《太上灵宝净明入道品》

The Supreme Numinous Treasure Pure Brightness Secret Court (the Daoist court, within the Jingming method, that oversees the practice of the methods) lies to the west of Jade Capital Mountain of the Mysterious Metropolis of the Supreme Highest Clarity. It is the court in which the Lord of the Dao practices the methods. There one jointly cultivates and comprehensively governs the methods of the Three Luminaries, using them to harmonize Heaven and Earth, serve the ruler and one’s parents, command ghosts and spirits, save all beings, and expel evil demons. Practitioners style themselves “Loyal and Filial Disciples of the Fulu (talismans and registers) of the Supreme Numinous Treasure,” preside over the Pure Brightness Secret Court, and jointly administer the ritual affairs. If one holds a profound office and far-reaching merit, these too may be declared here.

Practitioners should carry this out with sincere hearts. First comes filial devotion to parents and affection among brothers; next, the refining and nourishing of the body; and after that, the rescue and deliverance of all beings. Each day one burns incense in the morning rite and pays homage to the various heavens, praying that the king and one’s parents receive increased blessings and a lengthened life; only then does one make vows on behalf of all sentient beings. Afterward one summons the deities in due order: if there is a matter, one invites them to inquire into it and dispose of it; if there is none, one has them return promptly.

The heart should constantly hold to what is upright, fulfill the duties of filial piety and fraternal affection, and rescue living beings. One must not indulge in lewdness, flattery, or deceit, nor treat the methods of the Dao (the Way) lightly. If one wishes to remove faults yet to come, one should keep a small booklet and each day record one’s words and deeds. Whatever deceives the conscience—whatever one is unwilling even to set down on paper—must be corrected at once. Practiced in this way, the methods become efficacious of themselves; if these requirements are violated, calamity arrives immediately. Cultivating accordingly, one obtains formally conferred merit of far reach and transcends the dusty world. The secret methods of the celestial writ will also descend of a sudden. Can the disciple achieve this?

All who receive the Jingming method should keep awe in the heart, each day revering the ruler, being filial to parents and affectionate toward kin, cultivating with diligence, and sincerely rescuing and delivering all beings. One should constantly feel that one has received from others a kindness that cannot be repaid, and resolve that one must find a way to return it. In this manner speech grows gentle and demeanor humble; one does not set oneself above others, nor grow angry lightly—and only then does one accord with the original aim of the Dao of Pure Brightness. In the place where one ordinarily sits and rests, a mirror and a basin of clear water should always be kept, to remind oneself to grasp the intention with which these requirements of practice were established.

All who attain the Jingming method (Pure Brightness) are registered by Shangdi (the Lord on High), and the commission they receive is no slight matter. Their offenses are erased in the Beifu (Northern Bureau, the office that oversees the registers of sins in the underworld), and their names are entered in the Nangong (Southern Palace, the dwelling place of the immortals). Twelve officers go before them and twelve follow behind. Whether one is in a clean place or a defiled one, or lying down to rest, one should always keep a mirror and a basin of water at hand. Do this, and you will naturally understand my purpose in establishing this regulation.

All who attain the Jingming method are registered by Shangdi, and the commission they receive is no slight matter. Their offenses are erased in the Northern Bureau, and their names are entered in the Southern Palace. Twelve officers go before and twelve behind, guarding them in person wherever they are and whatever they do. People today, when they go out with attendants at their side, still dare not lightly commit depraved acts. How much more so when the names of these celestial deities are already listed in the Xianlu (the register that records the names of immortals and perfected ones) and they are guarding you—how can you disregard them?

All who attain the Jingming method already possess bones as firm as gold and a body as warm and lustrous as jade, and can commune with divine beings. Their hands can adjudicate the affairs of the underworld, and their words can reach the realm of the numinous and subtle. To harbor deviant thoughts is like casting gold and jade into the mud. One must be careful not to let the mind and Shen (spirit) be shaken, or to damage Qi (vital energy) and blood. When Qi and blood are firm and complete, demonic influences can hardly intrude; a person can hold to the correct Dao (the Way) and avoid an early death. The root of ascent and liberation, and of long life and enduring vision, lies in not craving sexual desire. This must be kept firmly in mind.

All who attain the Jingming method remain for a time in the world because their passage through the kalpas of the dusty world is not yet complete, and so they cannot ascend at once. If they can continually accumulate good deeds and merit, they will in the end surely leave the mundane and enter the sacred realm. Loving attachment sometimes brings harm, so one need not rashly abandon wife and children; yet harm may also arise from loving attachment, so one should not, out of craving for wife and children, sink into family life. One ought to set aside private feelings in accordance with the Dao and with what is right, and together with one’s family turn toward the celestial realm. As for craving to amass wealth, desires without limit, harming others in order to leave something for one’s children, and exhausting one’s energies only to please one’s wife—all of these may cease. Only if one can guide one’s family by right principle, and study and cultivate together with them, does one understand the root of cultivation. If family members are unwilling to follow, then when you have completed your practice and attained the Dao, they too will receive great blessings. Why, then, cling to the immediate reckoning of closeness and distance, of gain and loss?

