《無上祕要》Vol. 7

The Supreme Secret Essentials, Volume Fifteen (bound together with Volume Sixteen; Volumes Ten through Fourteen are missing) — Book Seven

The Deeds and Origins of the Sages (Part Two)

The Lord of the Beginning of the Green Numen

The Dao Lord said: In the East, in the Peaceful Treasure Flower Grove, the Lord of the Beginning of the Green Numen once lived during the Age of White Qi and traveled through the Metal Kalpa. He was born in the Heaven of Nalin, among the Cloud Terrace of Golden Radiance at Yuyue. To the west lay the boundless Jade Kingdom of Vast Clarity and Dark Mountain, whose name was Yuanqing. In that heaven he amassed great merit and virtue, never slackening in his efforts. His achievements reached the Palace of Fire at Vermilion Mound, and his name was inscribed on a red register; he was on the verge of attaining the immortal Way. But the kingdom was full of lustful women, and Yuanqing therefore entrusted himself to the world below and descended to the mortal realm. His thoughts scattered among numinous demons, and their turbid gaze ensnared him. The Vermilion Palace then struck his name from the register of immortals. After this fall, three kalpas passed, and in between, the Fire Kalpa brought a change of cosmic order.

Yuanqing received Qi again and was conceived in the womb of the Hong family. Because he had been lustful in a previous life, Heaven caused him to be reborn as a woman. In the first year of the Zhuling era, a Bingwu year, she was born in the land of Zhu Huo, in the Luminous Cavern Jade Kingdom of the Heaven of the Dragon Net of the Red Youth. She took the surname Hong and the name Natai. At fourteen, she came to revere and love the Daoist arts, setting her heart on becoming an immortal. She often bought incense and ointment, kept lamps burning through the night, and performed great acts of merit. The heavens praised her, and her name was entered in the registers of Shangqing.

The Supreme Numinous Lord of the Southern Pole, the Primordial Maiden of Purple Emptiness, assumed the form of an ordinary person and descended to teach and transform the world. Seeing Natai’s chastity and devotion to the highest teachings, she returned to the land of Zhu Huo and bestowed on Natai one scroll of the True Text of the Southern Direction in the Red Script of Lingbao. Natai was especially diligent and steadfast in her resolve. She thought to herself that, having been born a woman in this life and confined to her secluded chambers, she had no way to attain the Way. She therefore undertook long periods of fasting and kept the precepts, hoping to be reborn as a man. Her sincere aspiration reached far and wide, and at last it moved the unseen powers: the Perfected Ones descended.

At that time, the Celestial Worthy of Primordial Beginning was at the Stream of Langbi and the Hill of Fuxiao, seated beneath the long grove of Fusang, with the assembled Perfected Ones attending him. On that day, Natai saw five-colored purple light shining in a curved beam over her fasting hall. She realized that this was no ordinary sight. She went outside and climbed the wall to look around. Suddenly, beneath the mulberry grove in the east, she saw a radiant splendor whose forms could not be fully described. It lay several hundred li from where Natai lived, with the mouth of the Yang Valley and the Canghai Sea between them. Her heart leapt with joy, but she had no way to reach it. She therefore bowed from afar and paid her respects, giving her name as Natai.

【Scripture】

I will continue to present it in separate sections as in the original.

【Explanation in vernacular】

I will continue to present it in separate sections as in the original.

【Scripture】

I will continue to present it in separate sections as in the original.

【Explanation in vernacular】

I will continue to present it in separate sections as in the original## A Plain-Language Reading of The Essential Secrets of the Supreme (Wushang Miyao)

