《太上慈悲道場消災九幽懺》Vol. 6

This passage from the Supreme Compassion Liturgy of the Nine Netherworlds for Dispelling Calamities, compiled by the eminent Daoist master Ge Xuan (the Left Immortal Duke of the Supreme Ultimate), expounds on the karmic consequences of killing living beings and enumerates various forms of such transgressions.

Bound by worldly desires and lacking proper spiritual guidance, humans easily succumb to harmful habits that lead to wrongdoing. Many thoughtlessly harm creatures without cause, demonstrating a profound lack of compassionate awareness. The scripture details these transgressions:

Some slaughter animals in great numbers to provide for parents, themselves, or relatives—whether domesticated livestock like cattle, sheep, pigs, and dogs, or wild creatures such as deer, tigers, and leopards from mountain forests. The killings show no regard for the animals' condition: knives pierce flesh as blood flows, boiling water scalds off fur and skin, and disembowelment begins before life has fully departed. Such excruciating suffering creates karmic debts beyond reckoning.

Others hunt winged creatures—phoenixes, cranes, geese, ducks, doves, crows, and hawks—setting traps and snares, breaking wings to leave them dying in trees, or severing heads and feet, gouging eyes and clipping wings merely to gratify culinary desires.

Aquatic beings—turtles, clams, crabs—meet similar fates through nets and pits dug along riverbanks, their piled shells reeking to the heavens, yet the slaughter continues unabated. Even insects—snakes, scorpions, bees, ants, mosquitoes—though some possess venom, still seek life like all creatures, avoiding extremes of heat and cold, undeserving of wanton destruction.

Particularly egregious are those who hunt with falcons and hounds, drawing bows with greedy cruelty. Some burn whole mountains or drain ponds to catch fish, others maim with blades and arrows, or crush life directly underfoot.

All such acts violate Daoism's core principle of honoring life (guisheng). By meticulously cataloguing these transgressions, the scripture serves as both warning and exhortation: practitioners must cultivate compassion and abstain from the karma of killing.

This scripture enumerates the various ways people unintentionally or deliberately harm living beings in daily life, warning that such acts of killing will bring negative consequences.

The text details different forms of harming life: from injuring insects and ants during construction or farming, to damaging plants while gathering firewood or picking flowers; from accidentally killing flying insects when lighting lamps or boiling water, to harming microorganisms while eating and drinking; from using animal-derived medicines to treat illnesses, to directly slaughtering livestock or destroying bird eggs. It also includes killing out of anger, for entertainment, or as sacrificial offerings, as well as indirect acts like inciting others to kill or using poison and curses to harm life.

The scripture explains that these karmic debts of killing accumulate into sin, bringing misfortune in this life and condemning the perpetrator to suffering in the underworld after death—even rebirth as an animal to repay past debts. The Compassionate One (referring to a revered Daoist deity) particularly emphasizes that without sincere repentance, one cannot transcend these transgressions.

Finally, in verse form, it lists the various creatures one might have killed in past lives: domestic animals like cattle and sheep, birds and beasts, fish, turtles, and insects. The intent is to remind people that all life deserves reverence, and that the karmic burden of killing can only be absolved through genuine repentance.

This scripture expounds on the karmic retribution for the evil act of killing living beings. Those who harm creatures such as ants, mosquitoes, cattle, or sheep—lacking compassion—will after death fall into hell realms to endure torment. The slain animals will return to demand their lives, seeking blood-debt repayment. The text enumerates various hellish sufferings: being pursued for retribution, having no escape, and facing demon kings who settle karmic accounts. Killers will also be reborn as livestock in future lives to repay their past misdeeds through slaughter.

During repentance rituals like the Jiuyou Chan (Nine Netherworlds Repentance), devotees must sincerely confess their sins of killing. This passage lists twenty Celestial Worthy (Tianzun, the highest Daoist deities) titles, including: the Jade Purity Bestower of Blessings Tianzun, the Sound-Seeking Savior from Suffering Tianzun, and the Great One Savior from Suffering Tianzun (Taiyi Jiuku Tianzun). Each Tianzun holds specific functions—delivering from suffering, liberating souls, or absolving sins. Repentants must perform full-body prostrations (wuti toudi), single-mindedly vow repentance, and through worshiping these deities, seek to eradicate karmic obstructions.

