《洞玄靈寶玄一真人說生死輪轉因緣經》

Plain Interpretation of the Scripture on the Wheel of Life and Death and the Causes of Rebirth as Expounded by the Mysterious Perfected One of the Cavern Mystery (Dongxuan Lingbao Xuanyi Zhenren Shuo Shengsilunzhuan Yinyuan Jing)

At that time, there was an immortal named Yundu who, on the twentieth day of the first lunar month in the first year of the Jingyuan era, arrived at the Golden Terrace and Jade Chamber (a celestial abode) of Mount Kunlun to seek guidance from the Mysterious Perfected One (Xuanyi Zhenren), a master of the Three Heavens. He said: "Though I have cultivated for over 2,800 years and can ride clouds and dragons to roam the heavens, I still do not understand the principles of life, death, and rebirth. Why do people become parents, siblings, husbands, or wives? How do those of past lives reincarnate into future existences? How do the weight of sins and blessings influence the forms of rebirth? And what karmic causes bring masters and disciples together?"

The Mysterious Perfected One replied: "The questions you ask are profound. In truth, the Dao (the Way) is unchanging, though celestial beings of different times and spaces call it by different names. The master-disciple lineage is eternal, yet the teacher manifests in varying forms to guide beings according to the age. Those of past lives cycle through the Great Yin (the underworld) and are reborn into the present world based on their merits. Between the opening and closing of heaven and earth, humans flow through life and death along with the shifts of Qi (vital energy).

"The sun, moon, and stars revolve ceaselessly, so the cycle of causes and conditions never ceases. The bonds between parents, spouses, and siblings are transient—they merely borrow the parents’ bodies to temporarily house the spirit. Those who were your parents in a past life may become your descendants in this one; former brothers may return as parents in the next. This wheel of transformation follows no fixed pattern.

"Only the transmission between master and disciple is eternal, which is why the teacher is like an immortal artisan. In essence, even the ties of family are not fixed—they are temporary gatherings shaped by each individual’s accumulated virtue and karmic causes."

This scripture expounds on the principles of human relationships and the cycle of rebirth:

All beings are born into their parents' households through accumulated merit (De), where they are nurtured to adulthood. Thus the sages established rituals requiring children to practice filial piety as repayment for parental care. Those who fail in filial duties face not only legal punishment but divine retribution. Siblings sharing the same parents should maintain fraternal love while jointly honoring their parents. After parents' passing, proper burial and seasonal sacrifices (Zhaijiao) preserve the tradition of filial devotion.

The marital bond holds equal importance, though women adopt their husbands' surnames upon marriage, binding their destinies together. Widows must rely on sons for support - remarriage severs the bloodline. Hence sons inherit paternal surnames while daughters carry maternal ones. Those without family names resemble wild grass, subject to impermanent life and death.

While living, families remain united; after death, each follows their karma (Yin-Yang interactions) to rebirth: the meritorious ascend to heavenly realms or wealthy households, while the sinful suffer in endless darkness. Only during seasonal sacrifices do spirits briefly reunite before eternal separation.

Ghosts undergo rebirth according to their transgressions: some return as humans, others fall into animal realms or barbarian borderlands (reflecting the Five Paths of rebirth). Former kinship ties dissolve completely. The living perpetuate the Dao through descendants, while the dead become punished spirits excluded from the cycle of life.

Life and death represent merely nominal changes: the living enjoy pleasures while the dead endure suffering. Mortals remain ignorant of the spirit world, yet ghosts perceive human affairs. All spirits yearn for rebirth, but must await karmic debts to exhaust before reincarnating as humans. Heinous offenders remain ghosts eternally; lesser transgressors become animals or borderland dwellers.

(Note: The "Five Paths" refer to heavenly, human, animal, hungry ghost, and hell realms; "Five La" indicates Daoism's major sacrificial days; "borderland peoples" denotes culturally distant regions' inhabitants)

This scripture expounds the principles of the cycle of life and death (samsara) and karmic retribution.

Those who commit evil deeds will suffer various torments after death: they may be reborn blind, deaf, or insane, becoming repulsive and filthy beings of either gender; or reincarnated as livestock, forever trapped without liberation; they might also become lowly servants, enduring hunger and cold, beaten and scolded by others, with no control even over their own life and death. At this stage, their souls no longer remember their origins—only the underworld officials know their past.

