《天枢院都司须知格》

The regulations of the Directorate of the Celestial Pivot Court (Tianshu Yuan Dusi)—the institution in the Daoist divine realm responsible for documents, the enforcement of rules, and investigation—state the following.

The Directorate consists of seven persons, charged with receiving the documents presented by the Seven Recorders (the officials who manage written records). When a special case arises, the Seven Recorders handle it in rotation while on duty, and the judges of the Directorate examine and countersign the file, which then serves as the basis for deciding the case.

If a judge of the Seventy-Four Bureaus is late in submitting a memorial, or if the contents of a case record are unclear, punishment is imposed according to the seriousness of the circumstances; where the circumstances are more serious, the matter must be reported upward for instructions.

As for documents relayed back and forth among the Three Realms (the different realms, such as those of Heaven, Earth, and humanity), a delay of one ke (a quarter-hour) brings demotion by one rank; a delay of one shichen (a double-hour) means the removal of two ranks of office; a delay of one day calls for an inspection of the documents of appointment; a delay of two days brings an order to suspend the person from office; and a delay of three days requires that the circumstances be ascertained before any further action is taken.

After a special case has been examined and found to be true, it is assigned to the judges of the various ritual lines and to the famous mountains and great rivers to be dealt with; when the business is finished, a memorial must be submitted to report it.

The Directorate is provided with an iron whip five chi and seven cun in length, used to chastise the Yin-Yang judges (divine officials in charge of Yin-Yang affairs); lesser faults are admonished according to the rules.

The Directorate maintains a minor prison, used to judge small cases among Yin-Yang affairs and cases that need not be sent to the celestial prison; it is also responsible, when so commanded, for examining the various Shen (spirits).

The legend of the seal used by the Directorate reads “Seal of the Chief Recorder of the Celestial Pivot” (Tianshu dulu zhi yin), and the seal is two cun and five fen wide.

If someone’s investigation is improper, the Directorate may order that person to serve as an instructor of the Right Section; if the person errs again, that person’s name is deleted from the registers.

Those who investigate properly, who have already gone to their posts and formally received office, may, if permitted an increase in remote merit and an extension of their years of dwelling in the world, also receive an increase in their allotted span of life, and immortal offices may be granted to their ancestors, parents, and other relatives.

The rule for selecting and appointing officials of the Directorate of the Celestial Pivot Court is as follows. Officials of the civil establishment should be chosen from among persons who are filial, who are versed in the arts of the Dao (the Way), who are skilled at composing memorials, and who have merit in the performance of ritual methods; they may be granted such titles as True Lord (zhenjun), Celestial Lord (tianjun), Primordial Lord (yuanjun), Perfected (zhenren), Immortal Assistant (xianzuo), or Immortal (xianren).

The foregoing are called the “Six Offices of the Upper Grade.” Each post has its own secret character, a hidden talismanic graph used for identification or for transmission.

The Nine Ranks of the Upper Prime (Shangyuan) comprise the Hall of the Golden Luan, the Hall of the Five Spirits, the Hall of Fixed Light, the Hall of the Grand Tenuity (Taiwei), and the Hall of the Purple Tenuity (Ziwei). These are called the “Three Classes Bearing Merit Titles.” They include such posts as Academician, Expositor of Texts (responsible for interpreting documents), and Copyist of Registers (responsible for transcribing the rolls of names), as well as envoy posts that carry secret characters, for example the “Envoy of Benevolence and Resolve.”

The Nine Ranks of the Middle Prime (Zhongyuan) comprise the Pavilion of the Qian Numen, the Pavilion of Kun’s Completion, the Pavilion of the Celestial Scribes, the Pavilion of Assembled Writings, and the Hall of Central Harmony. These are called the “Three Classes of Pavilion Posts.” They include such posts as Academician, Copyist of Registers, and Expositor of Texts.

There are also the Hall of Bright Integrity, the Garden of Bright Joy, the Garden of Assembled Immortals, and the Jasper Pool. These are called the “Two Classes of Sacred Talismans.” They include such posts as commissioned envoys and commanders. From this point downward they are termed “extraordinary appointments,” and all of them are offices specially conferred by celestial talismans.

Posts are also established outside the regular grades—for example, the Left and Right Assistant Commissioning Envoys and the Grand Envoys of the Three Pure Ones (Sanqing), together with the ministers, academicians, expositors of texts, copyists of registers, and administrative judges in the Palace of the Mysterious Capital (Xuandu), the Palace of Taiwei, the Palace of the Lesser Tenuity (Shaowei), and the various altars. These posts are filled by patents of appointment issued from Heaven.