The scripture particularly emphasizes that karmic retribution for killing is "clearly accounted for"—none can bear another's punishment after death. Only through devout repentance can such sins be purified. The concluding mention of Taiyi Jiuku Tianzun highlights this pivotal Daoist deity specialized in redeeming lost souls, frequently invoked during salvation rituals (chaodu).

This passage is a penitential text from the Daoist scripture Taishang Cibei Daochang Xiaozai Jiuyou Chan (The Supreme Compassionate Liturgy for Disaster Elimination in the Nine Netherworlds). It expresses devout veneration toward various celestial venerables (Tianzun) and perfected beings (Zhenren), while confessing transgressions and seeking salvation through deliverance rituals.

The liturgy begins with solemn prostrations to nine celestial venerables and perfected beings, including the Life-Preserving Celestial Venerable (Changsheng Baoming Tianzun) and the Universally Compassionate Guardian of the Nation Celestial Venerable (Pu Ci Huguo Tianzun), each representing distinct divine attributes and salvific functions. The penitential leader then guides devotees in supplicating the Supreme Numinous Treasure Celestial Venerable (Wushang Lingbao Tianzun) and other sacred assemblies in the northwest direction, beseeching their spiritual power to cleanse accumulated karmic transgressions.

The confession enumerates offenses committed since beginningless kalpas (immeasurably long cosmic cycles): killing perpetrated by oneself, ancestors, teachers, parents, and associates—whether living or deceased. Such karmic burdens condemn souls to suffering in the three wretched paths of hell-dwellers, hungry ghosts, and animals. Through repentance, practitioners seek permanent liberation from these entanglements while vowing henceforth to regard all beings as extensions of themselves, extinguishing violent impulses.

The second section, "Cleansing Destructive Acts," continues the penitential examination: due to attachment to physical form, sentient beings across countless rebirths have harbored destructive mindsets—behaving wantonly, enslaving others, wantonly destroying property, and harming creatures. Those holding official positions are particularly condemned for dereliction of duty, subverting laws, deceiving superiors while oppressing subordinates, envying the virtuous, violating cosmic cycles (Tian Shi), disregarding the Great Dao (Da Dao), concealing benevolent deeds, and perpetrating numerous evils.

This scripture embodies the Daoist cultivation principle of "extending compassion to all things" (ci xin yu wu). Through systematic confession of transgressions, practitioners purify body and mind, ultimately attaining liberation from samsaric cycles.

This scripture describes the various transgressions committed by people due to arrogance, greed, and other wicked deeds, along with the karmic retribution these actions incur. The text enumerates multiple sinful acts: abusing power to oppress the virtuous, destroying Daoist temples (gongguan) and sacred images, damaging scriptures and ritual implements, and mistreating the innocent. Such misdeeds will cause one’s descendants across three lifetimes to suffer unjust retribution, and after death, the perpetrators will fall into the bitter and torturous hells, enduring punishments like head shaving and decapitation.

The Compassionate One (Cizun, the merciful honored being), pitying the ignorance of sentient beings, reiterates the law of karma through verses: those who in past lives disrespected and destroyed sacred objects or oppressed the virtuous will descend into the bitter hells after death, where their flesh and bones will turn against each other. Even if reborn as humans, they will suffer the retribution of head shaving, with their families weeping and scattered in misery.

Upon hearing these teachings, the assembled devotees awaken to repentance, aspiring through the merit of reverent confession to liberate beings trapped in the hell, hungry ghost, and animal realms. The penitents kneel in sincerity, bowing in sequence to the Ten Celestial Worthies (Tianzun, the highest Daoist deities)—from the Tianzun who bestows blessings to the Tianzun who elevates spiritual rank. Each Tianzun embodies distinct salvific functions, such as responding to cries of suffering or manifesting according to karmic conditions. The entire repentance ritual emphasizes reverent homage to the sacred, invoking divine power to eradicate karmic obstructions.