(The circumstances of my previous life were not favorable, so I was born in a woman’s body. I awakened to the resolve to seek joy, setting my heart on becoming an immortal. The Dao is lofty and its methods wondrous; they are beyond my reach. Day and night I pondered, hoping to attain liberation through death and be reborn in a man’s body. Years passed without response, and I was always afraid that I would not be able to escape the cycle of birth and death and attain the destiny of longevity. Today, the Heavenly River blocks my way, leaving me no means to make my plea known. I shall now cast myself into the azure sea and entrust my life to the Ten Heavens, hoping that my body and soul may soon be transformed through rebirth, allowing me to perform further meritorious deeds. Through ten thousand kalpas, I hope to behold the true Dao.” Having finished speaking, she threw herself from the wall into the air, giving her life to the deepest abyss of the vast sea. In an instant, she vanished without a trace. The Water Emperor, a divine king, then received her female body on a five-colored flying dragon. In a moment, while suspended in the air, she was transformed into a man. Riding the dragon and traveling through the sky, he flew before the Dao. Thereupon, the Primordial Beginning commanded the Immortal Capital to confer an imperial title upon him: he received his commission during the Fire Kalpa and assisted the Numinous Treasure. For seven hundred years he served as the Jade Scroll Blue Emperor. When the Fire Kalpa reached its end and blue Qi began to circulate, he followed the Primordial Beginning into liberation. In the first year of Kaiguang, at the Platform of Mifanluo, the Lofty Mound of Xiaojue, the capital at the root of the flying primordial clouds, and the realm of the nine clouds of blue haze, the Primordial Beginning again bestowed on him the title Anbao Hualin Qingling Shilao Dijun.)

Lord Danling Zhenlao

The Dao speaks: In the south, the Lord Danling Zhenlao of Fanbao Changyang was originally surnamed Zheng and named Ren’an. He was a descendant of Dayan, born in the world of Chanli, within the Red Radiance Heaven. At his birth, clouds of the Three Qi wound around his body, while the Vermilion Bird spread its wings over him. He could speak at three days old and already knew his past-life destiny. By the age of twelve, his face had taken on the golden radiance and jade-like beauty of an immortal. He then renounced the world and worldly customs, traveling far into the mountains and forests. In the Cold Numinous Cave Palace, he met Master Xuanhe, who gave him the Lingbao Red Writing of Ren’an, a text of the True Writing of the Black Emperor of the Mysterious Heaven of the Five Qi, and the Ten Precepts of the Supreme Grade of Wisdom, then departed. Ren’an thereupon upheld the precepts and maintained a long-term vegetarian fast. He performed great meritorious deeds, gave precious treasures to relieve the suffering of others, and cut flesh from his own body to feed birds. His merit and reputation reached Heaven.

Later, a great flood struck the Kingdom of Zhou’na. The waters surged to the sky, and the people were scattered and displaced. Ren’an sailed across the floodwaters, reciting the precept text and the Black Emperor’s True Writing, and casting them into the water. The waters opened a passage a hundred qing wide. Birds and beasts, muntjacs and deer, tigers, leopards, and lions all came to him for refuge, and every one of them escaped unharmed.

Brief notes on proper names and terms

A Plain Language Interpretation of the Supreme Secret Essentials

At that time, the king took his entire household of a hundred people up to a tower. A flood engulfed them, and he lamented that no one could save them. Seeing that the king was about to drown, Ren’an set out in a boat and gave him the True Writ, a Daoist scripture of secret talismans and registers that he carried with him. The king received and held it with reverence, and the floodwaters immediately receded, allowing everyone to cross to safety. Once the king was out of danger, the True Writ flew into the clouds and disappeared. Because he had lost it, Ren’an fell one rank among the immortals. When his allotted tribulation came, he passed away through the dissolution of his mortal form and life. He died in the wilderness of the Northern Rong, where his body lay exposed for more than thirty years. His form did not decay into dust; it remained bright and vivid, just as it had been in life, exposed beneath the great forest of the Northern Rong.

