《靈寶無量度人上經大法》Vol. 25

The Master Xuan said: Those who cultivate the Great Method, if they have not yet penetrated the truth of the Dao of Heaven, and their divine power and teachings have not yet reached others, will be tested by demonic obstacles and beset on all sides. The deities will not honor their summons, and the spirits they call upon will be difficult to reach. At this time, they should cultivate the methods of paying inner court to the Three Effulgences and of dividing their form to become a flying immortal.

At the hours of Chen, Xu, Chou, and Wei, pay homage to and visualize the Central Origin Director of Fate within the heart. His name is Xuan Jian; he is the Great Lord of the Central Pole and resides in the spleen. The spleen is called the Jade Hall Palace, also known as the Jade Chamber. It is where the Lord Taiyi rests and has charge of nourishing and protecting the human body. In practice, click the teeth five times and visualize the spleen filled with yellow Qi. Above the spleen is a perfected one, whose appearance is like that of a newborn infant, dressed in yellow and wearing a crown. Call to him, saying: “Great Lord Xuan Jian, Perfected Lord Taiyi of the Central Pole, I wish to attain the Way of the perfected ones, immortals, and the Yellow Court.” After calling five times, close the eyes and lie quietly for fifty breaths, keeping the mind focused on the visualization.

This Central Director of Fate is also called the Elder. In his lower manifestation, he becomes the Imperial Lord Taiyi, father of the Nine Heavens’ Generative Spirits and ruler of the Supreme Ultimate Palace. The scripture says that those who practice this method will not have their bodies fall into hell. Jade boys and jade maidens will attend them, and they will be able to command the myriad spirits.

At the hours of Yin, Mao, Wu, and Shen, pay homage to the Lord Taiyi of the Upper Origin. He is titled the Elder of the Southern Pole and resides in the Great One Palace. He governs the human hun and po souls, the womb spirit, the Qi of life, and the fetal chamber; he is the master of these roots of life. In practice, click the teeth nine times and visualize the Supreme Ultimate Palace, also called the Taiyi Palace, one inch inside the head. The palace is filled with reddish-yellow Qi. Within the Qi is a perfected one, childlike in appearance and dressed in deep red. Call to him, saying: “Lord Taiyi, Elder of the Southern Pole and Primordial Origin, I wish to attain the divine elixir and the Way of long life and deathlessness.” After calling nine times, close the eyes and lie quietly, sustaining the visualization for ninety breaths, then stop. The scripture says that practitioners can prolong their years and escape death, transform and become immortals, dispel demonic trials, and summon perfected immortals.

At the hours of Zi, You, Si, and Hai, pay homage to the Mother of the Mysterious Way of the Lower Origin. She resides in the Palace of Double Union—that is, the place where the kidneys are—and faces the Taiyi of the Southern Pole of the Upper Origin; hence she is titled the North Pole. She is the mother of human Jing and Qi, and of the registers that record life and death. In practice, click the teeth four times and visualize white Qi between the two kidneys. Within the Qi is a divine tortoise, and on the tortoise sits a Mysterious Maiden, dressed in blue-white garments and resembling a newborn girl. To her left is the Director of Records, dressed in white …

On the right side of the government office is Lord Siming (the deity in charge of lifespan and the registers of life and death). A celestial official dressed in blue-green calls out: “The Primordial Spirit of the Lower Primordial, the Mysterious Dao Mother of the North Pole, whose name is Xuanmiao. So-and-so wishes to obtain golden sweet wine and jade nectar to drink and eat (symbolizing the sweet, delicious foods of the immortal realm). I earnestly request an edict commanding the Director of Records and the Director of Destinies to erase So-and-so’s name from the register of death and re-register it in the register of long life; and to command the Six Ding Jade Maidens so that food and drink arrive naturally.”

After calling four times, close the eyes and enter sleep, silently counting forty breaths in the mind, then stop. Practice on schedule without interruption. After a long time there will be responses, and the responses will be boundless. After nine full years of practice, one may be appointed Immortal Minister of Taiji; after one full year, the first signs of efficacy will appear. One may command spirit officials and dispatch deities, and whatever is sought in the heart will invariably be answered. One should practice constantly, must not act recklessly, and especially should be cautious in speech. Persisting until the appointed term, one can become an immortal. This is the method practiced by the Dongxuan Three August Sovereigns and Imperial Lords; it is truly an essential secret transmitted within Lingbao (Numinous Treasure). One must first swear a covenant to Heaven and inform one’s teacher before one may practice it.