This passage is part of the repentance ritual from the Taoist scripture Taishang Cibei Daochang Xiaozai Jiuyou Chan (The Most High Compassionate Ritual Site for Dispelling Calamities in the Nine Netherworlds). It consists of two main sections:

The first section involves devout prostrations before various Celestial Worthy figures (the highest deities in Taoism) and Perfected Ones (immortals who have attained the Dao). It lists eighteen Celestial Worthies and four Perfected Ones, including the Celestial Worthy of Pure Wisdom and Virtuous Kings, the Celestial Worthy of Supreme Oneness Who Rescues from Suffering (a deity specifically dedicated to saving lost souls), the Celestial Worthy of Longevity and Life Preservation, as well as the Great Compassionate Perfected One of Solar Canopy and the Great Pitying Perfected One Who Extracts Sins. These honorific titles reflect the deities' various merits, such as "bestowing wealth widely" indicating charitable giving, and "universal compassion protecting the nation" signifying divine guardianship of the state.

The second section forms the core of the repentance ritual. Devotees participating in the ceremony confess their transgressions to the ten-directional deities, including the Celestial Worthy of Numinous Treasure in the northwest. They beseech the assistance of six divine powers—including the power of the Dao and the power of virtuous merit—to eliminate karmic obstacles accumulated over countless kalpas (cosmic cycles). Special emphasis is placed on cleansing sins through repentance, thereby freeing oneself from karmic retribution of suffering and ultimately attaining the fruits of Dao-realization (spiritual accomplishments).

The concluding "Unbroken Fasting" section specifically addresses repentance for violating dietary precepts. It explains how sentient beings, driven by gluttony, indulge in wine and meat to nourish their fleshly bodies, resulting in illness and deepened karmic burdens. The passage references the "eight sufferings" of human existence—birth, aging, sickness, death, summer heat, dampness, cold winds—which Taoism views as stemming from transgressions against the natural order of the Dao.

This text exemplifies the Taoist practice of "repentance for dispelling calamities," where sincere contrition combined with divine blessings purifies karmic obstructions. The mentioned "fasting" (zhai) refers to Taoist purification precepts, including abstention from meat and strong flavors, as well as cultivating mental clarity and reducing desires.

The minds of all living beings in this world are ever-changing, flowing ceaselessly day and night. Each person's body, consciousness, and temperament differ as they cycle endlessly through the wheel of life and death, unable to find liberation even after countless kalpas. This is because beings often violate precepts of cultivation, lack reverence in their fasting practices (zhaijie), and further suffer from aging bodies and chronic illnesses while exhausting themselves in worldly struggles. The root cause lies in indulging in meat and pungent foods, which generate turbid Qi (vital energy) that rises to offend the divine. Karmic obstructions erode the body like wind, dissipating the precious Jing (essence) - how can such a physical form endure?

(Here, "fasting and purification" refers to essential Daoist practices for approaching the divine through physical and mental purity, including dietary restraint. Daoism holds that meat consumption produces turbid Qi that hinders cultivation.)

True cultivators neither eat nor drink, abiding in the naturalness of the Great Dao (Dao). They attain boundless transformations and deathless longevity, frequently expounding scriptures to deliver sentient beings. Yet the ignorant often refuse to believe and practice, which remains my constant concern. Thus I established these fasting methods to relieve suffering.

The Three Pure Ones (Sanqing - Jade Clarity, Upper Clarity, and Supreme Clarity), though already perfected in the Dao, still maintain rigorous fasting and diligent practice. How much more should we observe the Six Fasting Days, Ten Direct Days, Eight Nodes, Three Primordial Days (Upper, Middle, and Lower Primordial), Jiazi Days, Natal Days, Three Assembly Days, and Gengshen Days? On these occasions, various fasting assemblies provide inconceivable merit by rescuing beings - all established by the Compassionate Ones (Daoist deities) as gateways to liberation from demonic obstacles.

Yet though you know these fasting categories, you lack reverence; even when reverence arises, violations abound. Some defile offerings with meat, ignoring kitchen impurities; others eat past noon (violating the midday meal restriction) with distracted minds; some even slander the true Dao, conflating orthodox teachings (Zhengfa) with heresy through false speech and emotional bias. Such ignorant breaches of fasting include:

• Disrupting supreme fasts like the Great Perfection Fast or Golden Register Fast
• Violating salvation rituals like the Divine Incantation Fast or Yellow Register Fast
• Corrupting purification practices like the Luminous Truth Fast or Natural Fast
• Undermining penitential rites like the Three Primordials Fast or Mud-and-Ash Fast
• Profaning mystical communion fasts like the Cavern Spirit Fast

Some assemblies pray for the nation, others deliver ancestors, some rescue wandering souls, others benefit kin. Initial faith often gives way to regret - deepening karmic burdens that bring immeasurable retribution.

