《北帝说豁落七元经》

Yuanzhen ascended the Phoenix Loft of the Purple-Gold Hall and expounded the graded categories of the Three Primes, intending to save all living beings and make plain to them the retribution of good and evil. At that moment the Qi (vital energy) of the Three Pure Ones (Sanqing) gathered; the sun and moon were bright; the three lights—sun, moon, and stars—shone forth with solemn brilliance; spirit-birds played music; and the Perfected of heaven came together to attend the assembly.

At this time a Great Perfected from the Nine Heavens of the North, treading the stars and walking the mansions of the Dipper, clad in brocade cloud-robes, came before the seat. He besought the Celestial Worthy to explain to living beings the methods of prolonging life and preserving nature and life, and to spread this teaching into the human world, so as to drive off demons and monsters, dispel disasters, pass through peril, rescue those gravely ill and in distress, and bring peace to all. He further besought the Celestial Worthy to proclaim it widely and inform the evil demons of the world, so that they would understand the root of their offenses, give rise to good intentions, no longer harm living beings, and day by day practice goodness.

The Celestial Worthy said: Above the Three Realms there is the Great Demon King, the Northern Emperor. In the lower realm he governs the Northern Sea region in the north and the summit of Mount Luofeng in the north of heaven and earth. Mount Luofeng rises two thousand six hundred li and measures thirty thousand li around. Within and without the mountain stand halls of the seven treasures, and a palace-city of the seven treasures has been built, vast in scale. Here are kept the name-registers of the life and death of all people; no ghost or spirit under heaven is outside his control.

The Northern Emperor said: My rank is supreme. I oversee the affairs of the thirty-two heavens and hold the registers and records of all the heavens. The celestial emperors all come to salute me, the myriad spirits of the world come to pay court, and not one of the countless ghosts and spirits fails to stand in awe. I make known to the people the names of the Six Palaces of the Six Heavens. These palaces are garrisoned by the Great Demon Kings of the Six Heavens; they command the host of ghosts and can also seize the hun and po souls of the living. If a person is confined by ghosts and spirits in prison, and his name is also entered in the registers of the ghost officials, his descendants will be implicated: children and grandchildren may suffer entanglement in lawsuits, years of illness and decline, and calamities invading one after another.

If one knows and recites morning and evening the names of the Six Palaces that I transmit, evil ghosts will not dare draw near, demonic evils will be subdued and destroyed, and calamities will be unable to do harm. A person’s hun and po souls, together with Jing (essence) and Qi, will be made pure and upright; Shen (spirit) and the breath will remain constantly at peace; and all numinous beings, ghosts, and spirits will stand in awe.

The Northern Emperor (Beidi, a revered deity of Daoism) told the Seven Perfected (Qizhen, seven realized persons who had attained the Way): “In former years my master studied the Dao (the Way) and practiced purification, accumulating merit and doing good, aiding others, so that demons and evils submitted and misfortunes were removed. Calamities could not encroach upon him; his hun and po souls, together with his Jing (essence) and Qi (vital energy), were clear and upright, his Shen (spirit) and Qi remained ever at peace, and the host of spirits all held him in awe.

“In former years my master studied the Dao and practiced purification, accumulating merit by saving people, and also, in accord with the proper times, aiding the myriad beings, until his merit was complete. For long years he diligently offered incense and lamps; through protracted ages he carried forward the teaching of the Dao, delivering living beings and causing people to understand karmic retribution, so that they might leave the realm of demons and together enter the correct path. He cultivated and wore the numinous texts—Daoist scriptures and Fulu (talismans and registers) of efficacious power—prayed to the True Officials, and performed jiao rites, the Daoist ceremonies of sacrifice to the deities, seeking added lifespan, release from adversity, prolongation of years, the removal of disasters and obstacles, and the dissolution of every kind of inauspiciousness. He lit lamps and practiced the Dao, reciting the true texts and divine incantations; at times for seven days in succession, or for fourteen days, he submitted memorials and petitions.

“The ritual master who presides over healing should be single-minded and of one intent, setting aside distracting thoughts and holding mind and spirit in visualization within the ritual methods. I shall dispatch the forbidden troops of the Eight Divisions, together with the Celestial Emperors of the Five Directions, the Twenty-Eight Lunar Mansions, and the soldiery of the Five Lakes and Seven Marshes—myriads upon myriads of cavalry—arrayed in the ceremonial guard of the Three Armors, riding the Qi of the Three Killings, to descend upon the ritual arena, protecting it on every side, sweeping away demons and specters, cutting off evil essences, and rescuing the people of the world so that they escape the afflictions of ghosts.

