《太上感應篇》Vol. 27

Plain-language commentary on Volume 27, “Transgressions Concerning Wells and Hearths,” of the Taishang Ganying Pian (Scripture of the Most High on Response and Retribution)

This volume includes several accounts of moral response and retribution transmitted by Li Changling and praised by Zheng Qingzhi. The two selected here concern transgressing against wells and transgressing against hearths. They teach that springs and the Hearth God should not be treated carelessly.

Transgressing against wells

The account says: After attaining the Dao, the Celestial Master (Tianshi), Zhang Daoling, still urged people to build bridges and dig wells, calling these acts the establishment of merit. Wells serve people far and wide. To treat a well as a place for filth instead is to defile it—and surely that brings guilt. The stories of Wu Zhan and Li Hu illustrate this.

Wu Zhan: He once served as a county clerk and lived beside the Jing River. A spring there was exceptionally clear, and many people depended on it. Wu Zhan built a fence to keep refuse from entering the spring. One day, he found a white snail beside it and placed the snail in a jar. Whenever he returned from outside, food and drink had already been prepared in his kitchen. Deeply puzzled, he secretly watched one day and saw a woman emerge from the snail, holding a knife. Wu Zhan hurried over. The woman was so startled that she could not return to the shell, and she told him the truth: “I am the spirit of the spring. The Lord on High saw how respectfully you protected its source. Knowing that you are a widower, he ordered me to prepare your meals. If you eat the food I prepare, you will attain the Dao.” With that, she vanished.

Li Hu: He once served as magistrate of Heshan County. In the county stood Heshan Crag, with a clear spring halfway up its face. The water flowed down in stages, collecting at separate ledges in hollows that looked as though they had been carved out. Each hollow could hold a hu—an ancient unit of volume, here referring to a stone basin or channel for collecting water. One day, Li Hu went out with his family. His serving maid, Xue’er, began washing a cloth in one of the basins and was immediately struck by a clap of thunder. When they looked, the original basin had shattered, and another had been placed farther downstream. Wells and springs, then, should be protected. How could anyone defile them? Many people today do not understand this, so I have set out these accounts in full.

The praise says:

Bo Yi taught people to dig wells;

keeping them clean is a virtue,

and their nourishment never runs dry.

The cold spring is fit to drink—

why fail to honor it

and treat it like rubble?

Geng Gong bowed in reverence,

and water welled up in a dry well.

A spirit oversees it;

its power to benefit people is boundless.

(The praise means that the ancient sage Bo Yi taught people to dig wells and uphold cleanliness as a virtue. A spring nourishes people; treating it like rubble shows disrespect. When the Han general Geng Gong bowed before a well, water returned to the dry shaft. This shows that a spirit watches over springs and that their benefit to people cannot be measured.)

Transgressing against hearths

The account says: According to the Rituals of Sacrifice, the ruler established the Seven Sacrifices on behalf of the people, and the hearth was among them. The seasonal ordinances also prescribe twelve hearth sacrifices over the course of the year. The Most High says that in this world only the Great One Fire God—also called Taiyi, a deity who governs fire and observes people’s conduct—examines people’s good and evil, their strengths and shortcomings. Many people offend this deity without knowing it. The Lord of the Mysterious Origin, an honorific for Laozi in the Daoist canon, says: “Those who follow my Dao should perform a Zhaijiao offering at the family hearth and make offerings in remembrance of their departed ancestors.”

Note: In this context, “transgressing against wells” generally means violating the rule that wells should be kept clean by polluting them with refuse. “Transgressing against hearths” means failing to perform the prescribed rites for the Hearth God or offending the deity’s domain. This volume presents folk tales and praise verses that urge people to encourage good and punish evil. Its teachings accord with Zhengyi (Orthodox Unity) traditions and household practices of honoring wells and hearths and making offerings to departed ancestors.

Do not offer improper sacrifices to other spirits. The regulations of the Celestial Master’s tradition prescribe that offerings to the Stove God be made on the community festival days: face the left side of the door in spring and the right side in autumn.

The Yellow Emperor said: “Whenever one seeks the safety of men and women, a safe childbirth, harmony in marriage, a long life, learning and intelligence, advancement in official service, the love and respect of others, the favor of noble people, a household free from waste, peace at home, safe journeys by boat or carriage, success in farming and sericulture, harmony in trade, justice in lawsuits, protection from thieves, an end to quarrels, recovery from illness, the breaking of lingering afflictions, the lifting of curses and oaths, or the permanent removal of epidemics; and even when seeking to avert harmful influences or drive away tigers and wolves, one should make offerings to the Stove God.”