Later, the king went hunting and set fire to the mountains, surrounding the area with flames. Yet the fire could not burn within a hundred paces of Ren’an’s body, and deer, tigers, and leopards gathered near it. The king found this strange and went to investigate. Three-colored light shone above the corpse; dense clouds and mist surrounded it, and birds and beasts, deer among them, gathered at its sides. The king then cut wood, piled it around the body, and set it ablaze. Amid the flames, the body rose in a clouded radiance and became a full-grown person, seated upon blue smoke, pointing into the void as five-colored brilliance blazed forth. More than three hundred attendants—immortal youths and jade maidens—arrived solemnly. The animals that had gathered nearby were also all carried through the flames to transcendence. In the second year of the Red Bright era, a year corresponding to Bingwu, Ren’an changed his surname to Dongfu on Mount Dongliao, hidden in the obscuring heavens. He was named Jiyan and invested with the title Southern Dantan Brahma Treasure, Changyang Cinnabar Spirit True Elder Lord, known as the Primordial Spirit Primordial Elder Lord.

A Daoist scripture also says: The Central Jade Treasure Primordial Spirit Primordial Elder Lord originally had the surname Xun and the courtesy name Xinran. He belonged to the lineage of Dongyuan and descended from the house of Zhonghe. He was born on the Mound of Flowing Life, in the Green Origin Heaven of the world of Good Forbearance. At birth, he remained silent, still and without thought, taking Qi as food. Before Heaven and Earth had clearly separated, the Impermanent Youth, in the land without color, gave him a numinous treasure red writing of Xinran and a True Writ of the Red Emperor. At that time, he cultivated only himself and did not yet widely guide others to salvation. Before his accumulated good deeds were complete, his allotted tribulation arrived, and he died again. He flowed into life in the region and lay exposed beneath a desolate mound in the Green Origin Heaven. More than a hundred years passed; though dead, his body did not turn to dust, and yellow Qi was constantly present…

It covered the land above until the Flood of Water spread everywhere. The world became a vast ocean, and corpses drifted in every direction. Earth surged up to the sky and blocked the waterways. Just as foretold, the Qi of transformation rose in abundance and brought forth human beings anew. They changed their surname and joined the common ranks, taking the taboo name Yuan. After the Flood of Water, Heaven and Earth changed places. Heaven and Earth opened anew to the light; the Three Forms shone brilliantly, and the Seven Primordials appeared high and clear.

In the first year of the Opening of Darkness, under the cyclical sign jichou, the Celestial Worthy of Primordial Beginning bestowed a jade treasure upon the Yuan clan at Gaotao Li, in the Heaven of Chonglong Luo, within the Forest of Returning Souls. He conferred the title Primordial Spirit, Primordial Elder, Imperial Lord, and named him the Radiant numinous Yellow Old Lord.

The Old Lord said: The Radiant numinous Yellow Old Lord of the West’s Seven-Treasure Golden Gate was originally the son of a numinous phoenix. The phoenix was born in the Heaven of Aluo, in the world of the Great Hall of Weilu. The king of Weilu captured it and kept it in captivity. The king had an eldest daughter named Peiying, whom he cherished deeply and often played with. The numinous phoenix would fan the girl’s face with its wings. This continued for twelve years. Suddenly, the girl became pregnant. After three months, the king grew suspicious, so he cut off the phoenix’s head and buried it in the Long Forest Mound. The girl later gave birth to a daughter who could speak as soon as she was born: “I am the phoenix’s child, destined to become a Heavenly Consort.” The king named her Imperial Consort. Three days after her birth, a flock of phoenixes came to pay their respects. They nourished her with dark milk, jade frost, winding streams from the Great Spring, and eightfold-refined mushroom blossoms. By the age of eight, she was steadfast in mind and pure in conduct, surpassing the crowd and standing apart from the world. Deep within the palace, she would pay homage to the sun in the morning and salute the moon at dusk. The king prepared meals for her, but she never found them palatable. Heaven brought a great snowfall that did not melt for a year. The snow lay ten zhang deep, and birds and beasts starved to death. The king’s daughter remembered the numinous phoenix and their companionship long ago. She rode out to the Long Forest Mound and, sighing, sang:

“Distant, distant numinous phoenix,

Long, long have you been gone.

My thoughts wander without end;

My hopes are forever denied.

Through ten thousand kalpas, no end is in sight—

When will you fly back?”