“The ritual master thereby obtains the opportunity of access to the celestial realm, yet he must be scrupulously careful and must not treat the matter lightly or transgress. Should he commit these faults, the guilt will pursue him through seven generations, and his name will be entered on the registers of the ghost officials. This is the offense of despising the statutes, failing to honor teachers and elders, and not presenting oneself in audience before the spirits and the luminous powers. Even if the numinous officials are obtained, each must return to his own post; all of these are faults brought about by slighting teachers and elders and by failing to observe the precepts and prohibitions of the Dao.”

The Seven Perfected say: Anyone who wishes to cultivate this method should build at home a pure chamber—a quiet room set aside for Daoist practice—one zhang in both length and width, with four doors. In the quiet room hang the Chart of the True Form of this Emperor, that is, an image of the Imperial Lord. Set out nine lamps and seven lamp vessels, and according to the rite keep them constantly lit and bright: extinguish them by day, and at night let them light the interior. Prepare an incense table and place on it two sand altars, one of them four cun across; in the center set an incense burner, five bowls of clear water, and a sword. None of these things must be allowed to become defiled.

In front of the quiet room build, in addition, an Altar of the Seven Primordials, one zhang and two chi wide and three chi high, in three tiers. When the jiao offering is performed—the rite of setting up an altar to present offerings and make petitions to the deities—the Great Demon Kings of the Seven Heavens should be made to come regularly as guardians. Anyone who is not of like mind must not be permitted to peer at the numinous altar.

The Seven Perfected say further: The subtle, undifferentiated primordial Qi (vital energy) of Heaven and Earth transforms into seven kinds of Qi, arrayed as the Seven Mansions, that is, seven groups of constellations. Nine kinds of Qi form the Nine Luminaries, the nine stars; five kinds of Qi form the Five Stars; three kinds of Qi form the Three Primordials; and eight kinds of Qi form the Eight Numina. The true Qi that descends unites with the Qi of the True Kings as they are arrayed and set forth, so as to correspond with the stars. No living being in the world is untouched by these powers, and all of them preside over the registers of life and death.

Later students of the Dao should devote themselves wholly to this method, rescuing confused ordinary people and freeing them from demonic obstacles and worldly entanglements. If people all give rise to good hearts, they may be entered in the Fulu (talismans and registers conferred by the Daoist teachings). Treatment follows the particular illness, and cases differ in severity; this method can subdue demonic beings and settle the hun and po souls. The Fulu are made of silk, worn on the person, and carried both when going out and when returning. The myriad spirits will pass word, come to meet, and escort the one who wears the talisman. The royal Qi of the Seven Primordials is arrayed throughout, drawing on the Jing (essence) of the Nine Primordials. One who wears the Fulu and travels the world thereby becomes a master possessed of ritual power. On entering a sick person’s home, ghosts and specters grow fearful; deviant essences scatter and quietly hide themselves. Its majestic power is boundless: it can bestow blessings and bring relief to all beings, and it can also deliver the souls of remote ancestors and forebears.

The Seven Perfected (Qizhen) say: If someone in later ages encounters and cultivates this method, that person will be able to set the stars and the Dipper in motion, ride the Qi of the Three and Five (the vital energy corresponding to the movements of the heavenly bodies), tread the guideline and pace the Dipper, and fly among the Seven Primordials (Qiyuan—the stellar deities represented by the seven stars of the Northern Dipper). Such a person will also be able to ascend to Tiangang and command Xingji, subdue demons, help the state through times of peril, protect the common people, dispel disasters and resolve misfortunes, and eliminate strange and evil things. When the method is performed, the proper regulations must be observed, and the precepts of the unseen realm must not be violated. One should revere the method with a sincere heart, distribute all the goods of one’s daily life, item by item, to the poor, take pity on those in hardship, and find ways to aid them. One’s conduct must further accord with the Mysterious Statutes (Xuanke—the esoteric precepts and ritual norms of Daoism). In this way one will receive the aid of the power of the Dao (the Way) in the unseen realm; the yin soldiers will join in bringing malevolent influences under control, and the matters undertaken will be free of error.