In the past, Yin Zifang was deeply filial and benevolent. One morning on the Laba festival, as he prepared food, the Stove God suddenly appeared before him. Zifang bowed twice. From then on, he made offerings every Laba festival, and became so wealthy that he rivaled a feudal lord. His grandson Yin Shi had a daughter who became empress, and he was then enfeoffed as a marquis. Thus the Yin family made offerings to the Stove God for generations. So one should never skip the stove offering.

The hymn says: “The stove governs fire, and cooking has its own way of bringing things into harmony. The rites rank it among the offerings, for its service lies in nourishing people and putting the household in order. Since we attend to it morning and evening, how could we fail to show reverence and care? Some seek its favor, while others become ensnared in occult techniques.”

Skipping food offerings

The tradition says: “Food is what enters the mouth. If it is even slightly unclean, it is already unfit to eat—how much more so if it has been skipped over?”

Once, when the statesman Sheng Wensu Du was ill, he entered the underworld. Everything he saw was dark and indistinct, like walking across an open wilderness. On the road he met the former chancellor Shen Yilun, who said, “I’m glad you can return. Please tell my family that since my death I have been greatly troubled by my sweaty socks.” When Sheng returned, he summoned Shen’s son and passed on the message. The son wept bitterly, but could not understand what “sweaty socks” meant. After the mourning period ended and the spirit seat was removed, they found a worn pair of socks hanging from the crossbar of the funeral couch. Only then did they understand what Shen had meant. So how could food be skipped over?

The hymn says: “The offerings of coarse and fresh foods are a matter of great importance to all under Heaven. What benefits us is constantly at hand, and not a day passes without it. What is always available becomes familiar; what is close at hand may be treated irreverently. If people do not understand, they may come to despise it. Since food is our very sustenance, let reverence never be neglected.”

This passage from the Taishang Ganying Pian discusses attitudes toward life and the law of karmic retribution.

First, it states that although people differ in wealth and social status, all human forms should be treated equally. Two examples illustrate this: When Liu Wensou fell ill and his family prepared medicine requiring the bones of a deceased child, he immediately changed expression and ordered the bones buried in the outskirts. Similarly, when Zhai Lin escorted Cheng Yi (Master Zhengshu) on a westward journey, he sat with his back to a sacred statue in a temple. Cheng Yi reminded him to turn around, explaining that any human-shaped image should not be treated disrespectfully. Yang Shi (Master Guishan) praised this reasoning, noting that if even human-like forms should not be slighted, how much more should real people be treated with reverence?

The passage then concludes with a reflection: Humans receive the spiritual Qi (vital energy) of Heaven and Earth, and their innate nature is as virtuous as that of the sage-kings Yao and Shun. Even a sage like Confucius revered the younger generation, whereas seemingly trivial acts—such as riding on another’s neck or behaving indecently in private—mark the beginning of moral decline.

Next, it recounts two cautionary tales about the karmic consequences of abortion: The daughter of Wang Yao, an official in Shuzhou, carried a ghostly fetus for two years without delivering it. Later, she learned that in a past life, she had been an abortionist who sold medicines to terminate pregnancies, for which Heaven punished her by condemning her to rebirth as a venomous snake—only sparing her human form in this final lifetime. Another story tells of Guo Puzhou’s daughter, Yin Feng, who was pursued by vengeful spirits and witnessed hundreds of women in the underworld clutching the souls of aborted infants—all fetuses two or three months old. These stories serve as warnings: Abortion and killing invite severe karmic retribution, and even those of noble fate (with accumulated merit) will suffer punishment for wrongful killing.

A Plain-Language Interpretation of the Scripture of the Most High on Response and Retribution

Plain-Language Rendering of the Scripture

Those harmed through causing the death of unborn children: Some people accidentally caused miscarriages by wearing musk; others injured fetuses in the course of arguments and scuffles; some fetuses were harmed by the intrusion of demon spirits; some people, angered by an infant’s crying, beat the child to death; some, through careless infant care, caused a child’s untimely death; and some infants starved because their mothers had no milk.

The ruler questioned them one by one. Every one of them wore fetters and shackles and looked pitifully thin. Yin Feng was then allowed to return and reported the whole matter to his father, Xin Ke, who wrote it in large characters on a wall at Tianning Temple as a warning to the world.

So, is it acceptable to harm a child or cause a miscarriage? It is regrettable that people do not know how precious the human body is. Truly, attaining human form is no easy matter. I have browsed Buddhist texts and other works: when an ordinary person dies, unless they are exceptionally virtuous and go straight to heaven, or profoundly wicked and enter hell directly, those who are partly good and partly bad have nowhere to go and must pass through the intermediate state after death. Once there, they must wait for the underworld authorities to assign them a destination before they can be reborn. I have heard that Shao Kangjie had a twin sister who was aborted; it was twenty years before she could be born again. She also appeared to her mother twice. Was she not in the intermediate state? Was this not a difficult ordeal?