The Nine Ranks of the Lower Prime (Xiayuan) include the Censors of the Two Capitals, the Mysterious Capital, the Pure Capital, and the Divine Capital, the Upper Ministers of the Thirty-Two Heavens, the Ministers of the Five Bureaus, the altar-serving administrative judges of the Thirty-Two Heavens, and the altar-serving administrative judges of the Five Bureaus. They also include the recorders of the various offices, such as the junior administrative judges of the seventy-four offices; the administrative judges of the various courts, such as the administrative judge of the Court for Expelling Evil; the joint secretaries of the various offices, such as the co-administering Judge of the Right; and the one hundred twenty grades of supervising clerks, such as officials newly entering service in the Spirit Bureau of the Court of Examination and Summoning.

All of the foregoing are known collectively as “entry into the transfer rolls.” Those who hold office are advanced grade by grade according to years of service and merit. The central directorate drafts the candidates and memorializes them; once a decision has been reached, a patent of appointment is issued.

Military personnel who earn merit by seizing or slaying evil spirits—for example, by attacking altar grounds or destroying temples—or who were renowned generals in life may all be granted titles of this kind. Civil personnel who are especially outstanding in documentary work may also be transferred, at a reduced grade, into the military sequence. The titles include General, Army Controller, Army Leader, Envoy, and Commander.

The foregoing are called the “Five Offices of the Upper Grade,” and each has its own dedicated secret character. Similar titles also exist among the civil offices. Those who were famous generals in life may be appointed to them, and civil personnel who excel in literary and documentary affairs may likewise be transferred into this sequence. General, Army Controller, Army Leader, Envoy, and Commander—all of these belong to the Six Offices.

Nine Ranks of the Upper Prime

These include the Five Youth Lords, the Five Youths, the Deployment Commissioners of the Ten Directions, and the Envoys for Relaying Dispatches.

The foregoing are called the “Four Grades of Personal Troops” (four categories of guards in direct attendance). There are also envoy titles bearing secret characters, such as the Crane-Controlling Envoy marked with the character ri; and there are likewise titles of civil grade, pavilion office, and the like.

Nine Ranks of the Middle Prime

These include Attendant of the Sword, Attendant of the Seal, Attendant of the Talisman, Attendant of the Tally, and Attendant of the Banner.

The foregoing are called the “Five Grades Bearing Proclamation.” Every title is prefixed with the words “Nine Heavens,” as in “Civil Grade of the Nine Heavens” and “Sage of the Nine Heavens.” Titles from this point onward are termed “extraordinary,” and all are specially bestowed by celestial talismans. There are in addition titles outside the regular grades, such as Great-Power Lord of the Three Pure Ones (Sanqing), Great Power, and Celestial Power, which require a patent of appointment issued by Heaven.

Nine Ranks of the Lower Prime

These include the Directors of the Four Saints and the Directors of the Three Heavens; envoys dispatched from the various offices from the Five Youth Lords downward; Chief Clerks of the Four Saints, Chief Clerks of the Three Heavens, Overall Commanders of the Four Saints, Officers of the Gate of the Three Heavens, Attendants-in-Waiting, Directors of the Gate of the Three Heavens, Valor Proclaimers of the Five Marchmounts, Praise Proclaimers of the City Gods, Guards of the Five Marchmounts, Boundary Commissioners of the City Gods, and unattached officers. Unattached officers are divided into twenty grades, for example the unattached officers of the Court of Examination and Summoning of Great Clarity.

The foregoing are called “Army Generals.” Those who hold office are promoted step by step according to seniority and merit. Titles of promotion are drafted by the Metropolitan Directorate (the Daoist administrative office), which memorializes the names; after a decision has been received, a certificate of appointment is issued.

Among the civil and military personnel in the celestial offices above, those who accumulated ten merits during life may be transferred to a title, but only by appointment to a distant place; after death they are formally commissioned to serve in office. The Three Primes—the Upper Prime, the Middle Prime, and the Lower Prime—examine merit separately, and both the living and the dead are entered, each in their own order, into the corresponding posts.

Statutes and Ordinances of the Metropolitan Directorate of the Celestial Pivot

Regulations for entering office.

Those who are filial to their parents, affectionate toward their brothers, loyal and steadfast in integrity, who cultivate the Dao (the Way) and do good, who accumulate hidden merit and establish manifest De (Virtue/Power), and who have rendered great service to the Three Realms of Heaven, Earth, and humanity, are granted civil or military rank by the celestial realm according to their origins. Those of somewhat lesser merit are also promoted and appointed. Some are invested with office from afar while still alive; others receive their posts after death.

Category of Secret Characters

Civil offices are divided into three grades, marked respectively by four characters, three characters, and two characters.