The Seven Perfected say: If a Daoist priest who has only begun to study the Dao wishes to heal the sick for others, subdue demonic sprites, and put this wondrous method into practice, the strict precepts and commands of the Keyi (liturgy) must be observed and must not be treated lightly. The lamps should be arranged according to the positions of the Seven Primordials; the lamps are then lit and the rite performed, and a vermilion memorial (a document written with a vermilion brush and submitted upward to the deities) is reverently presented so that it reaches the true deities of heaven. First the Three Officials of Heaven, Earth, and Water (the Daoist deities who preside over heaven, earth, and water) must be respectfully invited and asked to examine the registers that govern life and death. The presiding officers of the Three Palaces, the Nine Bureaus, and the One Hundred and Twenty Departments must also be invited to release the bodily form and avert calamity (to remove the disasters afflicting the person). The deceased must first be released from punishment and interrogation, and the sick must then be released from the entanglements brought by aggrieved parties and creditors; only after this may the patient be treated.

In the rite, seven lamps are first lit and linked with left hemp and vermilion cord to form a stellar net. Seven cups of wine, seven slices of white dried meat, five censers of incense, and five bowls of pure water are prepared. In a secluded place a separate altar is set up for offerings to the True Officials of the Five Soils (the deities who preside over the land), and attendants are posted as guards so that evil defilement does not intrude. A talisman (fu) is also placed in the lamps: the talismans are written one after another with a vermilion brush and set into the lamp oil, and in this way the true deities of heaven are invited to descend.

The Seven Perfected say: The Great Dao (the Way), in its compassion and pity for the people of the world, extends grace and favor to the common folk. It therefore establishes methods of prayer for long life and added years, so as to instruct those who have not yet met the orthodox teaching and whose learning is shallow, enabling them to understand the principles of transgression and blessing.

If the state meets with disaster, warfare falls into disorder, and all under Heaven is without peace, one should, in places favorable to the nation’s blessed fortune and within the palace grounds, establish an altar to secure and protect the Seven Primordials of the Northern Dipper, light lamps and perform the rites, and submit memorials (prayer documents presented upward to the deities), in order to safeguard the state. Scriptures (Jing) are recited and incantations chanted, while the deities are visualized and the breath is regulated through exhalation and inhalation. The rites are performed in three periods each day, and the essentials of the true scriptures are recited over and over. One should also invoke the celestial dragons who guard the state, the troops and mounts of the Five Emperors, the celestial officials of the Three Caverns (Dongzhen, Dongxuan, and Dongshen), and the divine hosts of a thousand chariots and ten thousand cavalry, that they may form ranks to defend the borders, remove powerful enemies, and bring them of themselves to submission, so that the four quarters are at peace and the state is tranquil. When rulers and ministers alike follow the Great Dao and support one another through De (Virtue/Power), one should hold the Great Retreat of the Divine Incantations of the Northern Emperor (a large-scale Zhaijiao, or purification ritual, centered on reciting and upholding the divine incantations of the Northern Emperor), lasting three days and two nights, with the rites performed five times each day, together with worship and the submission of memorials. This gives thanks upward to the majesty of Heaven and augments downward the Five Soils (the earth and all the things it bears). By this means Heaven and Earth are harmonized, calamities are stilled, the state is protected, the homeland is settled, and the altars of soil and grain are safeguarded, so that all true spirits may receive the blessings of the Dao.

The Seven Perfected say: If the people of the Lower Prime (here meaning all living beings in the human world) fall ill, and the illness lasts a full month with pain throughout the body, one should go about everywhere, performing the rites in five periods each day, and offer worship and submit memorials, giving thanks upward to the majesty of Heaven and augmenting downward the Five Soils. By this means Heaven and Earth are harmonized, calamities are stilled, the state is protected, the homeland is settled, and the altars of soil and grain are safeguarded, so that all true spirits may receive the blessings of the Dao.

The Seven Perfected say: If the people of the Lower Prime fall ill and, after more than a month, still suffer pain throughout the body; if their hun and po souls come under examination by the Water Official, and the Earth Official further memorializes their offenses to the Heaven Official; and if the illness grows daily more grave and hard to cure—then one should invite the True Masters of the Three Caverns (exalted divine perfected beings revered in Daoism) to descend into the household and establish a ritual sanctuary. For seven days and seven nights in succession, the rites are performed and divine incantations recited three times each day, so as to drive off calamity and pestilence. I will dispatch fierce deities, such as the flying celestial beasts, to protect the people. The Three Officials will erase their offenses, allowing them to ascend directly to the Mysterious Capital (Xuandu, the abode of Daoist immortals); their names will be removed from the Black Register (the ledger that records transgressions, life, and death), and their names in life will be entered in the Left Palace. After receiving this grace, one should arrange a jiao rite to give thanks to the Three Officials.