Then the phoenix killed by the king rose again, alive and flourishing. It took the girl in its embrace, and together they flew straight into the clouds. The king’s daughter now receives her investiture above the Bright Firmament as the Lord of the Primordial Origin of the South Pole, and she often rides a nine-colored phoenix. In a previous life, ten thousand kalpas ago, this woman had already served the Lingbao. Her devotion brought the numinous phoenix down to take form, and she was granted the title Lord of the Primordial Origin of the South Pole. The Imperial Consort’s merit and virtue reached far, moving the Celestial Perfected to descend. In the year called Ming, under the cyclical sign gengshen, on the seventh day of the seventh month at midday, the Celestial Worthy of Primordial Beginning assembled at Phoenix and Unicorn Mound in the Jade Kingdom of Weilu, seated upon Qianhua.

A Plain Language Interpretation of Essential Secrets Without Peer

At that time, a light appeared suddenly inside the chamber where the imperial consort lived. Round as the sun and bright as a mirror, it hung before her eyes. In the mirror-like radiance, she saw the assembled Heavenly Worthies and Great Gods. Beneath the tall trees, the whole chamber was illuminated. She then climbed the Tongyang Terrace and looked west. On Fengsheng Hill, purple clouds billowed and divine light shone brilliantly—a scene beyond description. The place was about five hundred paces from her residence, but as a woman of the inner palace she could not leave freely, so she was unable to go there herself.

Before long, a divine phoenix flew in and landed on the terrace. The imperial consort said to it, “There is the Dao in the west, and my heart longs to go there. Yet I have no way to reach it. Could you carry me there for a little while?” The phoenix spread its wings, and she climbed aboard. In a single flight, they arrived before the Dao.

Primordial Heavenly Worthy pointed to the Queen Mother on the golden terrace and said, “This is your teacher.” He ordered her to pay her respects. The imperial consort bowed and pleaded: “I ask only that the Worthies take pity on me and let my withered bones live again.” When she had finished speaking, the Golden Mother invested her with the title “Jade Consort of Western Numinous Radiance” and ordered the Nine Radiant Spirit Youths to bring forth and give her a section of the White Emperor text from the True Writings of the Numinous Treasure. Three hundred years after receiving her title, when the Green Kalpa brought a change in destiny, she was reborn in the womb of the Li family. Two years later, she was born beneath a plum tree in a secluded valley of the Golden Ridge, in the Jade Kingdom of Xina. In this incarnation she took a male body, changed her surname to Shangjin, and was named Richang. In the first year of the Kaiyuan era (ren-shen), Primordial Heavenly Worthy bestowed on him the title “Lord Emperor of Bright Spirit and Yellow Old Age at the Golden Gate of the Seven Treasures in the West.” He is the Five-Spirits Mysterious Old Lord.

Daoist scriptures also say: The Five-Spirits Mysterious Old Lord of Northern Cavernous Darkness, Shuo Dan Yu Jue originally bore the surname Hao and the given name Fuming. He was descended from the Mysterious Emperor and belonged to the bloodline of Great Purity. He was born in the world of Yuanfu, where the worthy are cast aside. In the Primordial Green Heaven, at the age of twelve, he took to solitude and loved mountains and rivers. He often left home to travel far away, returning perhaps only once every ten days. At that time, famine ravaged the land and people starved to death; nearly the entire country perished. Beneath Dijing Mountain, Fuming came upon a giant mushroom, gathered and ate it himself, and also shared it with the poor and needy. Each day he saved several thousand people who were close to death. Whatever he gathered grew back again. He did not return for three years, and those who went to look for him could not find him. Hardship and exhaustion left him gaunt and haggard.

Brief notes on proper names

• Imperial consort / Jade Consort of Western Numinous Radiance: Here, these refer to the identity of a female immortal who received the Dao and a title, and who was later reborn in a male body as part of the lineage of one of the Five-Spirits Mysterious Old Lords.
• Primordial Heavenly Worthy and the Golden Mother (Queen Mother): The highest-ranking divine being in Daoism and a female immortal who serves as a religious teacher.
• Green Kalpa and the first year of Kaiyuan: A kalpa and a reign year, respectively; both belong to the cosmology and mythic chronology of the Daoist Canon.
• Five-Spirits Mysterious Old Lord: A title of an Old Lord associated with a cardinal direction and the five spirits. This passage recounts both the western emperor and the virtues of Fuming, who is associated with the north.