According to Buddhist teaching, once the spirit enters the womb, four elements begin to take shape: solidity forms the element of earth, moisture the element of water, warmth the element of fire, and movement the element of wind. The fetus lies below the mother’s “life storehouse” and above her “mature storehouse.” It is bound by the five senses, like something enclosed in a leather pouch or caught in a fishing net. It feels unclean and defiled, as if trapped in prison; day and night it trembles with fear, eager to get out. If the mother eats too much or too little, eats food that is too greasy or not greasy enough, is exposed to intense heat or cold, engages in excessive sexual activity, stands in the wind, rests too long, walks about, runs, or crosses difficult ground, the child is unsettled and suffers as well.

When the child is born and falls to the ground, it may be caught in clothing or in a blanket; either way, the experience is similar. From beginning to end, the child spends thirty-eight weeks in the womb. Within the womb, eleven kinds of wind arise naturally. They open and regulate the passages, bringing the muscles, blood vessels, flesh, and bones into order and clearing the body’s openings so that everything can flow freely. Only then does the child become a human being.

In Daoist terms, the Qi of Jade Purity gives rise to the upper one of the three energy centers in a person, called the Muddy Pellet; the Qi of Highest Purity gives rise to the middle one, called the Crimson Palace; and the Qi of Great Purity gives rise to the lower one, called the Dantian. The Mysterious, Primal, and Original combine as the nine Qi that give rise to human beings.

Key Points

A Plain Language Reading of the Taishang Ganying Pian (Scripture of the Most High on Response and Retribution)

The Twenty-Four Qi give rise to the human body’s twenty-four parts. The three hundred and sixty spirits—guardian spirits, each with its own duty within the body—give rise to its three hundred and sixty joints. The eighty-one divisional spirits give rise to its eighty-one articulations.

The Eastern Eight Heavens and Seven Lodges belong to Yangming and give rise to the human Three Hun souls. The Western Eight Heavens and Seven Lodges belong to Yinjing and give rise to the Seven Po souls. The Southern Eight Heavens and Seven Lodges belong to Danyuan, the original Qi of the Dantian (energy center), and give rise to a person’s Heavenly Qi, the Qi received before birth. The Northern Eight Heavens and Seven Lodges belong to the North Pole and give rise to Xuanjin, the subtle bodily fluids.

The Limitless Wondrous One, the marvelous Qi of Taiyi, forms the Purple Portal, the mysterious gateway within the brain. The Qi of the Heavenly King rises to become the essence of the brain. During pregnancy, the Qi of Heaven descends on one day of each month, and the lower fluid, the fluid within the womb, begins to form.

In the first month, the True One of the Yu-dan Limitless Heaven, the Origin One of the Womb-Life, and the Qi of Yellow Radiance descend and permeate the fetus. This continues until the ninth month, when the Heaven of No Thought, No Bondage, and No Desire, the Origin of Life in the Mountain Court, and the Qi of Natural, Mysterious Illumination descend and permeate it. This is the Qi of the ninth month.

Once the Nine Qi have permeated the fetus, six spirits, rotating according to the Jiazi cycle, further tend its development. The Water Spirit of Jiazi regulates the flow of blood and vessels and moistens the Triple Burner. The Earth Spirit of Jiaxu regulates the muscles so that no part becomes withered. The Metal Spirit of Jiashen strengthens the nails and teeth and nurtures the true teeth. The Fire Spirit of Jiawu harmonizes the Five Viscera and brings the myriad spirits together. The Wind Spirit of Jiachen protects the fetal breath and governs the breathing of Yin and Yang. The Wood Spirit of Jiayin purifies and tempers the sinews and bones, connecting all the limbs.

Everything within the body has its own spirit: the Five Viscera, the Six Bowels, sinews, bones, marrow, brain, skin, blood and vessels, the essence storehouse, and the fluid storehouse. The same is true of the body’s twenty-eight thousand forms and shadows, twelve thousand lights of essence, thirty-six thousand comings and goings, and eighty-four thousand pores.