Chapter on Lingbao Silent Audience and Refining the Crown

Each day at the three times of Yin, Wu, and Xu, enter the quiet chamber (jing) and form the Yuqing mudra with both hands. Visualize oneself as a white crane immortal, and imagine the heavenly gate opening as a white crane flies in. Then visualize mounting the white crane and flying lightly straight up above the Three Heavens, where one sees the Heavenly Worthy of Primordial Beginning emitting nine-colored golden light from the crown of the head; the light pours into one’s own crown. Then imagine that all the ten thousand apertures of one’s body stream with light, illuminating the worlds in the ten directions. When the visualization is complete, ride the white crane back to one’s own altar or residence (the Daoist altar or dwelling place where the practitioner is located). This is the ritual for receiving the Primordial Beginning Lingbao secret mysterious ultimate precepts.

If one has something to report, prostrate before the jade steps and present it; if one wishes to submit a memorial, practice in the same way as above.

Before visualizing, first form the mudra and refine the crown so that the heavenly gate becomes open and penetrating, then perform the mudra for transforming the spirit. The oral formula is:

“Jinzha jinzha, mighty command.” (The crown-refining mudra is formed with the left hand.)

This is the ascent formula personally bestowed by the Heavenly Worthy of Primordial Beginning upon the Perfected of Wondrous Practice and the Celestial Perfected Sovereign; it must not be lightly divulged.

The Celestial Sovereign said: “The Lingbao Dao is clear and easy to comprehend, concise and rooted in the essential. If one can meet a suitable person to transmit it and then receive and uphold it, why worry that the myriad deities will not revere one, or that ascent cannot be hoped for?”

Section on Receiving and Upholding the Staff

The Celestial Sovereign said: “The Lingbao Dao has a spirit-connecting staff that can overawe the ghosts and spirits of the Six Heavens and, with the staff, command the myriad spirits of the Three Realms.”

Go to famous mountains, grotto-heavens and blessed lands, jing huts, or mysterious altars, and on an auspicious day cut a stalk of sweet bamboo. The bamboo staff should be six chi long and have about twelve nodes. Counting from the top down to the third node, carve a curved notch on each of the left and right sides; above the curved notch carve the sun and moon, and below carve . . .

At the top of the staff, make a cup-shaped hollow and open a hole in its center. Place inside it the talisman of the Central Guardian Officer, a talismanic register for the divine officer who guards the center. Below the opening, make four more holes and place in them the talismans of the Four Directional Guardian Officers. Seal the holes with wax and pour in a sealing compound to secure them. Carve the talismans for the four directions below the staff’s third joint, along with the words “Heavenly Worthy of the Numinous Treasure, who Responds and Transforms through Myriad Kalpas in the Ten Directions.”

Beginning on the first day of the month, recite the incantation on the ten prescribed days of fasting and cultivation each month, gathering and drawing in the Qi of the Five Directions. After reciting while facing the corresponding direction, blow the Qi into the staff. Each night, practice focused visualization and cultivation for a year. Only when the Qi has accumulated sufficiently may the staff be used.

When using it, first click the teeth together thirty-six times. Visualize one Direct Talisman Officer of each of the Five Emperors appearing in their respective directions, each carrying light of the color corresponding to that direction, streaming down upon the staff. Then visualize one Jade Maiden of each of the Five Emperors, standing guard on the staff’s left and right. Next, recite the incantation:

Mountain of the Sun, primal essence above;
You opened Heaven and spread out Earth.
Sweet bamboo communicates with the numinous.
Direct Talisman Officers guard; divine troops stand watch.
Five colors stream and shine, crimson robes and golden tassels.
They assist and uphold the Supreme Perfected, emerging from the hidden and entering the darkness.
Summon Heaven, and Heaven pays homage; draw in Earth, and Earth comes to welcome.
Point at ghosts, and ghosts are destroyed; demons and monsters are bound.
The numinous talisman and divine staff wield power over the ten directions.
May they be perfected with me, born together with me.
After myriad kalpas, may they take the place of my form.
Through the Five Dissolutions, the spirit ascends to Upper Clarity.
On receiving the talisman and its command, none fail to listen with reverence.