Those who accumulate virtue (De) through good deeds become underworld officials after death, enjoying happiness with celestial provisions, living in carefree contentment. When their merit becomes complete, they will be reborn into royal or wealthy families, naturally abundant in resources, frequently encountering virtuous people, and ascend directly to heaven after death. If they devoutly worship the Three Treasures (Buddha, Dharma, Sangha) and aspire to the Dao of immortality, they may encounter immortals who will instruct them in methods of ascension.

The truth of samsara is as evident as the sun and moon, yet only the wise can perceive it—the ignorant remain oblivious. Heaven and earth meticulously record each person's merits and faults; not even the slightest good or evil deed escapes notice.

The Perfected One (Zhenren) declares: Human life and death are ultimately determined by the mind. The celestial court examines the registers of life and death—names of those fated to die are struck from the life register and entered in the ghost register, while those due for rebirth are transferred from the ghost register to the life register. According to one's accumulated merit: those with minor virtue are reborn into poor and humble families, enduring lifelong hardship with neither adequate food nor clothing—physically human yet devoid of blessings; those with great virtue are reborn into wealthy and noble households where resources flow naturally, free from material want, frequently encountering sages and virtuous individuals.

The length of human life remains uncertain, for within each person reside the life-governing Shen (spirit) and death-governing Shen. Those inclined toward goodness receive protection from their life-governing Shen, while those inclined toward evil incur punishment from their death-governing Shen. The virtuous obtain life certificates (tokens of blessing), whereas the wicked receive death certificates (tokens of retribution).

The Dongxuan Lingbao Xuanyi Zhenren Shuo Shengsi Lunzhuan Yinyuan Jing (Scripture on the Causes and Conditions of the Wheel of Life and Death as Expounded by the Mysterious Singular Perfected Being) primarily explains the karmic retribution of good and evil deeds and the causality of rebirth:

When people accumulate virtuous deeds in this world, they form affinities with sages, and their names are recorded in the "Left Contract" (in Daoism, this refers to the register of meritorious deeds). Such individuals will enjoy high status during their lifetime and ascend to heavenly realms after death, with seven generations of ancestors sharing in their blessings. In future rebirths, they may be born as princes or nobles, or become wise teachers revered by celestial beings. When their merits reach perfection, they may even achieve daylight ascension to immortality. Such virtuous karma transmitted through generations eternally binds them to sages, representing the supreme attainment.

Conversely, evildoers' names are recorded in the "Right Contract" (the register of misdeeds). During life, they remain distant from virtuous people; after death, they fall into hells or the hungry ghost realm, with seven generations of ancestors implicated in endless suffering within the perpetual darkness of the underworld. Thus vast is the disparity between karmic retributions for good and evil.

These manifest concretely as: For virtuous families, heaven arranges for virtuous souls to be reborn as their descendants, bringing blessings to parents. Wicked families attract rebellious offspring—children who die young, become thieves or murderers, causing parental distress. Other consequences include poverty, disability, chronic illness, imprisonment, or even family lines ending without heirs—all being karmic retributions for past misdeeds.

The text concludes with a gatha: The essence of the Great Dao (Dao) is fundamentally emptiness, within which the two energies of Yin-Yang circulate. The cycle of life and death follows celestial patterns, where retribution for sins and blessings never errs. By accumulating merit and planting virtuous roots, favorable conditions will naturally arise.

(Note: "Seven generations of ancestors" refers to lineal forebears; "Left/Right Contracts" are Daoist documentary concepts resembling karmic ledgers; "Three Virtues" denotes the Daoist triad of compassion, frugality, and "daring not be first under heaven.")

The Dongxuan Lingbao Scripture on the Wheel of Rebirth Expounded by the Mysterious Unity Perfected One elucidates the principles of karmic retribution and the cycle of rebirth through contrasting illustrations of the consequences of virtuous and wicked deeds.