As for ordained Daoists (male "officials" and female "officials"), whether ten, a hundred or more, all should accept lay devotees' offerings impartially without favoritism. Fasting fundamentally cultivates generosity - the offerings' refinement or simplicity matters not. All renunciants should receive support equally. Selective acceptance reveals contemptuous minds that generate no true merit.

(This passage admonishes devotees to observe fasting sincerely, enumerates faults in breaking fasts, and instructs monastics on proper conduct regarding ritual offerings.)

This scripture describes the karmic consequences of violating fasting precepts (the purity disciplines in Daoist practice). If someone embezzles funds during religious activities like establishing purification rituals (Zhaijiao) or crafting sacred statues—even taking just a single coin—they must repay tenfold after ten years. Failure to repay results in severe illness, physical mutilation, rebirth as a wandering ghost after death, or being born disabled and chronically ill in future human incarnations.

The text vividly depicts the miserable retribution for violators: After death, they become hungry ghosts with necks thin as cloth ropes and bellies swollen like hanging drums, their bodies crushed by iron wheels and scorched by blazing fire. When they crave clothing, it feels like draping a mountain of flames; when they seek food, it turns to pus and blood. Present-life consequences include prolonged bedridden sickness, bodily decay, and abandonment by loved ones. Future rebirths as humans bring poverty, ugliness, broken marriages, and desolate isolation.

Out of compassion, the Venerable Deities (Daoist divinities) composed gathas (religious verses) to awaken humanity: Violators become hungry ghosts after death, forced to eat fire when hungry and drink molten copper when thirsty, suffering ceaselessly day and night. Even if liberated, they can only reincarnate as animals.

The scripture concludes with an exhortation: All who hear these teachings today and have committed such transgressions must repent immediately. During rituals, devotees should prostrate fully (five limbs to the ground) and sincerely vow to purify their karma through the Jiuyou Chan (Nine Netherworlds Repentance). Whether praying for the living or redeeming the deceased, repentance must be performed with utmost reverence.

This passage is a liturgical text used in Daoist rituals for dispelling calamities and seeking blessings, where devotees pay reverent homage to various Celestial Worthies (Tianzun, the highest deities in Daoism) and Perfected Beings (Zhenren, immortal sages who have attained the Dao). The repeated phrase "with utmost sincerity we reverently bow" forms a fixed liturgical structure, expressing veneration toward over thirty differently titled Celestial Worthies.

Each of these Celestial Worthies holds specific functions: for instance, the "Savior Who Hears Cries and Relieves Suffering Tianzun" specifically listens to sentient beings' pleas and offers deliverance; the "Great Unity Savior from Suffering Tianzun" specializes in redeeming departed souls; the "Longevity and Life-Preserving Tianzun" governs health and longevity; while the "Universally Compassionate Guardian of the Nation Tianzun" safeguards national peace. The text also includes Perfected Beings representing different realms of attainment, such as the "Great Compassion Savior from Suffering Zhenren" and the "Great Mercy Absolver of Sins Zhenren," who carry out specific salvific tasks.

The concluding section expands the scope of veneration to encompass all Lingbao Tianzun deities in the northwestern celestial realm, as well as immortals of various ranks—celestial (Tianxian), terrestrial (Dixian), and aquatic (Shuixian)—along with transcendent beings dwelling in sacred mountains and rivers. This comprehensive homage, moving from principal deities to auxiliary spirits and from higher to lower ranks, reflects the Daoist theological framework of the "Three Pure Ones (Sanqing) and Four Sovereigns (Siyu)," demonstrating the ritual's intent to mobilize the entire pantheon's power for dispelling misfortunes.

Notably, most of these Celestial Worthy titles emphasize disaster relief, suffering alleviation, and salvation, aligning with the Jiuyou Chan scripture's purpose of redeeming lost souls and seeking protection. Through systematically venerating all relevant deities, devotees hope to secure all-encompassing divine blessings.