When the incantation is finished, draw in the Qi of the Five Directions and swallow thirty-six times, then stop. Point the staff at Heaven, and the heavenly gods will arrange a ceremonial welcome; point it at Earth, and the earth gods will come to welcome you. Point it toward the northeast, and you can bind all ghosts. Point the staff to break open Hell, and the souls of the dead can return to life. Point it toward a place afflicted by calamity, and the calamity will dissolve at your command. Point it toward a place threatened by collapse or overturning, and it too can be brought to stability.

The method called the “Five Dissolutions” uses the true Qi of the Five Phases to wrest control of the balance governed by the Northern Dipper. It frees a person from the peril of death and enables them to attain the Dao through corpse liberation, the Daoist shedding of the physical form to attain the Dao, with the spirit ascending to Upper Clarity.

Eastern Guardian Officer Talisman: Nine officers of the East; write in blue-green, with black as the preferred color.

Southern Guardian Officer Talisman: Three officers of the South; write in cinnabar-red, with the character for “sound” as the preferred form.

Western Guardian Officer Talisman: Seven officers of the West; write in white, with yellow as the preferred color.

Northern Guardian Officer Talisman: Five officers of the North; write in black, with white as the preferred color.

Central Guardian Officer Talisman: Twelve officers of the Center; write in yellow, with red as the preferred color.

The Section on the Hidden Traces of the Five Dissolutions

The Dark Master said: “At Longmen by Moon-Wave Creek on Mount Qingcheng, I met an old man and together we paid a visit to Master Zhenhou. The master secretly transmitted the method of the Five Liberations. It must not be divulged lightly or passed on indiscriminately…”

Teaching this method to those who violate ritual propriety or are not permitted to receive Daoist teachings will cause the art to vanish, as though it were something mysterious and hidden. Through it, one can leave the ordinary world and surpass other people, making one’s own form invisible. This is called the “method of invisibility.” The Five Escapes—methods of concealing the body through the elements of Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth—are the Metal Escape, Wood Escape, Water Escape, Fire Escape, and Earth Escape. Their principle is to receive the Yin-Yang Qi of Heaven and Earth, understand the workings of cosmic transformation, and draw upon the rhythms by which Yin and Yang set Qi in motion.

Those who seek the Great Dao but have not yet escaped the cycle of life and death may uphold the true method to avoid misfortune and overcome danger when beset by calamities in their birth year or on their birth day, ill omens, demonic obstacles, or other perils. When one’s allotted span is nearing its end, the method may be used with skill; its wondrous efficacy is beyond words.

Metal Escape (the Metal Escape Method)

On a Gengzi day, take twelve liang of old iron that has been kept for many years and forge it into a ruler. Choose a clean room and purify both body and mind. At the beginning of the first watch, stand four zhang and two chi in front of the bed and place the ruler on the ground. When the hour of the Rat arrives, first cleanse your mouth and body, drink a cup of water mixed with frankincense and borneol, and click your teeth twenty-four times. Visualize the ruler as your own form. Let no one else hear you as you silently recite the numinous incantation seven times. When you have finished, pick up the ruler and place it beneath a felt mat, where no one can see it. Continue this visualization for forty-nine days.

When putting the method into practice, tie yourself to the ruler with a white silk thread. Then quickly cast down the ruler and leave; do not look back. As you recite the incantation, also sprinkle the ruler with water mixed with borneol and frankincense. Take Qi from the direction that is flourishing in the current season and blow onto the ruler seven times. The four methods that follow are to be carried out in the same way.

The incantation says:

“Three Platforms, give me life and transmit your method to me; Three Platforms, protect me and help me ascend to immortality. Let the wind pass through and the ruler depart; sever all signs of response. I shall return to my original form. Swiftly, in accordance with the commands of Kui, Gui, Si, Xing, Bi, Fu, and Piao.”

Wood Escape (the Wood Escape Method)

On a Jiazi day, take a branch from a red pear tree, as long as your own height. On the day you put the method into practice, purify body and mind, and perform the other rites as described above. After forty-nine days, place the branch on the ground when using the method. As you leave, do not look back or raise your eyes to the sun; above all, do not look back at your own shadow.

