《灵宝天尊说洪恩灵济真君妙经》

I believe that what Daoism makes clear is the mystery of the primordial beginning—empty, dark, profound, and subtle—and that it holds the wondrous principle of the Limitless and of natural spontaneity. The Dao (the Way) is deep and hard to fathom, still and without sound: look at it, and no form appears; listen for it, and no voice is heard. Above, it assists the working of the Dao of Heaven; below, it comes to the aid of all living beings. Its merit is vast and difficult to describe in words.

King Jiang, Great Immortal of the Golden Palace of the Nine Heavens, who illumines the Dao and attains De (Virtue/Power), True Lord of Vast Grace who manifests numinous power and broadly saves, of pure subtlety and the Dongxuan (Cavern of Mystery), penetrating the void with wondrous response, compassionate and beneficent, protecting the state and sheltering the people, and King Rao, Superior Immortal of the Jade Palace of the Nine Heavens, who proclaims transformation and upholds the teaching, True Lord of Vast Grace who displays numinous power and widely relieves, lofty in brilliance and vast in stillness, profoundly clear and wondrously responsive, benevolent and kind, assisting the state and protecting the people, were both outstanding persons born endowed with numinous and refined Qi (vital energy). Generous and kindly, they cherished the people and all things, were loyal to their sovereign and filial to their parents, and revered the Three Treasures of the Dao, the Jing (scripture/classic), and the Master. They set their minds on doing good and remained diligent without fail. When their merits and practice were complete, they responded to Heaven’s mandate, received enfeoffment and honorific titles, and were ranked among the immortals. They assist Heaven and Earth in teaching and transformation, passing freely between the hidden and the manifest realms, warding off disaster, driving away harm, drawing in good fortune, sheltering the human world, and relieving all beings.

In former times they broadly bestowed divine aid and guarded my person, so that I was supported and protected and the realm was at peace. Later they further granted Fulu (talismans and registers) and medicines, widely bestowing them on people in the world, in the hope that illness might be dispelled and descendants multiplied. This great De and profound grace is as vast as Heaven and Earth. Mindful of the deities’ favor, I do not forget it by day or by night.

In the leisure left after attending to affairs of state, I read the Wondrous Scripture of the True Lords of Vast Grace and Numinous Salvation, Spoken by the Heavenly Worthy of Numinous Treasure, and found that it sets forth principles subtle and mysterious, while the divine transformations it reveals cannot be measured. The expedient methods taught in the scripture can benefit living beings and save those who have suffered through age after age. It is truly like the sun and moon illuminating the darkness, and like a boat that carries people across the sea of suffering. I therefore ordered the text to be carved on blocks and printed, so that the scripture might circulate widely, in repayment of the deities’ grace.

If persons of sincere faith can cleanse their hearts and repent their faults, revere the Three Treasures of the Dao, the scripture, and the Master, fulfill loyalty and filial piety, practice benevolence and righteousness, make a great vow, and reverently recite and uphold this scripture, then they and their households will enjoy good fortune, their destinies will run smoothly, their descendants will flourish, disasters will be removed and life prolonged, and the blessing may also reach the nine generations of ancestors, so that the ancestors together obtain deliverance.

If anyone slanders or slights this scripture, insults the Three Treasures, acts without loyalty or filial piety and without benevolence or righteousness, and refuses to revere, trust, and uphold it, that person will bear evil karma: the household will decline, descendants will be few, life will be short, and even the nine generations of ancestors may be implicated and sink for a long time into the dark underworld. Looking back on cases of the past, all this has already been clearly shown.

Alas—good and ill fortune, good and evil, all come from thought and conduct. Doing good brings blessing; doing evil invites calamity. This is the natural principle. Thus it is said: “The family that accumulates goodness will surely have blessing to spare; the family that accumulates what is not good will surely have misfortune to spare.” It is also said: “The Lord on High is not fixed and unchanging: when one does good, he sends down every kind of auspiciousness; when one does evil, he sends down every kind of calamity.” Seeing these principles, how can people fail to urge themselves to do good?

At that time, the Celestial Worthy of Numinous Treasure (Lingbao Tianzun, a revered deity of Daoism) was seated in the Palace of the Five Brilliances in the Grand Veil Heaven, leaning upon an armrest. Bells, stone chimes, and other instruments sounded of their own accord as he gathered the stellar hosts of the various heavens and the great deities of the Five Dippers to expound the wondrous Dao (the Way) of the Most High, limitless and supremely true.

Just then, the two emissaries of the Directorate of Waters from within the Dipper came before the Celestial Worthy. Holding a blue-green tally in the left hand and a yellow ceremonial axe in the right, they stood in attendance at his side. They knocked their heads to the ground, bowed once more, and, kneeling, addressed him: “By good fortune in former lives, we were able to take our place in the heavenly realm. Looking down upon the common people of the Realm of Desire (the world in which living beings are bound and drawn by craving), we see that they are neither loyal nor filial, neither righteous nor humane. They have done much evil yet feel no shame at all, and now both their span of years and their allotted destiny have run their course.

