《灵宝净明院真师密诰》

Luo Zhaoxian, Registrar of the Tianshu Yuan—the divine office charged with documentary affairs—acting on the jade decree of the True Master, adjudicated and issued to Perfected Lord Zhou Yanjiao of the Jingming Yuan and others the offices and destinations held in the immortal realm by nine generations of ancestors and the six classes of close kin. The results verified by this office are set out as follows.

The ancestor whose taboo name was Xian serves as Judge of the Register of Good Deeds in the Hall of Purple Tenuity. The ancestor whose taboo name was Zunli serves as Grand Judge of the Left at Fengdu. The ancestor whose taboo name was Botong has been enfeoffed as Perfected Protector of Life and serves in the Hall of the Jade Emperor. The ancestor whose taboo name was Xiang has been enfeoffed as Perfected of Wondrous Response and serves in the Palace of Jade Clarity. The ancestor whose taboo name was Zhe has been enfeoffed as Perfected of Resolute Filial Piety. The ancestor whose taboo name was Jingshu has been enfeoffed as Perfected of Penetrating Radiance. The ancestor whose taboo name was Jiazheng has been enfeoffed as Perfected Who Aspires to the Dao (the Way) and serves in the Palace of Supreme Clarity. The ancestor whose taboo name was Yanxian has been enfeoffed as Perfected of Universal Beneficence and serves in the Palace of Supreme Clarity. The ancestor whose taboo name was Tao has been enfeoffed as Yuanjun of Western Deliverance in Grand Tenuity and serves in the Palace of Jade Clarity. The father, whose taboo name was Zhi, has been enfeoffed as Yuanjun Who Protects Longevity at the Eastern Pole and serves in the Palace of Jade Clarity.

Lady Deng serves as the Eleventh Herald of the Hall of Purple Tenuity. Lady Jin serves as the Child Attendant Who Registers Births in the Hall of the Jade Emperor. Lady Hao has been enfeoffed as Immortal Child of Utmost Purity. Lady Cai has been enfeoffed as Immortal Child of Ongoing Cultivation. Lady Lu has been enfeoffed as Immortal Child Who Delivers from Calamity. Lady Qian serves as Left Herald of the Lord of the Dao. Lady Sheng has been enfeoffed as Yuanjun of Concord in the Assembly of Cinnabar Clouds. Lady Wang has been enfeoffed as Yuanjun of Incorruptible Dignity and Broad Cultivation. Lady Qian has been enfeoffed as Yuanjun of Loyal Nurture and Splendor. Lady Shi has been enfeoffed as Yuanjun Who Manifests the Dao.

All those named above are kin upon whom grace has been bestowed for the three ritual masters of the Jingming Yuan. As for the three generations of ancestors and the six classes of close kin of Ritual Master Shang Bi, their immortal offices and destinations have not yet been fixed, and this is respectfully reported.

On the fifteenth day of the third month of the jiyou year of the Grand Year, the Office of Records issued an official dispatch. An earlier dispatch, transmitted from the seat of the revered teacher, conveyed that the circumstances of the kin graced on behalf of the three ritual masters of the Yang Wenming Yuan, like the immortal offices and destinations of Ritual Master Shang Bi’s three generations of ancestors and six classes of close kin, have not yet been decided, and this is respectfully reported.

On the fifteenth day of the third month of the jiyou year, the Office of Records sent a guanwen (a document by which business is transmitted between Daoist offices). Yesterday a guanwen arrived from the Teacher’s post: Yang Wenqing, a zhentong (a youthful divine office in Daoism), had treated frenzied madness and demonic illness, pestilence, and consumption, and the patients had already recovered safely, the numinous efficacy being remarkable. Now, in accordance with the true instructions of the ancestral master, this method is transmitted to students of later generations.

Take deep-yellow cloth and dye it into a vest, and write a single fu (talisman) on one side. Face east and inhale three mouthfuls of Qi (vital energy).

The incantation is: “The sun rises, and numinous light appears; the moon shines upon the west. The two Dippers of south and north (stellar lodges in Daoist astral belief) preside over the cosmic order, protect the disciples of my ritual gate, and cause the hundred illnesses to disperse. If evil demons dare to encroach, they will at once suffer calamity.”

The talisman is written in cinnabar, while one at the same time forms the Yin jue (a mudra pinched with the fingers and directed toward the Yin position among the earthly branches). Visualize the sun and the moon appearing, so that the mouths of the Dippers face one another and the Dougang face one another (Dougang refers to the stars of the Northern Dipper and the directions of their movement).

Then inhale, recite the incantation, and draw the talisman. Visualize oneself standing in attendance beside the Jade Emperor and the Great Emperor of Purple Tenuity. After the talisman has been drawn, form the Yin jue again and recite seven times the incantation that commands the talisman. Stamp one seal at each of the left and right breasts, and one seal at the collar, signifying the Three Terraces (Santai, names of stellar lodges); on the back, beginning from the left, stamp seven seals, signifying the stars of the Dougang, and the impressions must be stamped upon the character hua (“flower”).

The Divine Immortals’ Formula for Bigu (Abstention from Grain) by Ingesting Cypress Leaves

The prescription: golden-haired cibot (hairs removed), baimu, tianma, jingjie, cangmu (washed clean), and xialing, each taken in equal amount. Pound the above medicinals and sieve them into powder, and with jinghua water (water drawn from a well at dawn) form them into pills the size of a pellet. When taking the medicine, boil one pill together with one sheng of black beans and three sheng and three ge of water until the water has boiled dry. At the time of ingestion, take a pinch of the black beans and cypress leaves, place them together in the mouth, and chew the pill down. After the medicine and the beans have been eaten up, eat only cypress leaves.

The scripture claims that after one year of taking it, hair one cun long will grow on the body; after two years, the hair on the body will fall away; and after three years, one will neither hunger nor thirst, fear neither cold nor heat, walk five hundred li each day, be able also to travel floating upon the water, and live long without dying. While taking it, one must avoid eating lacquer leaves, castor leaves, and walnut leaves.