The incantation says:

“Zhi bo draws the black fish; bo draws jia ye; bo draws the Three Platforms. Give life to this body; draw this day’s life into the body; deliver me to the Dao. With forty-ninefold merit, ascend to Highest Clarity. Transform a thousand times and ten thousand times; conceal the body in Highest Clarity. The staff transforms into my body. Swiftly, in accordance with the commands of Kui, Gui, Si, Xing, Bi, Fu, and Piao.”

Water Escape (the Water Escape Method)

On a Renzi day, take a large tortoiseshell weighing one jin and carry out the prescribed rites for four…

After the nineteenth day is complete, when the time comes to use it, if you happen to encounter a great flood, or are on a bridge or boat, put the turtle into the water. Do not look back, and recite the spell:

“The numinous valley releases primordial Qi and enters the staff. The Great Dao I uphold is unlike the ways of the world. The sun and moon command the tiger and dragon to depart, and act in my place to open the springs and channels. At once, obey the decrees of Kui, Gu, Yu, Xing, Bi, Liu, and Piao.”

Fire Escape

On the night of the Bingzi day, take a male sparrow and place it in a small cage. Perform the ritual steps as before, but settle the sparrow beside your head. Sprinkle it with water, then draw in Qi and blow onto it, following the same method as before. After forty-nine days, hold the sparrow in your hand. When you need to use it, tie a red silk thread around its head. After it dies, tuck it inside your robe. When you see a great fire, throw the sparrow into it, then leave without looking back, and recite the spell:

“The Vermilion Bird stands before me; I hold the power that governs transformation. The Lords of the Three Terraces protect my life, and the Five Emperors preserve me. O bird spirit, transform into immortal fire, so that both my life and spirit may be preserved. At once, obey the decrees of Kui, Gu, Yu, Xing, Bi, Liu, and Piao.”

Earth Escape

On the Wuzi day, take one of your own shoes and perform the ritual as before, for forty-nine days. When you need to use it, tie a yellow silk thread around the shoe and throw it onto the ground. Do not look back, and recite the spell:

“Primordial Yellow Dragon, flourishing in all four seasons, dwelling in the central palace in its rightful place, holding authority, setting the mechanisms in motion, and governing the Earth Bureau. By order of the Celestial Emperor, I command you to act in my place. Borrow my authority and preside over the eighteen Wujǐ days. At once, obey the decrees of Kui, Gu, Yu, Xing, Bi, Liu, and Piao.”

The Celestial Vision of Shenminuo

The Dark Master said: “If you wish to behold the thirty-two heavens, you must first cultivate every kind of good conduct, then establish a great vow, direct your thoughts, and visualize until your mind and spirit are settled. Only then may you be able to see them. Begin by gathering your scattered thoughts, then make this vow: ‘I now contemplate the Lords of Heaven. May all stranded spirits and souls in the Three Realms and the ten directions, and all beings with names recorded among the four births and six paths, ascend together with my soul and spirit to attend the imperial palace. May the departed souls who have sunk through kalpas in the sufferings of Fengdu, and my ancestors from countless generations, escape darkness and the painful cycle of rebirth, and ascend with my soul and spirit to the sacred realm, far from the Five Turbidities and roaming freely in the realm of the Dao. May all living beings throughout the nations beneath Heaven have their evil karma dispelled and their suffering removed…’”

Sins and karmic burdens are erased, and all distress is left behind. One attains the Dharma Body, the pure body beyond physical form cultivated by practitioners of the Dao, complete with the ten marks of perfection. One freely visits the heavens, proclaims the teachings, and guides living beings, awakening those lost in delusion, carrying on the lineage of the sages, and mastering the path of the Ten Sages.

Though I still have a physical body and remain in the human world, my spirit and consciousness have already ascended to the Three Heavens, the levels of the celestial realm described in Daoism. There I may serve the Patriarch, the Primordial Celestial Emperor, and receive from him the Great Law of the Numinous Treasure. Afterward, I shall roam through the heavens, enduring for countless kalpas; in this life and lives to come, I shall dwell always in a realm of blessing. There, the Seven Treasures abound, along with gardens, houses, wives and concubines, servants, children, and all one’s relatives and friends.

