《太上玄靈斗姆大聖元君本命延生心經》

The Heart Sutra of the Supreme Xuanling Doumu, the Great Sage Primordial Sovereign, on Protecting One’s Natal Destiny and Extending Life: this is a Daoist classic. The title means “the core scripture in which Taishang (the highest deity of Daoism), through the Xuanling Doumu Dasheng Yuanjun—that is, Doumu Yuanjun, Mother of the Stars of the Northern Dipper—protects one’s natal destiny and extends life.”

Lord Lao said: Doumu dwells in the highest celestial precious moon of perfectly round, great numinous light, where stands a qian tree. The qian tree’s color is crystalline like lapis lazuli, and the Jade Rabbit in the moon has long pounded and refined the great medicine. Whenever the movement of the Qi of Heaven and Earth is blocked and fails to flow, the sun, moon, and stars move out of order, rain and clear weather, darkness and brightness do not come in season, wind, cold, heat, and dampness are not harmonized, great droughts, floods and fires, plagues and dire calamities—even weapons and war, locust disasters, goblins, spirits, ghosts, and monsters, illness that harms life, and litigation and unexpected disturbances—all manner of inauspicious things are caused by perverse Qi. Doumu sends down the great medicine and universally bestows the merit of healing. She harmonizes the Five Phases, raises and lowers the two Qi of Yin-Yang, relieves stagnation, removes obstruction, breaks darkness, and eliminates evil Qi. What has been delayed can arrive at its appointed time; what has lost its measure can regain its measure. She makes pregnancy safe, heals illness, moistens and increases the root, and restores yang Qi and normal climate. She gives birth to, nourishes, and brings people and things to completion; refines and delivers ghosts and spirits; disperses and averts a hundred kinds of stagnation; supports and supplements the eight yang; assists the right Dao and preserves the true nature; and summons harmonious Qi and extends blessings and prosperity. She secretly confers the power of medicine, and her responsibility is as great as that of the Heavenly Physician; she brings forth the radiance of the many moons of the heavens and is the mother of the stars of the Northern Dipper. The Dipper is her po, water is her Jing (essence); she presides over the formation of the human body, and light congeals as the water of nature. All waters return to the one moon, all moons return to the one light. Sentient beings and insentient things all receive the Dao-Qi of numinous light, and each and every one relies on it for growth, nurture, and protection. Her grace is deep and her virtue weighty, yet people cannot know it. Therefore the human face has seven orifices, which inwardly correspond to the heart; the po has seven true spirits, receiving the po from the Dipper. Doumu’s honored title is “Primordial Sovereign Grandmother of the Golden Essence of Night Radiance at the White Jade Turtle Terrace of the Most Wondrous Nine Numinous”; she is also called “Celestial Worthy of Sagely Virtue, Golden Perfected, Primordial Empress of Great Simplicity, Compassionate and Beneficent, Bright and Wise, Purple Radiance, Doumu Primordial Sovereign of the Brahma Qi of the Central Heaven”; her transformation title is “King of the Moonlight of Great Perfection,” and she is also called “Great Sage Heavenly Physician, Imperial Lord of Compassionate Salvation of Eastern Florescence.” Her responsive transformation names are not uniform; she primarily governs the Precious Pavilion of the Central Heaven. In the ancestral kalpa, in the Heaven of Mysterious Brightness and True Purity, she cultivated the Wondrous Dao of Mysterious Numen, diligently served Yuanshi Tianzun (the Celestial Worthy of Original Beginning), and the incense of wisdom swirled while the lamp of wisdom shone brightly. She constantly arouses sincere great vows, vowing to give birth to sage sons, to supplement and benefit creation, and to govern Qian and Kun (Heaven and Earth). Her vow-power is firm and unchanging from beginning to end. Because she bathed in the Nine-Bend Flowery Pool, from the pool surged forth a white jade turtle terrace and a precious throne of the divine xiezhi. Doumu ascended the precious throne, joyfully nurtured her spirit and true nature, and cultivated her Jing and po.