A Plain-Language Interpretation of Wushang Biyao (Supreme Secret Essentials)

(Earlier passage: What happened after a practitioner’s death)

He had no time to nurse his health. At last, exhausted and worn down, he died at the foot of a mountain. The Nine Heavens recorded his merits and virtues, and his jade name was entered in the golden register, the celestial book of names. His soul and spirit were conveyed to the Palace of Zhulíng. The Heavenly Emperor sent a golden-winged great bird, which kept its wings spread over his corpse. For seven hundred years, the body did not decay. When the Water Calamity changed the course of things, a great flood lifted the corpse and carried it through boundless waters. After passing through Fuming, the body came to the Country of Yudan, in Beilong Xuqiu, within the First Silent Heaven, at the source of Beiyexie.

Forty years later, a great mountain fire broke out and burned his body. Refined in the flames, the body rose and transformed into a human being, with clouds of five colors covering him. In the first year of Kaiming, at Beilong Xuqiu, he took the surname Jie and the personal name Linghui. The Primordial Beginning bestowed on him the title “Lord Linghui, Dark North, Shuodan, Yujue, and Fivefold Spirit.”

Daoist teaching: The Venerable Spirit of the South Pole

The Dao says: The Venerable Spirit of the South Pole had the surname Huang and the courtesy name Duming. She was the daughter of King Wan of the Yanfubuli Kingdom. She was born in the Red Radiance Heaven of the Chanli World, into a wealthy family; her father was the ruler of the country. She lived inside the palace, where golden beds and jade couches stood beneath seven-colored jeweled canopies, and the light of twin bright-moon pearls shone throughout the rooms. The king provided her with several thousand entertainers, and the kingdom lacked no precious treasures.

She was always eager to give generously, perform great meritorious deeds, and seek out mountains and waters in search of immortals. But she was confined within the palace, with no path by which to leave. Restless and unhappy, she suffered inwardly. The king felt compassion for her and tried in every way to comfort her, asking what was troubling her. She never answered; tears fell like rain, and she showed not a trace of joy. The king increased her music and entertainment, with singing every day, but Duming heard the music as though she could not hear it. She stayed alone in a quiet place, burning incense, keeping a strict fast, and observing precepts; she ate only at midday.

When the king understood her wishes, he piled up earth in the palace to make a mountain. It rose a hundred feet high, and he planted bamboo groves on it. He built a terrace atop the mountain and named it the Jade Terrace for Seeking the Real. Duming left the palace and made the terrace her home. She cut off the path, so no one could reach her. Alone and by herself, she slept there for twelve years, her devotion gathering strength beneath the vast heavens.

The Heavenly Emperor sent twenty-four maidens of the Vermilion Palace, riding clouds and phoenixes, to descend and welcome Duming. On the evening she was to depart, a violent storm arose. Thunder and lightning surged, and the earth and the palace foundations seemed to turn over, shaking the whole palace. The king was deeply shaken and terrified, not knowing what to do. When daylight came, the place was bright, but the mountain terrace had vanished, and the woman was nowhere to be seen.

Note: Terms such as “calamity,” “Primordial Beginning,” “Emperor,” “maiden,” and “Zhulíng” refer to names and ranks in the Daoist celestial realm. “Kaiming” is one of the Daoist era designations. Many of the kingdom and place names belong to mythological geography; the original text presents them together as part of its narrative, and this plain-language version follows that account without proposing specific identifications.

Plain-Language Interpretation of The Supreme Esoteric Essentials

1. The Perfected One Duming

Duming (Ying Duming) once practiced cultivation in a lodge among the cypress trees, atop Danling on the mountain of Yangqiu. A vermilion phoenix guarded him on either side, while divine dragons flanked his carriage. More than three hundred Jade Boys and Jade Maidens attended him.