First, the blessings bestowed upon virtuous practitioners:

• During their earthly existence, they enjoy honor and status, potentially becoming worldly rulers or celestial sovereigns
• After death, they ascend to heavenly realms with blessings accompanying them, freely roaming the Shangqing (Upper Clarity) paradise in phoenix-drawn chariots
• They may become sagely monarchs in celestial courts, governing the Ten Heavens (central to Daoist cosmology)
• Seven generations of ancestors receive beneficence, attaining rebirth in the Southern Palace (the Daoist abode of immortals)
• They permanently sever wicked karmic ties, with luminous blessings following them through countless rebirths

The scripture then details the retribution for wicked deeds:

• During life, such individuals neglect virtuous conduct, accumulating heavy karmic burdens
• After death, they endure purgatorial torments—scorched by infernal winds and flames
• When finally reborn human, they invariably enter impoverished households
• Afflicted with chronic illness, deafness, blindness, or madness
• Frequently subjected to corporal punishment and perpetual demonic harassment
• Their parents lament endlessly over their fate
• After death, they sink into hell realms, trapped in woeful existences, forever losing opportunities for virtuous cultivation

The Mysterious Unity Perfected One summarizes:

• Virtuous people receive Daoist teachings as naturally as water flows into deep pools, while the wicked resist instruction like treetops struggling to draw nourishment from distant roots
• Even when wicked individuals hear the virtuous path, they forget instantly—like rainwater briefly moistening high branches before evaporating
• The virtuous embrace Daoist methods as rivers merge into oceans, never rejecting the teachings

The scripture concludes with eschatological prophecies:

• The Great Dao (the Way) is rarely revealed, and sages seldom appear. Only during celestial-terrestrial Qi (vital energy) convergences do enlightened beings manifest
• It foretells a future golden age under the Jin lineage (possibly referencing specific historical cycles) when Daoism will flourish and temporary peace prevail
• At the "end of the Golden Horse era" (a calendrical reference), during the Water Dragon year (a specific celestial stem-earthly branch combination), a sage surnamed Li will emerge
• Then, retribution becomes manifest—virtuous families encountering the sage attain liberation, while the wicked, spiritually blinded, dismiss his teachings as delusion

(Note: References to "Jin lineage" and "Sage Li" employ characteristic Daoist metaphorical language, potentially indicating specific historical periods or messianic figures.)

This passage from the Dongxuan Lingbao Xuanyi Zhenren Shuo Shengsi Lunzhuan Yinyuan Jing (Scripture on the Causes and Conditions of the Wheel of Life and Death as Expounded by the Mysterious Unity Perfected Being) elucidates the principles of karmic retribution and the opportunities for spiritual cultivation:

In this world, good and evil flow like two rivers that never converge. Though moral teachings flourish, those who truly comprehend the Dao (the Way) are exceedingly rare—perhaps one in ten thousand at most. Many who instruct others fail to probe the root of truth, and in such circumstances, cunning and skeptical individuals emerge. These wavering minds neither believe in the Great Dao nor discern truth from falsehood.

O virtuous men and women, when practicing good deeds, do not retreat! For retreating will undo all previous efforts and cause you to miss the rare opportunity to encounter a sage. The descent of sages into this world is itself a rare occurrence. They may feign foolishness, appear sometimes clear and sometimes turbid, manifest as incorruptible or steadfast, dwell in seclusion or reveal themselves openly, express agreement or dissent, disdain worldly affairs or show particular affinities. Yet regardless of outward appearances, the hearts of sages remain eternally pure—utterly distinct from ordinary people.

If ordinary folk meet a sage but fail to cherish the encounter, the sage will quietly withdraw. Missing such an opportunity means losing the connection forever. Those who form karmic ties with sages bring blessings not only upon themselves but also upon seven generations of ancestors—ensuring their ascension to the heavens and freedom from material want. All this stems from virtuous causes planted in past lives. Those without such karmic affinity may dwell daily beside sages yet never form a bond—for this cannot be forced.

Understand that the retribution for good and evil is exact and unfailing. Even if one forcibly encounters a sage, calamities may still arise—all due to the lack of past-life affinity, the obscuration of one’s mind, and the inability to unite with wholesome teachings. But if a person sincerely aspires to goodness and perseveres unwaveringly, blessings will surely arrive in due time.

A final admonition: These teachings may only be transmitted to destined and virtuous individuals. They must not be carelessly disclosed but shared strictly according to scriptural protocols, with solemn covenants sworn before transmission.