the Holy Emperors of the Five Marchmounts, and the Great Kings of the Four Rivers (deities who govern the four great rivers), as well as the deities of grotto-palaces, famous mountains, official temples, and the Five Ways (deities who govern roads and travel), together with the celestial troops and officers and the troops and generals of the mountains and peaks—all are to act in accordance with the command of the Supreme Emperor.

Relying on the board talismans and iron covenants (credentials of divine authority that symbolize the gods’ mandate), you are at all times to protect, uphold, and assist, to destroy demons and the deviant, and to eliminate disease and baleful hauntings. If fierce evil gods dare to defy the command, they are to be shattered into fine dust. The moment the talismanic order arrives, it is to be carried out at once in accordance with the statutes.

You are loyal and sincere by nature and endowed with a pure and harmonious disposition. You have resolved to pursue the true Dao (the Way), and you steadfastly cherish a heart to aid all living beings. You should observe the precepts and cultivate yourself and, joining this with true words, offer praise to the Great Dao. The matters set forth above are to be duly known.

In such-and-such a year, month, and day.

I, the subject so-and-so, bearing the titles of sponsoring recommender, master of transmission and ordination, and the like, act in obedience to the command.

Zhang Daoling, subject and minister, Great Ritual Master Who Upholds the Teaching of the Three Heavens, Perfected of Zhengyi (Orthodox Unity), and True Lord of Quiet Response.

Format of the Certificate of Appointment for One Newly Invested as an Orthodox Person and Supplementarily Appointed as an Official of the Office for Expelling Deviance

Decree to the Chancellery of the Three Terraces (a government office of the celestial realm):

According to a memorial of guarantee submitted by such-and-such an official, of such-and-such a surname, of the Office for Expelling Deviance, a certain person is recommended. This person is endowed with a pure, upright, and simple nature; good intentions ever abide in his heart; he constantly reveres the Exalted Perfected (revered deities of Daoism) and takes refuge in the Great Dao. He has a strong aspiration to assist the state and rescue the people, and he is willing to receive transmission of the Fulu of the Orthodox Method of the Celestial Heart, so as to protect his person and preserve his life, assist the Heavenly Dao, and aid all living beings. This person has reached such-and-such an age and was born in a jiazi year, in such-and-such a month, on such-and-such a day, and at such-and-such an hour, corresponding above to such-and-such a star-lord of the Northern Dipper. He now respectfully awaits the reply and approval of the celestial realm.

There is only the Orthodox Method of the Three Heavens; the myriad ways ultimately all return to one and the same place. Moreover, the principle I have set forth is easy to put into practice—could your resolve really be so hard to exert in following it? You are to be appointed to fill the post of Right Judge of the Northern Pole Bureau for Expelling Evil, concurrently managing the affairs of the bureau. Submit the report in accordance with the rite.

By edict of the Jade Emperor of Upper Clarity (Shangqing): once the talisman arrives, comply and carry it out.

On such-and-such a day of such-and-such a month, in such-and-such a jiazi year.

The Ritual Master of Transmission and Ordination, of golden official title, Your Servant So-and-so, acts in accordance with the patent.

Zhang Daoling, Great Ritual Master Who Upholds the Teaching of the Three Heavens, Perfected of Zhengyi (Orthodox Unity), True Lord of Quiescent Response, Your Servant.

Model Form of a Memorial of Thanksgiving in Response to Receiving the Method, for a Newly Appointed Official of the Bureau for Expelling Evil

Your Servant So-and-so, of the full stated rank, in sincere fear and trepidation, knocks his head and bows twice.

Your Servant memorializes: Your Servant has heard that the Great Dao (the Way), though without form, yet transforms, nurtures, and embraces the myriad things.

The supreme De (Virtue/Power) stands firm and unmoving, and sets the Three Primes in motion. Living beings and the myriad things come forth from this, and the most numinous and refined among them is the human being.

The principle of the Ultimate One, which admits no second, has never departed from the root; the essential of Guarding the One lies, in all likelihood, in sincerity of the heart.

Your Servant knows his own endowment to be ordinary, yet has been fortunate enough to be counted among the immortals and the perfected. Your Servant, in sincere fear and trepidation, knocks his head and bows twice, and reverently pays homage to:

the Celestial Worthy of the Primordial Beginning of the Holy Realm of Jade Clarity,

the Celestial Worthy of Numinous Treasure of the Perfected Realm of Upper Clarity,

and the Celestial Worthy of the Dao and the De of the Immortal Realm of Great Clarity.

The Three Worthies opened heaven and earth, govern the cycles of cosmic destiny, and hold the talismanic mandates. Your Servant, in sincere fear and trepidation, knocks his head and bows twice, and reverently pays homage to:

the Celestial Worthy of the Primordial Beginning of the Holy Realm of Jade Clarity,

the Celestial Worthy of Numinous Treasure of the Perfected Realm of Upper Clarity,

and the Celestial Worthy of the Dao and the De of the Immortal Realm of Great Clarity.

The Three Worthies opened heaven and earth, govern the cycles of cosmic destiny, and hold the talismanic mandates; they are the supreme worthies of nine hundred ninety-nine million myriads of Lords of the Dao. They opened the great earth and passed through kalpic ages such as Chiming and Longhan, and thus there came to be the Ten Titles and the Ten Perfected. The hundred numinous spirits took their origin from this, and the scriptures (Jing) and ritual treasures were likewise handed down from this, including the Orthodox Method of the Three Heavens.

The True Talismans of the Five Emperors promulgate the teaching and send down auspiciousness, shining upon the myriad things with radiance and responding as each affair requires. Your Servant occupies a humble place among ordinary mortals, yet has been fortunate to receive the supreme teaching, to leave the dusty world, and to be entered in the register of immortals. How would Your Servant dare fail, looking upward, to observe the celestial precepts and, looking downward, to do his utmost in sympathy with human circumstances, taking the rescue of the suffering and the relief of those in distress as his own charge, so as to repay…

With profound gratitude for such deep kindness, I respectfully and reverently present this memorial, giving thanks for Heaven’s grace, though I presume to disturb Heaven’s awesome majesty. Your servant’s heart is filled with dread; earnestly I look up to sacred favor, my unease having reached its utmost. Your servant So-and-so, in sincere fear and trembling, knocks his head to the ground and bows twice, and respectfully submits this memorial.

In such-and-such year, month, and day, the servant of the designated rank, So-and-so, presents this memorial.

Scroll of the Shangqing Gusui Lingwen Guilü (Ghost Statutes of the Numinous Writ of Marrow and Bone of Highest Clarity).