《太上秘法镇宅灵符》

The Taishang Secret Method of Numinous Talismans for Securing the Residence (a Daoist Fulu [talismans and registers] used to guard and protect dwellings) records:

The Shangyuan Jing (Upper Prime Scripture) says: In former times, Emperor Wen of the Han asked Tianlao, “What sort of dwelling is this ‘residence of the three follies’ that people speak of?” Tianlao replied, “The residence of the three follies takes three forms. A house high in front and low behind is the first folly; flowing water on the north side is the second folly; ground high in the southeast and level in the northwest is the third folly.”

One day Emperor Wen traveled incognito and, coming within Hongnong County, saw a household living in just such a residence of the three follies. The family was extremely wealthy, with more than fifty members, old and young. The emperor was greatly astonished and returned to the palace.

The next day Emperor Wen summoned two Yin-Yang officials (officers in charge of Yin-Yang, the selection of auspicious days, and related matters), changed into plain clothes, and went with them to the gate of this household, wishing to ask about the circumstances of the residence. A gatekeeper went in to report to the master. When the master, Liu Jinping, heard of it, he at once invited the three men inside and set out wine in the hall to entertain them. During the meal Emperor Wen asked Liu Jinping how many years he had lived there. Liu Jinping answered, “I have lived here for more than thirty years.”

Emperor Wen said, “I have consulted the Zhaijing (Classic of Residences). This residence is precisely the so-called residence of the three follies. The terrain is ominous and unfit for people to live in. What method did you use to turn it into a stable and auspicious dwelling? I hope you will tell me.”

Liu Jinping replied, “When we first moved here, the household did indeed suffer many disasters. Property was lost and family members were killed or injured; lawsuits and illnesses followed one after another; the livestock were not at peace; no one in the household, high or low, could rest easy; and our life was reduced to the utmost poverty. One evening two scholars arrived, from no one knew where, seeking lodging and asking me for something to eat. My family was poor and had only a little thin gruel with which to receive them. After they had eaten, the two asked me, ‘This residence is so inauspicious; why do you still live here?’ I answered, ‘The household is truly too poor to move.’ The two scholars said, ‘We have an art that can teach you to secure the residence, so that you need not move away.’ I bowed in thanks and begged them to transmit it.”

Thereupon the two scholars transmitted to Liu Jinping seventy-two numinous talismans for securing the residence, and said, “Use these talismans to secure the dwelling: in ten years you may obtain wealth and rank; in twenty years your descendants will flourish; and in thirty years a white-robed Son of Heaven (an emperor dressed in white) will surely enter your household.” The verifications they spoke of were afterward fulfilled one by one; only the white-robed Son of Heaven had not yet come true.

Emperor Wen asked with a smile, “Where are those two scholars now?” Liu Jinping answered, “When they had finished transmitting the talisman method, they took their leave and departed. About fifty paces outside the gate they vanished, and only a streak of white Qi (vital energy) was seen rising into the sky.”

Emperor Wen asked, “May I see these talismans?” Liu Jinping at once presented them. After obtaining the talismans, Emperor Wen returned to the palace and ordered that they be reverently put into practice. These talismans spread throughout the realm and were used to secure and protect residences and to safeguard family members, so that every household was pure and auspicious and every home was at peace. The Superior Perfected (the high-ranking divine perfected beings honored in Daoism) extend their grace and protection: disasters do not arise, blessings and longevity increase, descendants become eminent, farming and sericulture prosper, and the six kinds of livestock flourish. They can also sweep away sprites of Jing (essence) and disperse the Qi of demonic evils. The numinous talismans are secret and marvelous, able to guard the household gate for a long time. Instances of this talisman’s efficacy are many and difficult to recount in full; therefore it has been carved and circulated so that it may spread widely.

Splendid livestock thrive and grow; sprites and strange beings are swept away, and the Qi (vital energy) of demons and evil is purged completely. The profound and subtle essentials of this numinous Fulu (talismans and registers) can guard gates and courtyards for a long time. Instances in which the numinous talisman displays its power are many and cannot be recounted one by one; it was therefore engraved on woodblocks and circulated widely.

Xuanji Bagua (Eight Trigrams) Diagram

It suppresses strange phenomena such as pots and cauldrons sounding of themselves and dogs climbing onto the bed; it cuts off baleful hauntings of fiery light and drives away ghosts and monsters. It suppresses malign Qi and brings Yin-Yang back into harmony when the two fall out of accord. It suppresses the strange event of pigs, cats, dogs, and other livestock devouring their own young. It removes quarrels and malicious talk, evil matters, and injury. It removes ghostly hauntings that bring misfortune. It removes ghostly hauntings that invite inauspicious calamity and harm people. It removes the disasters of war, together with ghostly hauntings of decline and wasting. It subdues fierce and vicious ghostly hauntings. It removes ghostly hauntings that cause the six kinds of domestic animals, oxen and horses among them, to die or be injured.