Later, his father lost his daughter and was so distressed and troubled that he went three days without eating. Afterward, as a great kalpa turned and Heaven and Earth changed places, Duming was among those caught in “abandonment and flux”—the ceaseless flow of reincarnation. He ascended southward, and his presence stirred the arrival of his cinnabar Qi. The Vermilion Palace inscribed his name in purple and transformed his body within the “womb of the Beginningless.” After a kalpa, he was reborn in a male body, in the upper lodge of Dongyang in the Southern Cinnabar realm, amid a jeweled forest of seven-colored pearls. The Red Emperor Bian and the Treasure-Auspicious Yang Cinnabar Numinous Perfected Old Lord bestowed on Duming the title “Supreme Perfected One of the South Pole.”

2. The Red-Brilliance Heavenly Emperor and Guayin

The Lord of the Dao said: Long ago, in the world of Chanli, King Dui had a daughter named Guayin. She was born mute and unable to speak. When she was fourteen, the king found this strange and abandoned her in the wilderness on the southern shore of Chang Sang, in the empty mountains.

With no food to eat, the girl would often gaze up at the sun, swallow Qi, draw in the moonlight, and take in Jing. In this way she naturally kept herself nourished, and her body suffered no harm. She often roamed the mountains. One day, at a lodge in Danling, beneath the cypress grove, she encountered a divine being. The being took Guayin’s right hand, wrote on a red stone, and said to her, “Though you cannot speak, remember this.”

Guayin grieved inwardly: “I was born unfortunate, unable to speak, and abandoned in these remote mountains. I vow that if I can return among people, I will perform acts of merit without holding anything back. After a hundred kalpas, I hope my wish will be fulfilled.” Heaven was moved by her, and sent a numinous child from the Vermilion Palace to teach her methods for cultivating the body and transmit the sounds of the eight characters in the Red Writ. From then on, she could speak.

Morning and evening, Guayin paid homage to the celestial patterns. Once the true Dao had descended to her, she could know good and ill fortune in advance, command the myriad spirits, and issue orders across the ten directions. Later she left the mountains and returned to her kingdom. At that time, a great drought scorched the land and its people. The king was terrified and prayed to the spirits. Guayin went to him and said, “I once heard that in the mountains there was a girl who could not speak but could move the Heavenly King and understand him. Do you know who she was?” The king then understood that she was his daughter and welcomed her back to the palace. Seeing that she could speak, he was ashamed. The girl revealed her Dao and its truth, then raised her face and cried out to the king. A mighty flood poured down from Heaven, and the water rose ten zhang. She then transformed her form and concealed her presence, departing from sight. She once again entrusted her form to the womb of the Hong clan. Her allotted time had not yet turned, and she was to be reborn again.

Note: Expressions in the text such as “the sounds of the eight characters in the Red Writ,” “Vermilion Palace,” “Danling,” and “command the myriad spirits” belong to Daoist cultivation and immortal realms. “One kalpa” and “a hundred kalpas” refer to cycles of tribulation and reincarnation. “Transform her form and conceal her presence” means to hide her body and its radiance. Personal and place names follow the original.

This passage comes from the Daoist Canon’s Wushang Miyao (Supreme Secret Essentials). It recounts how Qiu Zeng cultivated while in a female body, received the presence of Daoist perfected beings, and ultimately transformed into a man by burning her body, then received precepts and became an immortal.

Through the karmic causes and conditions of a previous life, Qiu Zeng was reborn as a girl. Her father’s courtesy name was Fuqing. She kept lamps burning and incense lit, observed a strict vegetarian fast, and cultivated in stillness in a secluded chamber. As her sincere devotion accumulated, it drew down the Dao. In the year called Kaiguang, the Great Sages of the Ten Directions and the Perfected Ones of Wondrous Practice gathered in the Three Origins grotto chamber and the Azure Florescence Grove, near Nanyuan and Danhuo. The perfected beings sat in attendance, surrounded by incense, flowers, performers, and music; their retinue numbered about fifty million. The true writings shone with penetrating radiance, illuminating the inside and outside. The clouds and luminous scenery glittered like the moon among the stars. Qiu Zeng lived several dozen li from this place.