People of the Xiayuan (the Lower Prime, one of the Three Primes of Daoism, referring to the solar term of the Lower Prime and the period over which it presides) who are troubled by qiangjing ghosts and specters (ghosts believed to intrude upon and harass people), falling ill year after year and finding no cure despite prolonged treatment, should invite a Daoist master of the Three Caverns (a Daoist priest versed in the scriptures [Jing] and methods of the Three Caverns, Dongzhen, Dongxuan, and Dongshen) to set up a quiet chamber, light seven lamps, and perform the rites for seven consecutive days, deploying during this time the divine talismans of the Five Stars to guard the five directions. The talismans are written in cinnabar on peach-wood boards three cun wide and one chi seven cun long; one also takes green bamboo one zhang seven chi in length and binds it together into a ritual implement. Thereafter one lights the lamps and carries out the practice of the Dao (the Way), intones incantations, and puts the various Fulu (talismans and registers) into effect. The suppressing talismans are used to suppress the affliction or to be worn on the person, and one may invite the true spirits (Shen) of the Five Marchmounts and the numinous generals of the Four Rivers (divine generals who preside over the Five Sacred Peaks and the four great rivers) to keep long watch, so that the ghosts and specters are eliminated forever and the illnesses of the common people are cured. Once this protection has been received, a jiao rite (a Daoist ritual of setting up an altar to offer sacrifice to the gods) should be held to give thanks to the numinous officials of the Five Marchmounts and the Four Rivers.

The Seven Perfected say: When common people of the Xiayuan newly build a jingshe (a quiet chamber for cultivation or for making offerings), if they are disturbed by earth Qi (vital energy), so that ghosts and specters work harm and people fall ill, ritual methods should be performed to avert and dispel the affliction; once protection has been received, a jiao rite should be held to thank the numinous officials of the Five Marchmounts and the Four Rivers.

The Seven Perfected say: When common people of the Xiayuan newly build a jingshe, if they suffer injury from earth Qi and are also arrested and held in custody by the authorities, with every kind of calamity arising together, they may invite a true master of the Three Caverns (a Daoist priest thoroughly versed in the scriptures and methods of the Three Caverns) into the residence, sweep clean one room, establish the spirit-seats of the Seven Primes of the Northern Dipper (the seven divine perfected ones corresponding to the stars of the Northern Dipper), light the lamps and practice the Dao, perform obeisance, and submit a memorial, so as to remove the six kinds of harm. The memorial petition is written in cinnabar on yellow silk, presented in report to the Five Emperors, while thanks are offered to the divine spirits of the Five Stars. In this way one may have the divine generals of the Director of Destinies expunge the register of offenses, the Earth Official pardon the faults, illness recede, and such calamities as official litigation and private grievances laid to rest. Once protection has been received, a jiao rite should be held to thank the spirits of the Five Emperors, the generals of the twelve months, and the true officials of the Seven Lodges. One should also make the divine talismans of the Seven Treasures on boards of catalpa wood, each two chi four cun long, and hang them at the four corners of the dwelling. Following the configuration of the mouth of the Northern Dipper, one encircles and protects the residence, and according to the orientation in which the house was built one carries out the method of sealing and guarding. The prohibitions of this method are profound and severe and must not be lightly transgressed; Daoist priests who have not received transmission of the methods of the Dao must be cautious and must not offend against this mysterious code, or else the nine ancestors will meet with disaster and long be conscripted into service among the ghost officials.

The Seven Perfected say: I dwell within the North Pole, in the palace stations of the Seven Primordials, with a floriate canopy attending at my side and the Imperial Lord residing at the center. Those stars are all born bearing the Seven Treasures and shine with dazzling radiance, and are therefore styled the “Imperial Lord of Taiwei and the North Pole.”

On the third and the twenty-seventh of each month, the Imperial Lord regularly descends into the human world to receive people’s jiao offerings—the Daoist rite of setting up an altar for sacrifice and prayer—and to examine their good and evil, their cultivation and learning, their merits and faults, and the length of their lives. On these two nights one may lay out a feast in the courtyard, set forth nine portions of qianma (paper money, paper horses, and other offerings used in sacrifice), and prepare fine food, wine and meat, and incense, praying to be freed from disaster and adversity, to prolong life, and to add to one’s years. One may also pray for ritual methods with which to relieve the common people, suppress malign spirits, investigate ghosts and demons, and destroy essence-specters.