The title of the Jing means: the Heart Jing of the Supreme Mystery Spirit Doumu, the Great Sage Primordial Lady (Mother of the Many Stars of the Northern Dipper), who protects one’s native destiny and extends life and prolongs lifespan.

With profound emptiness and stillness, gather and absorb prenatal Qi, causing the Qi to enter a mysterious and profound realm. As it circulates in accord with the spiritual wind, the Purple Void Heaven flourishes abundantly, and one ultimately realizes the wondrous Dao of the Mysterious Spirit. Release the boundless, subtle light of Wuji, illuminating Huachi (the Pool of Flowers—in Neidan, the saliva in the mouth or the lotus pool). It transforms and generates a nine-budded golden lotus, passing through seven days and nights in the human world. In Huachi the light grows ever more blazing and majestic. At that moment, in a single instant, it ascends into the Nine Flower Heaven and transforms into nine great jeweled pavilions. Within the jeweled pavilions, the ninefold true Brahma Qi blends and congeals. Naturally it forms into chapters of text, whose writing consists of three secret talismanic graphs. Before them, the radiance of Tiangang spreads out a secret talismanic graph, a single graph. The stellar radiance of the Horn Mansion is bright; these nine chapters transform and generate divine spirits and manifest the Dao-body of the Nine Emperors.

Of the Nine Emperors, the first is Tianhuang, the second Ziwei, the third Tanlang, the fourth Jumen, the fifth Lucun, the sixth Wenqu, the seventh Lianzhen, the eighth Wuqu, and the ninth Pojun. The two honored emperor stars Tianhuang and Ziwei reside at the Dipper mouth in the Suoluo Upper Palace (the name of a star palace within the Dipper). Their true light is as great as a chariot wheel; those who see it attain long life in the body, realize the rank of a true immortal, and never again turn through the cycles of transmigration. The two stars send forth residual radiance and become Zuofu and Youbi; they become Qingyang and Tuoluo, with boundless divine transformation. They govern the dark-yellow orthodox Qi of heaven and earth. The Seven Primordial Star Lords (the deities of the seven stars of the Northern Dipper) turn the Yin-Yang creative transformation. Their merit moistens the Three Realms, and their virtuous grace nourishes all beings. The power of their merit is inconceivable.

Those who cultivate the Great Elixir of nine returns and seven reversions, by upholding this, can suddenly awaken to the mysterious pass. Spiritual light appears before them, and the thirty-nine nodes naturally arise and flourish. Ultimately they realize the Dao of the Great Mystery Three Ones; knowing and maintaining the principle of original inherent completeness, they solidify the true body. They can further refine great samadhi until form and spirit are both wondrous, unite with the Dao in truth, ascend to the Jade Capital (a Daoist heaven), and roam freely at ease. At this point, throughout kalpas and lifetimes, ancestors and kin all attain liberation; together they receive the mysterious grace, and both the living and the dead are saved. This is profound and wondrous; take refuge with the heart and uphold it.

Dwelling quietly at the Xuanji (the celestial movement of the Northern Dipper), the inner landscape does not leak through the six faculties, and the outer landscape is not submerged in the myriad existences; it is clear and pure. The Dao is before the eyes; bow in homage to the true form with reverence. The mantra says: The Mysterious Spirit regulates flourishing and prosperity and forever preserves long life. The Great Mystery Three Ones guard the true form. The spirit lords of the five viscera each attain peace. The eight secret graphs of Dougang are secret talismanic characters; as a whole they invoke the divine power of Dougang: jiji ru lüling—carry it out as swiftly as a legal decree.

This is the title of the Jing, the Heart Jing of the Supreme Mystery Spirit Doumu, the Great Sage Primordial Lady, on Protecting Native Destiny and Extending Life.