Military offices are likewise divided into three grades, marked respectively by six characters, four characters, and three characters.

In all the categories above, the fewer characters used, the higher the grade; the more characters used, the lower the grade.

Secret Characters: Qian Characters

Posts of the “loyalty, courage, and talent” class are divided into three grades, marked respectively by six characters, four characters, and three characters.

Likewise, the fewer the characters, the higher the grade; the more the characters, the lower the grade.

Secret Characters: Qian Characters

The forty-four characters—loyalty, courage, talent, counsel, filial piety, proclamation, compassion, kindness, wondrous subtlety, flourishing, equality, evenness, integrity, majestic might, bearing (also written “resolve”), civil culture, response, De, martial prowess, splendor, seclusion, brilliant white, plainness, brightness, whiteness, clarity, purity, solemnity, reverence, gentleness, quietude, protection, well-being, assembly, radiance, illumination, awe, eminence, stillness, numinous power, crisp clarity, excellence, uprightness, and probity—are called the Zhengyin (Orthodox Seals).

In addition, there are more than ten thousand characters used for extraordinary commendation and honor. These belong to the sacred writings secretly transmitted by Heaven.

Category of Posthumous Deliverance and Exemption from Imprisonment

Those who after death may be delivered and spared imprisonment include persons whose filial conduct is praised; those who have long followed the Dao; those who are upright and honest by nature; those who have accumulated hidden merit beyond compare; those whose manifest De is conspicuous and whose reputation has spread far; those who cherish life and loathe killing; and those who are compassionate, courageous, gentle, and prudent.

Category of Posthumous Imprisonment and Detention

Those who deceive and conceal, who owe debts yet hide them, who behave wickedly, who do evil in secret, who lurk in darkness without repenting, who mislead and defraud, or whose crimes even the gods and spirits cannot detect, together with those guilty of the grave offenses known as the Ten Evils and the Five Rebellions, will after death be imprisoned and held in stagnation.

Category of the True Statutes of the Purple Court

Being pure and unsullied by defilement is called “clean”; being cautious and apprehensive, and constantly alerting oneself, is called “diligent.” Only wanting what one has not yet obtained counts as true desire; only coveting what one has not yet obtained counts as true greed.

To take and yet be as if one had not taken, to steal and yet have it not count as theft, to act licentiously and yet have it not count as licentiousness, to go against and yet have it not count as opposition; to view compliance and opposition upside down, and likewise to view good and evil upside down—if one can thereby repent, awaken, and study the methods of the Dao (the Way), this is called “supreme goodness” (the highest good). To feign one’s manner and violate principle is called “great evil.”

To give life and yet not truly give life, to kill and yet not truly kill; to cover over good deeds is obscuration; to hide evil deeds is deception. To kill a person and yet hope that he will live again is called loving life; to see a person and yet hope that he will die is called loving to kill. To loathe evil deeds and draw near to good deeds, to repent, awaken, and study the methods of the Dao, is called “supreme goodness.” To feign one’s manner and violate principle is called “great evil.” To give life and yet not truly give life, to kill and yet not truly kill; to cover over good deeds is obscuration; to hide evil deeds is deception. To kill a person and yet hope that he will live again is called loving life; to see a person and yet hope that he will die is called loving to kill.

One who resents his parents should not be allowed to live; even if he is allowed to survive, he may be put to death. Therefore, one who is truly filial does not die, and one whose filial conduct reaches its utmost can become an immortal. The Dao of becoming an immortal is easy; the Dao of death is difficult. The conduct that good people constantly possess, evil people merely put on as a disguise; the ingrained habits of goodness may also turn a person evil, yet evil is not beyond change—after one reforms, one can become a good person.

Guiqing Zhen Lüge (Statutes and Regulations of Guiqing Zhen)

One who leaks or neglects confidential matters receives a heavy reward; one who conceals confidential matters suffers a punishment at once obscure and conspicuous. To take diligent doing of good as one’s proper duty is called “trustworthiness”; to cover faults with earnest words is called “faithlessness.” Harm wrought in secret is great; harm wrought in the open is small. When a transgression arises in the heart but has not yet shown itself, it still counts as guilt; when the offense has already been revealed outwardly, yet the heart truly feels shame and repentance, the blame may be forgiven.

In the original, the phrases “wu yi ren wu yi ren zhe” and “sui duo ren duo ren zhe” contain repeated wording, and the meaning is none too clear. Read literally, they may be understood as follows: not suppressing others—the one who does not suppress others—certainly cannot follow the Dao; even seizing what belongs to others—the one who seizes what belongs to others—may still practice the Dao.