On that night, when preparing to sleep, first visualize in the mind nine stars of the floriate canopy above the head, a Northern Dipper to the left, the right, above, and below, and the stars of the Three Terraces covering them within. Then, toward the east in the bedchamber, visualize the true officials of the Twenty-Eight Lodges, their forms like infants, wearing brocade skirts and draped in capes of purple gauze, holding azure slips in their hands. From their mouths they breathe forth Sovereign Qi (Wangqi, vital energy possessed of sacred power), which enters one’s own mouth, transforms into true Qi, and fills the entire body. Once this Dao (the Way) has been cultivated, one can become a ritual master who summons spirit-officials to descend, and can also become an enlightened teacher in the world. The myriad ghosts will naturally stand in fear and, in all one’s coming and going, will submit; the spirits, vicious beasts, essence-specters, and wild demons of the mountains will all be destroyed as well.

This true scripture (Jing, scripture/classic) is a precious classic of secret transmission, passed on to only one person after forty thousand kalpas. If a Perfected transmits this method, one may prepare forty chi of white silk, money to serve as a pledge, together with rice, flour, incense, oil, and other supplies for the sacrificial jiao, and transmit it to a single person. If no truly suitable recipient is met with, one may copy out a text and cast it into a famous mountain or a great marsh. The scripture says that, when transmission is carried out according to this method, one must also inscribe the sealed wrapper and the taboo name—the special name-title of a Daoist deity or ritual master. In this way one may lengthen one’s years and benefit one’s lifespan; recommended by the Earth Official, one’s name is registered on a golden slip, the characters carved so that the name is preserved, one receives the protection of the myriad spirits, and before long one beholds the true Dao.

The Seven Perfected (the seven perfected persons of Daoist legend) say: To cultivate this method of the Dao, one must be diligent and single-minded and must hold fast to moral integrity; the essential point is concentration. Do not be stingy with worldly wealth, but secretly do good and accumulate De (Virtue/Power). If one sets up the jiao offering and prays according to the prescribed rules, as in Zhaijiao (purification ritual), what is sought will receive a response. This art is not used only to deal with hauntings by ghosts and spirits. One must be careful and must not lightly transmit it to persons of bad character; otherwise the calamity will implicate nine generations of ancestors. The prohibitions of the unseen world must not be treated lightly. The rules of these talisman methods, Fulu (talismans and registers), have already been written out in full detail.

The Seven Perfected say: If one wishes to heal illness and save lives, and to investigate and expel ghosts and demons, one should first visualize in the mind one’s own original master. Then visualize the Great Generals of the Three Primordials commanding nine hundred million cavalry, together with the eighty thousand troops of the Three Masters; next visualize the Great Thearch of the North commanding five hundred million troops. All wear black robes and descend into the ritual space. Then visualize the True Officials of the Seven Primordials: they wear crowns of the seven treasures and splendid brocade robes, hold divine talismans of the seven treasures, and come to the ritual space. After that, light the lamp and place a talisman in the lamp vessel; write two further talismans and set one on each side of the gate of the Dao.

On the next day, when the numinous perfected are summoned to descend, visualize them marshaling the stars and moving back and forth in their circuits, and do not go beyond the provisions of this rite. Primordial Jing (essence) and true Qi (vital energy) naturally condense and gather above the Phoenix Pavilion at the Northern Gate of Grand Mystery, forming the talisman named the “Yin-Born Vast Numinous Talisman.” The talisman used when the Seven Primordials descend is named the “Longevity Talisman.”

The divinities emerge from the Mysterious Palace, the cliffs of the Northern Sea, the Heaven of Ultimate Mystery, the realm of Dongyin Shuodan, and other such places, and come to the Terrace of the Five Dragons. These matters belong to secret transmission and are not taught outwardly. If lesser immortals obtain this method, all of them may become Perfected of the Five Marchmounts, roam freely through the Three Realms, and ascend in broad daylight.

The Perfected of the First Primordial Essence plainly instructed the Purple Lad, Heavenly King of Xiaoyou, and transmitted for this method the jade instructions and numinous sounds; a transmission of this kind is encountered only once in three thousand years.

After these seven talismans have been written, first invoke the seven true deities to descend to their divine seats; only then set the talismans down and hold the breath, proceeding in order from one through seven. Throughout the process, outsiders and impure objects must not come into contact with the talismans, nor may anyone see them.

When this ritual is performed, a ritual space is to be established, and the talismans, once written, are placed in a basin. The spirits are then summoned to descend so as to drive out every kind of impurity.