“The present age is the final kalpa. The ways of the world are in disorder, norms and discipline have collapsed, and warfare and fires follow one upon another. People high and low alike suffer destruction. Some meet with floods, others with years of famine. Punishments and taxes are harsh and tyrannical, and disasters and epidemics spread in every direction. Living beings endure profound suffering yet do not know how to examine themselves and awaken. The pulse of life is nearly cut off, and the human world is fast approaching a dead end. We ask what method might save them, and earnestly beg the Celestial Worthy to look down in compassion and open the gate of expedient deliverance.”

The Celestial Worthy (Tianzun) said, “Good, good. Sentient beings in the final kalpa are like newborn infants and need to be taught. Since you have formed this aspiration and are willing to follow my teaching, widely explaining its causes and conditions to sentient beings so that people may awaken their understanding and no longer harbor doubt, you must speak of loyalty, filial piety, humaneness, and righteousness. Whoever cultivates any one of these four virtues will often dwell amid auspiciousness and joy.”

We, your servants, having received this instruction, how would we dare not carry it out as told? And so, in the jiachen year and the bingwu year, we descended into the human world and, dividing our embodiments, taught and transformed sentient beings: we accomplished our merit on the Eastern Sea and manifested our traces in the south. After one jiazi (sixty years) had passed, we returned to our former offices. The local people offered worship for a long time, and the incense fire continued for many years. Meeting once more with extinction (a manifested departure from the world), we again made a vow and, just as at the beginning, descended into the human world and divided our embodiments to teach, accomplishing merit on the Eastern Sea and manifesting traces in the south; after one jiazi had passed, we returned once more to our original posts. The local incense offerings continued for many years. They again met with extinction and once more renewed their vows. Thereupon they were ranked in a higher grade of immortals, granted the honorific title “True Lord” (Zhenjun), and received the compassion of the Celestial Worthy.

Through humaneness and kindness they realized the life-cherishing De (Virtue/Power) of the Taishang (the honorific in Daoism for the supreme venerable deity), enabling all good men and good women to understand that a person’s body, nature, and life all arise in dependence on the Dao (the Way), and that in conducting oneself in the world one ought to practice loyalty, filial piety, humaneness, and righteousness and awaken to the principles therein. If, on the Three Primes, the Eight Nodes, the Three Assemblies, the Five La festivals, gengshen days, jiazi days, and one’s own natal day (the sexagenary day corresponding to the year of one’s birth), one can burn incense and cultivate the retreat (the religious practice of observing purification and doing good), make offerings according to the rite, still the mind and face north, bow and prostrate, and recite—

“Great Immortal of the Golden Portal of the Nine Heavens, Illuminating the Dao and Attaining De; Manifesting Numinous Power and Broadly Bringing Deliverance; Pure Subtlety and Dongxuan; Embracing Emptiness and Wondrously Responsive; Merciful and Benevolent, Protecting the State and Sheltering the People, True Lord of Vast Grace, King Jiang; Superior Immortal of the Jade Portal of the Nine Heavens, Proclaiming Transformation and Upholding the Teaching; Radiant in Spirit and Amply Bringing Relief; Lofty Brightness and Expansive Stillness; Empty and Profound, Wondrously Responsive; Humane and Kind, Assisting the State and Aiding the People, True Lord of Vast Grace, King Rao.”

—and if one reverently faces the compassionate and holy virtue of the two True Lords, repents according to the Jing (scripture/classic), does not go against the True Lords’ vows, and establishes oneself in loyalty, filial piety, humaneness, and righteousness, then inwardly one may increase blessings and lengthen life, and outwardly one may dispel disasters and avoid adversity; above, the souls and spirits of the ancestors may attain deliverance, and below, the kin within the household may be safe and at peace. May all sentient beings together obtain benefit and ease.

Thereupon the Celestial Worthy once again expounded the teaching for the True Lords and composed this verse:

“The Lingji True Lords cultivated the true Dao and at last attained the Dao and became immortals; roaming freely through the immortal realms, they were granted honorific titles by the Celestial Worthy.”

The Star Lord of the Northern Dipper sends down divine power, manifesting in vast majesty on the left and bestowing benefit and ease below. Thereupon the Celestial Worthy once more expounds the teaching for the Perfected Lord and composes a verse:

The Perfected Lord Lingji (a divine perfected being venerated in Daoism) cultivates the true Dao (the Way) and attains the Dao, roaming and dwelling at ease in the capital of the immortals. The Celestial Worthy bestows an honorific title upon him.

The Star Lord of the Northern Dipper sends down divine power, manifesting in vast majesty on the left, looking down upon the Three Realms (the Realm of Desire, the Realm of Form, and the Formless Realm) and looking up to have audience with the Five Elders (the deities of the five directions spoken of in Daoism).

He brings blessing to the state and peace to the household; his merit is vast and boundless. Whatever people pray for, he answers without fail; he protects them in secret, in accord with the content of their silent prayers.

Loyalty, filial piety, benevolence, and fidelity to righteousness are forever one’s own precious virtues. By forming good affinities through these virtues, one will not go against vows and covenants.

All good and evil are produced by thoughts of the mind and by actions. Those who do good obtain blessing; those who do evil meet with misfortune.

Reverently and with urgency, carry out the statutes and edicts of the Celestial Worthy.