Qiu Zeng was then sixteen. Seeing the light in and around her dwelling shine with an extraordinary brilliance, she went outside and looked south into the distance. She saw the Daoist perfected beings appear before her and was overcome with joy. She bowed from afar and introduced herself as Qiu Zeng. “Today I am fortunate to behold the Celestial Worthy. This blessing is beyond anything I deserve, and I cannot find words to express it. I entrust my life to the ‘Heaven among Heavens’ of the Ten Directions. I pray that you will look upon me with your mysterious insight and grant me words of instruction. After ten thousand kalpas have passed, may I attain flight and become an immortal.” She formed a great vow with all her heart. Fearing that demons would obstruct her when she passed through their realm, a demon possessed the form of the Elder of the Five Emperors and went to Qiu Zeng with this message: “I have come on the command of the honored gods of the Ten Directions. The Way of the Lingbao is flourishing, and our teaching is now being practiced. You should be benevolent, filial, compassionate, and respectful; honor your elders and obey your parents. Your father has already promised you in marriage, and has accepted the other family’s agreement. You must obey your parents’ command. First fulfill your human duties, then devote yourself to cultivating the Way. If you disobey your father, you cannot attain the Way of the Immortals.”

Qiu Zeng replied, “In my previous life I was unfortunate and was made to have a female body. Morning and night I have urged myself on, vowing to devote myself single-mindedly. My life came from my parents, but my destiny belongs to Heaven. If I sincerely followed your words and disobeyed my father’s command, that would not be what I choose.” Firmly resolved to follow the Way, she would not change course for the demon’s talk of marriage. Seeing that Qiu Zeng’s conviction was clear and steadfast, the demon withdrew and vanished.

Qiu Zeng thought to herself: “The Way is so lofty and far-reaching, yet I have no means to meet it fully.” She gathered firewood, climbed onto an altar, and set her body alight, hoping that her physical form would become flying dust, rise with the wind, and carry her to the presence of the Dao. When the fire blazed, Qiu Zeng threw herself into it. She seemed to have no substance, as though treading on empty air. In an instant, she appeared transformed into a man, standing before the Dao. The Primordial Beginning then appointed the Honored God of the South Pole as Qiu Zeng’s master and bestowed on her the precious text of the Ten Precepts for the Numinous Perfected. The Primordial Beginning also told the Honored God of the South Pole: “In ten thousand kalpas of previous lives, Qiu Zeng…” The text continues below with an account of her past merit and karmic connections.

For readers of the scripture: “Long-term fasting” refers to maintaining a vegetarian fast and abstaining from certain foods over an extended period. “Kaiguang” is the name of a chronological era. Here, “Lingbao” refers to the lineage of Lingbao scriptures and methods. The “Precious Text of the Ten Precepts for the Numinous Perfected” is the text of injunctions used when receiving precepts. The “Honored God of the South Pole” is a revered deity of the kind associated with the South Pole Emperor, who governs longevity and delivers people from suffering; in liturgies, such a deity often serves as a master who transmits teachings and guides people to salvation.

Plain-language interpretation:

Although you have already received the grace of Lingbao—the secret teachings and sacred treasures said in Daoism to descend from Heaven—your merit is not yet complete. You therefore continue to be reborn through the six realms of transmigration, down to the present day.

If you are born among humanity and see me expound the teachings with your own eyes, you will immediately undergo a complete transformation, shedding your ordinary form. After that, you must save another ninety-nine thousand people. Only when your merit is complete will you attain the rank of a great and utterly true deity and take up the office of the Heavenly Emperor of Yangying Chiming.

Note: This passage describes Daoist salvation, the accumulation of merit, and the stages of immortal rank. “Heavenly Emperor of Yangying Chiming” is one of the celestial titles found in the Daoist Canon and corresponds to an office held upon completing cultivation.