All who have received the Jingming Method (Jingming fa) must devote themselves to aiding others. When they see another person’s father or mother, they should regard them as their own parents; they should respect the elderly, care for orphans, pity those in poverty, and look after the sick. When someone else’s illness becomes critical, they should worry over that person as if they themselves were ill. Only by setting one’s heart on this can one be said to have grasped my teaching, and it should be kept constantly in mind.

All who have received the Jingming Method must also be incorruptible and impartial. Those who hold office must not rely on wealth and rank to oppress others; those who are poor must not feel ashamed because of poverty and humble station. The Lord of Heaven (sovereign of the celestial realm) allots each person’s destined portion without the slightest partiality.

I have seen certain disciples who, after receiving my method, practice it as they please and often harm others: they presume to slay and punish ghosts and spirits, and to rebuke thunder and lightning, treating them as if they were servants. The wealthy and noble do not come when summoned; the poor and lowly hurry over as soon as they see profit to be had. Some, in a moment of anger, revile ghosts and spirits and set them to work, making them avenge grudges and kill enemies on their behalf. Others distort the celestial statutes, take apart and alter articles of the law and add strokes to the characters, and by this means punish ghosts and spirits and rebuke thunder and lightning, employing them just as one employs servants. All such practices are what I deeply regard as a cause for concern.

All who have received the Jingming Method, even if they cannot rise to become immortals and perfected beings, can still gain release through shijie (corpse-liberation—what Daoism describes as casting off the physical form and departing, liberated, in another manner). Even if they cannot yet clearly discern ghosts and spirits and command them, ghosts and spirits will still submit in secret. Even if for the time being they cannot reach these states, they should not grow resentful and impatient on that account; what matters is firm and earnest cultivation.

Among my disciples, quite a few, after receiving the method, do not weigh the merit and cultivation they themselves have accumulated, and then blame their parents and teachers; without having achieved the least accomplishment, they wish to ascend in flight; before their spirit-consciousness has become clear and penetrating, they hasten to force their way toward profound principles. All of these, too, should be taken as warnings.

Anyone who has received the Jingming method (Jingming fa) must not transmit it casually to others, and should first establish for himself a master of transmission and ordination. Once he holds a corresponding rank among the offices of the underworld, and when he meets a person of affinity who is suitable to receive the teaching, he faces east, burns incense, and petitions me; only after I have given permission may the method be transmitted. In this way I am that person’s master of transmission and ordination, and you are the master who transmits the teaching. The Bright King of the Filial Way, the Sun of the Palace of the Sun, is the ancestral master; Lord Wu is the register master (the master responsible for conferring the registers of the method); Mother Chen is the scripture master (the master responsible for transmitting the scriptures, Jing); and Lord Zhang, the Yuanjun on duty for the day, is the supervising master of ordination (the master who oversees the rite of transmission and ordination). If several dozen disciples attain the Dao (the Way), when they later ascend to the realm of the immortals they should do just as I have done.

Anyone who has received the Jingming method should transmit it to a person of affinity who is loyal and filial, whose Jing (essence), blood, and Qi (vital energy) are abundant and pure, and who is upright, honest, and fit to receive the method. One must not refuse transmission because the other person is poor, nor transmit it only to the rich. To violate this brings guilt that extends to three generations.

Anyone who has received the Jingming method, when preparing to hold the rite of transmission and ordination, should first have a memorial ready and present it to the ancestral master, the Supreme Thearch of the Sun, and, following the ordinary rite, arrange a jiao offering, inviting the Three Realms to bear witness and giving thanks. The rite should be kept within one’s means; one must not borrow money or exhaust one’s possessions. My earlier instruction only sets out the general idea and does not require that the rite be arranged in any fixed way.

Anyone who has received the Jingming method, upon meeting a suitable person and preparing to transmit the method, must, after the memorial, state in it a recommendation on behalf of the disciple’s ancestors of nine generations, request that their immortal offices be raised, and then confer on them the additional title of “Four-Character Immortal Assistant.” That same night he writes nine talismans, binds them into nine straw figures, and burns them facing the Gate of Heaven. As the scripture says, these straw figures then transform into nine deities of the duty talisman. Bearing the talismans they proceed, and whether in the hells or among the Six Paths, wherever a talisman reaches, the dead are liberated. By means of these talismanic writs they may also go to the Court of the Celestial Pivot to request documents and thereby become immortal officials; if they already hold immortal office, they may later continue to advance in rank.

When the talismans are written, one must wear the sun and tread the Dipper (carrying out the practice according to the positions of the sun, moon, and stars), the master transmitting by word of mouth and the disciple receiving it in the heart; while writing the talismans one faces the Gate of Heaven.

When writing Fulu (talismans and registers) in cinnabar, recite the incantation: “The Secret Classic of Jingming (the esoterically transmitted scripture of the Jingming school) can raise a person into the ranks of the immortal officials. For a son of loyalty and filial piety, blessings extend also to parents and kin; ancestors of nine generations all receive this grace and are commanded to ascend as immortals. Wherever the precious registers (the Fulu of Daoism) arrive, all honor and obey them. Quickly, quickly, in accordance with the statutes and ordinances.”

Only afterward does one hand over the document written earlier and, carrying it, perform the ritual. During the performance one forms the Ziwen hand-seal, treads the Gang and paces the Dipper (walking in a prescribed pattern that symbolizes stepping among the stars), and visualizes the sun directly above the crown of the head.