This scripture passage discusses the contents of Daoist repentance rituals for dispelling calamities, with its core message urging people to uphold precepts and cultivate themselves while repenting for their transgressions.

It first describes the setting of the repentance ceremony: all the Perfected Sages (immortals who have attained the Dao) from the ten directions, with vast compassion, employ the power of Daoist methods to aid the repentant. The practitioner must sincerely confess the transgressions committed across past, present, and future lifetimes (previous lives, the current life, and future lives), as well as the sins of their ancestors spanning nine generations. These include past violations of precepts (breaking fasting regulations) and other faults. Through the power of Daoist methods, they seek liberation, thereafter reverently observing purification rituals with a purified body and mind—not only to elevate their ancestors but also to rescue lost souls, ensuring that both themselves and their families escape the Six Paths of Rebirth (heavenly beings, humans, asuras, animals, hungry ghosts, and hell-dwellers) and ascend to the shores of the Dao (attain enlightenment).

The text then specifically emphasizes the importance of upholding precepts. It explains that sentient beings, through the three karmas of body, speech, and mind, as well as the desires of the six senses (eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind), have accumulated immeasurable transgressions since ancient times—theft, sexual misconduct, greed, anger, ignorance, deceitful speech, lies, harsh words, slander, and more. These sins bind people like ropes, while Daoist scriptures and precepts serve as the means to untie these bonds.

Daoist precepts are divided into multiple levels: from the basic Three Precepts and Five Precepts (similar to Buddhist prohibitions against killing, stealing, etc.), to the Twelve Precepts, Twenty-Four Precepts, and further to the more advanced Forty Precepts of the Dongxuan (Cavern of Mystery) division, the Middle Grade Sixty Precepts, the Upper Grade Eighty-One Precepts, reaching up to the highest One Hundred and Eighty Precepts. Different lineages also have their own systems, such as the Shangqing (Highest Clarity) school’s Three Hundred Body-Observation Precepts or the Dongshen (Cavern of Spirit) school’s Seven Hundred and Twenty Precepts. Upholding precepts brings boundless blessings, while breaking them invites misfortune.

Finally, the text stresses that these scriptures and precepts act like protective walls and shelters for sentient beings. If one sincerely upholds them, Jade Maidens and Jade Youths (guardian spirits), Vajra Deities, and other protective divinities will come to offer shelter, dispel calamities, prolong life, and even bring joy to the heavens. In this way, one can avoid disasters such as warfare, floods and fires, wild beasts and venomous creatures, illness and imprisonment, malevolent spirits, and famine.

(Note: Terms like "Dongxuan," "Shangqing," and "Dongshen" refer to different classifications of Daoist scriptures, representing distinct levels of teachings; "Jade Maidens and Jade Youths" are titles for Daoist guardian deities.)

In Daoist cultivation, those who uphold the precepts (behavioral guidelines) receive inconceivable blessings: those seeking sons will be granted sons, those desiring daughters will obtain daughters, along with wealth, wisdom, dignified appearance, and universal respect. Historically, rigorous adherents of these precepts would ascend to heavenly pure lands after death—realms adorned with jeweled trees and floral terraces, where celestial feasts appear spontaneously. Riding cloud-canopied dragon chariots in eternal bliss, they constantly hear sacred teachings while attending the Compassionate Deities (Daoist revered beings), ultimately attaining realization of the true Dao.

The precepts function as four spiritual treasures: like a sword severing afflictions, a dharma boat ferrying beings across suffering's sea, blazing fire consuming karmic obstructions, and pure water cleansing sins. True practitioners guard against wrongdoing, discipline body and mind, subdue demonic obstacles, and commune with divine energies.

Yet many in reality treat precepts lightly: some witness the merits of precept-keeping yet remain skeptical, harboring constant arrogance; others recklessly violate precepts, slandering scriptures as child's play; some read the Three Purities' Canons (Taiqing, Shangqing, and Yuqing scriptures—Daoism's three supreme texts) with frivolity, lacking reverence; others transcribe scriptures on inferior paper with poor ink, binding them carelessly and making random alterations; still others recite texts absentmindedly, disrespecting the sages' teachings.