I should give everything I cherish to the Three Realms of the Ten Directions: elephants, fine horses, treasures, vehicles, clothing, food, and bedding. I should give these freely, without reluctance. Where rivers block the way, I should build bridges to help travelers. I should dig wells beside roads so travelers can drink, and aid those suffering from hunger and thirst. I should bury the remains of livestock and birds, giving them a peaceful resting place instead of leaving their bodies exposed. I should swear by the Three Lights—the sun, moon, and stars—and resolve to cultivate goodness.

After cultivating goodness in this way, I enter a state of visualization, a Daoist practice of focused contemplation of divine realms, without slackening. Then I settle into stillness and enter meditation. Next, I burn various kinds of incense. First I envision a road through azure clouds, then ride the whirling winds of the whirlwind and the sheep’s-horn gust, spiraling upward through layer after layer of sky until I reach the heavens.

Then I envision the place where the Celestial Emperor dwells. Practitioners should imagine the heavenly realm as vast, magnificent, and beautiful, filled with fragrance and free of foul or impure vapors. The Celestial Emperor rides in the Eightfold Scenery Jade Carriage, a jade vehicle of the heavens, drawn by three clouds of pure essence. Its wheels are made of precious jade, its canopy adorned with feathers, and it shines with the radiance of five colors. Dragons, qilin, tigers, leopards, lions, and white cranes sing out in harmony. The ground is paved with gold; the surrounding stairways and roads are made of white jade, and pearls among the Seven Treasures gleam with light.

The Celestial Emperor wears a robe of patterned silk and a crown adorned with a hundred treasures. Attendants on either side are all flying perfected beings, their bodies blazing with light that eclipses the sun and moon. Drums, stringed instruments, songs, and vertical flutes sound together. The realm is populous, yet no children die young and no one cries out in grief.

The palaces of the heavens also contain sword trees, whose branches remain perfectly still. The heavenly beings one sees are boundless in number. Natural foods are abundant and varied, their flavors reaching into the human world. The heavens also hold precious trees and golden pools. Five-colored radiance shines across purple groves; when a gentle breeze stirs the branches and leaves and they brush against one another, they produce beautiful music of their own accord. The palaces of the heavens are built from many kinds of treasure. The Celestial Emperor sits within them, his light reaching the Ninefold Darkness, the deepest and darkest places. With wondrous and wholesome teachings, he saves heavenly beings everywhere. After hearing the teachings, they praise the good path. On the Celestial Emperor’s jade table are red script and jade characters used to summon the assembled immortals.

Those who hold the Yellow Register documents—writings used to deliver beings in the underworld—should contemplate their own bodies each day: dressed in ritual robes and wearing feathered garments, they ride a nine-colored cloud into the heavens. There they take their place in the ranks of celestial officials and pay homage at court before withdrawing. On the Three Primordial Festivals and the Eight Seasonal Festivals, important Daoist observances, they join the court procession and attend ritual assemblies of the heavens, seated upon the jeweled Terrace of the Kalpa Blades. The terrace resembles a round altar, with layer upon layer beyond counting.

By gazing upward and reciting the sacred texts, one becomes practiced through long training. In meditation, if the visualization is clear enough that one even forgets oneself in sleep, the spirit can travel through the Daoist realms: one sees the Celestial Emperor expounding the Dao and hears his sacred words, along with the music of the immortals—the sounds of flutes and reed pipes. At this point, the Yang Spirit, the spirit-consciousness formed through cultivation and able to leave the body, has taken shape and can pay homage in the heavens. Only then may one practice visualizing the heavens and traveling there in spirit.

Before practicing, one should observe ritual purification and bathe. First recite the celestial scripture Numinous Chapters of the Empty Cavern and Natural Spontaneity, gradually increasing the count from three hundred times to seven hundred, and then to one thousand before performing the method. At a single stirring of the mind, the spirit can fly ten thousand miles; when the intention is activated, subtle responses can reach in all ten directions. After a year, the Yang Spirit no longer wanders the earthly world but dwells constantly in the heavens. With swift cultivation, this takes seven years; with slower cultivation, nine. In either case, one is sure to transcend the earthly world and ascend to the heavens.

The heavens of the Realm of Desire are still formed through the transformation of Qi; the heavens of the Realm of Form take shape within nine grades of lotus flowers. In dreams, practitioners see lotuses of different colors—blue-green, deep green, white, and others—signifying their gradual progress in the Dao. As their cultivation advances, the lotus opens; when their practice falls into neglect, it remains closed in bud; if they commit transgressions, the lotus withers.