It draws gold, silver, and goods into the household, so that the family becomes wealthy and honored and avoids meeting with disaster. It removes strange phenomena of wind and fire. It removes thieves, disputes and slander, and ghostly hauntings that make mischief without cause. It removes strange phenomena such as floods and flares of fire. It removes cocks crowing in the night and every kind of strange ghostly haunting. It makes men and women fittingly matched in marriage, long-lived, and secure in health. (The meaning of this sentence in the original text is not very clear.) It removes evil matters caused by disharmony of the seasonal Qi. It removes unexpected loss of wealth and ghostly hauntings that plot in secret to injure people. It removes ghostly hauntings that cause members of the household to be lost or to suffer being overcome and harmed. It suppresses evil ghosts. It removes ghostly hauntings that cause the rearing of silkworms to fail. It removes ghostly hauntings that damage livestock and property and that injure people.

It removes flying-corpse ghosts that harm the people of the household. It removes nightmares, and the plight of seeking to accomplish something yet gaining nothing. This talisman can powerfully attract official rank. It is advantageous for seeking office, and it cuts down and subdues the prostrate-corpse ghost so that the ghost will not cause disaster. (The prostrate corpse is a kind of ghostly haunting in Daoist belief.) It removes ghostly hauntings that come from the west and can injure people.

It removes flying-corpse ghosts that harm the people of the household. It removes nightmares, and the plight of seeking to accomplish something yet gaining nothing. This talisman can powerfully attract official rank. It is advantageous for seeking office, and it cuts down and subdues the prostrate-corpse ghost so that the ghost will not cause disaster.

It removes injury to the people of the household caused by the earth Qi of the west. It removes wasting ghostly hauntings stirred by the earth Qi of the north. It subdues the prostrate-corpse ghost and prevents it from harming the people of the household. It removes harm done to the people of the household by the earth Qi of the south. It keeps thieves from intruding, so that all affairs proceed smoothly. It removes the situation in which household ghosts overcome and harm the people of the house. It removes quarrels, slander, and the calamities of illness. It removes ghostly hauntings aroused by shifts in the earth Qi of the center.

Dragon gods are not the Buddha.

This talisman is said to possess a broad power to secure the dwelling and protect the household: it is invoked so that affairs may proceed smoothly and as one wishes, gold and silver may be drawn in, and people made wealthy and eminent. It suppresses strange disturbances caused by dogs, chickens, foxes, snakes, insects, and the like, as well as the spirit-essences of shrines, ghosts and monsters, baleful stars, and every kind of spectral being and malign influence.

The scripture further states that it can keep the residence, its gates and doors, and the members of the household safe and well; drive off thieves, lawsuits and criminal proceedings, epidemics and disease, startling dreams, and ghosts that work harm by calling out names; and also ward off intrusion by thunder and lightning. It can bless the flourishing of fields, sericulture, and the six domestic animals, the harmony and long life of the family, and good fortune for descendants, while averting malign influences attracted by difficult childbirth and the blood of the afterbirth, together with such misfortunes as the death of oxen and horses, the flight of bondservants, and the wasting of household wealth.

The text repeatedly speaks of driving away ghosts and monsters, thieves, the malign influences of illicit shrines, pestilence brought by Taisui, and malign influences harmful to fields and silkworms and productive of disease. At the end it also lists ailments such as abdominal distension and an inability to take food or drink, as well as illnesses caused by concealed corpses in tombs and graves—all within the scope of suppression that this talisman claims. Here ya means suppression and expulsion in the context of Daoist Fulu (talismans and registers).

The uses of the residence-protecting spiritual talisman (zhenzhai lingfu) include averting ghostly afflictions that bring grave illness, meager fortune, and a short span of life; driving out ghostly afflictions that cause abdominal distension and an inability to eat; preventing ghostly afflictions that cause losses in childbirth and reproduction from coming to do harm; averting illnesses provoked by the lurking-corpse ghosts (fushi) in tombs; and driving out ghostly afflictions that bring ill omen and affect the breeding of cattle and livestock.

The days of sacred descent (days on which the deities descend) in each month are as follows: the seventh of the first month, the eighth of the second month, the third of the third month, the ninth of the sacred birthday, the fourth of the fourth month, the fifth of the fifth month, the seventh of the sixth month, the seventh of the seventh month, the thirteenth of the eighth month, the ninth of the ninth month, the twenty-first of the tenth month, the seventh of the eleventh month, and the twenty-seventh of the twelfth month. The original wording, “the third day of the third month, the ninth day of the sacred birthday,” does not indicate which deity the “sacred birthday” refers to, nor does it clearly explain its relationship to the dates; its sense is therefore recorded as it stands, without conjecture.

In the offering rite, jian, chen, and jiangzhen (these should be the names of incense or aromatic substances used in the offering) are each appropriately burned in a separate censer alone and should not be mixed. The original phrase “all contain musk” is suspected to mean that these aromatics contain musk, but precisely what is referred to is unclear. The offerings may also include osmanthus (guihua), gardenia, plum blossom, pine, cypress, pure tea, and jujube decoction.

Foods to be avoided: wild goose, eel, turtle, “dian” (so written in the original; suspected to be an error of copying or printing), black carp, trout, and swamp eel, as well as raw scallion, Chinese chives, garlic, coriander, beef, and dog meat.