Unrepented, these transgressions yield twin consequences: present-life suffering through chronic illness, withered appearance, and mental dullness; postmortem descent into hell realms (zhongming), enduring sword-forests and blade-mountains—forced to climb towering trees of swords, plunged into boiling cauldrons, cyclically tormented until karmic debts expire. All such suffering stems from precept-breaking disbelief.

The Compassionate Deity concludes with a gatha verse: "Those violating scriptures and precepts in life / Must enter the blade-needle hell after death / Ten thousand blades piercing beyond endurance / Crossing knife-mountains into boiling soups / Death denied through countless kalpas / Only after eons comes liberation."

(Note: "Boiling cauldrons" refer to hell's scalding vessels; "countless kalpas" indicates immeasurable cosmic time periods)

This passage is part of the repentance ritual from the Daoist scripture Taishang Cibei Daochang Xiaozai Jiuyou Chan (The Supreme Compassionate Daoist Altar's Liturgy for Dispelling Calamities in the Nine Netherworlds). The participants in the ritual recognize that they may have committed grave offenses in the past by violating scriptures and breaking precepts—transgressions so numerous they cannot be counted—which could bring suffering either in this life or future existences. Thus, they sincerely repent, hoping all sentient beings (the "four births" referring to womb-born, egg-born, moisture-born, and transformation-born; and the "six paths" referring to the realms of celestials, humans, asuras, animals, hungry ghosts, and hell-beings) may understand the law of karma and attain liberation.

The repentance master (who may conduct the ritual for the living to seek blessings or for the deceased to deliver them from suffering) prostrates reverently, paying homage to the Celestial Worthies (Tianzun) and Perfected Ones (Zhenren). The scripture lists over twenty such divine titles, including the Jade Purity Bestowing Blessings Celestial Worthy (Yuqing Jiangfu Tianzun), the Sound-Seeking Savior of Suffering Celestial Worthy (Xunsheng Jiuku Tianzun), and the Great One Savior of Suffering Celestial Worthy (Taiyi Jiuku Tianzun)—all Daoist deities renowned for their roles in alleviating suffering, bestowing blessings, and dispelling calamities. Before each name, the phrase "with utmost sincerity we revere and bow" (Zhixin Jingli) is added, signifying wholehearted veneration.

Finally, the text implores the Supreme Numinous Treasure Celestial Worthy (Wushang Lingbao Tianzun) of the northwest and all sacred beings throughout the ten directions to jointly manifest the power of Daoist practice, arousing compassionate hearts to aid the repentant in overcoming adversity. This passage exemplifies the foundational Daoist ritual framework of communicating with deities through repentance ceremonies to seek relief from misfortune.

This passage describes the scene of repentance in the "Jiuyou Chan" (Nine Netherworlds Repentance) ritual, where practitioners confess transgressions on behalf of themselves and their loved ones. The practitioner represents themselves, their living parents, ancestral lineage, and all relatives, acknowledging past violations of precepts and offenses against sacred texts, hoping to attain liberation through sincere repentance.

They vow that from this day forward through future lifetimes—should they obtain the "dark cap and yellow robe" (a Daoist priest's ceremonial attire) to become ordained clergy—both male and female practitioners pledge to uphold the precepts together: receiving ordination at the same altar, accepting identical transmissions of Daoist methods, being instructed by the same master, and completing the ceremony under the witness of shared supervising elders. Whether fully ordained priests who chant scriptures and maintain precepts, or novices yet to receive formal initiation, all swear to eternally abide by the commandments, devoutly offer incense, cultivate with diligence, and guide future disciples.

With solemn oath, practitioners commit to practicing the supreme Dao. They pray that through the power of virtuous deeds and the guidance of wisdom, all sentient beings may be delivered from worldly defilements. May all who hear the Dao's teachings rejoice in heart, ultimately realizing the state of Wuwei (non-action) and returning to the source of the Dao. The ritual concludes with reverent bows to the Great Dao.

This scripture reveals the essence of Daoist repentance rituals: through genuine remorse, precept observance, and vows to deliver others, one ultimately achieves unity with the Dao. Phrases like "receiving precepts at the same altar" and "joint ordination transmission" reflect Daoism's emphasis on master-disciple lineages, precepts, and collective practice.