Consider the Northern Dipper: it governs the allotment of a person’s life force, the rise and decline of their fortune over a lifespan of a hundred years, and the measure of their body. When a person is about to be born, the Nine Heavens’ Marshal of Life is in attendance; the Nine Heavens celebrate; Taiyi holds the tally; the Imperial Lord assigns the person’s destiny; the Registrar of Talismans enters their name in the register; the Director of Life sets their allotted years; the Five Emperors oversee their birth; the Holy Mother protects the birthing chamber; and the Heavenly Perfected, Earthly Spirits, and Three Realms stand guard. As the scripture says, “To return to the human way and raise one’s form into the light of the sun”—what could be more astonishing to Heaven and Earth, or more precious and difficult to describe? How has the child wronged you, that you would dare to kill it? Could such a crime be considered slight?

You who cause abortions do so only because your household’s means are limited and you resent having too many children, or because you have engaged in illicit sex and are in haste to end the pregnancy.

Plain-Language Interpretation

The Main Meaning of the Scripture (On Children and Retribution)

Some people go through life without a son. Others have a son who dies young, leaving them unable to have another.

Some have a son but do not live long enough to see him grow up. Others reach old age only for their son to die first. These are all forms of retribution.

Praise (Verse)

In the beginning, people carried on their generations through “bearing” and “raising” children. In this way, the four quarters were settled and the Three Bonds were continued.

Who destroys life and causes a fetus to die in the womb? Even a tiger does not eat its cubs; its instinct for kindness remains. Alas, how can people bear to inflict such harm through acts like abortion?

Many Hidden, Shameful Deeds

The account says that hidden, shameful deeds take many forms. Among them, having illicit relations in another household, violating moral conduct and family bonds, and producing children of uncertain paternity bring the gravest offenses.

The Story of Li Deng (Master Ye Jing Consults the Underworld)

Long ago, Li Deng came first in the provincial examination at eighteen, then passed the metropolitan examinations three times in succession. He thought becoming the top scholar would be easy, yet he repeatedly met with frustration.

Master Ye Jing, a Daoist adept who could communicate with the unseen world, was asked by Li Deng to inquire about his prospects. The master submitted a memorial on his behalf. He saw that the gates of Heaven had not yet opened and that rows of underworld officials stood outside. When he asked the officials responsible for the examinations about Li Deng, they replied:

When Li Deng was born, the Supreme Lord bestowed a jade seal upon him, appointing him to take first place in the provincial examination at eighteen, become the top scholar at nineteen, and serve as Right Minister at fifty-three.

But in the year of his provincial examination, he spied on a neighboring woman. When his advances failed, he grew angry with her father and fabricated charges that had him thrown into prison. For this, his advancement was delayed by ten years, and his rank lowered to twenty-eighth in the second class.

When the next results were posted, he forcibly seized his elder brother’s house plot and even sued him over it. His advancement was delayed another ten years, and he was lowered to thirty-eighth in the third class.

When the results were posted a third time, he had illicit relations with a beautiful woman at an inn in Chang’an. Afraid her husband would find out, he first framed the man and had him punished. His advancement was delayed yet another ten years, and he was lowered to forty-eighth in the fourth class.

When the results were posted a fourth time, he again pursued a neighbor’s unmarried daughter and repeatedly had illicit relations with her. The Supreme Lord, angered that he had not changed his ways, ordered the officials to remove his name from the register of allotted rank and emoluments. His allotment was now exhausted; he would die within days. How could he still hope to pass the examinations?

The master told Li Deng the truth. Deeply disheartened, Li Deng soon fell ill and died. Alas, was death the only consequence? When he faced judgment in the future, he would also suffer the retribution of having no descendants.

During the Zhenghe era, Wu Gonglu was taken to the underworld, where the presiding official ordered him to investigate and adjudicate cases of this kind, involving hidden, shameful deeds and retribution concerning children.

The phrase “delayed and lowered” means that, in the underworld’s records, a person’s rank and official emoluments were successively postponed and reduced. The “register of allotted rank and emoluments” is the heavenly record of a person’s appointed honors, official income, and lifespan. Li Deng’s story illustrates how someone of great apparent talent can lose both descendants and advancement through secret wrongdoing.

This scripture recounts a karmic retribution tale: A man named Gonglu once saw a group of handsome men and beautiful women standing shackled in a courtyard. Upon inquiry, he learned they had all been arrested for adultery. As Gonglu hesitated over sentencing, an official suddenly arrived carrying a massive ledger containing the underworld's legal statutes. The laws stated: those who commit adultery with married women will be cut off from descendants, while those who defile unmarried maidens will have their descendants suffer licentiousness as retribution. Gonglu then passed judgment according to these laws.

Later, Gonglu shared this incident with his housemate, the scholar Jin Jingxing, and thus the story spread. Those who nowadays flaunt their romantic exploits in public streets are actually diminishing their own blessings. The karmic consequences for these unvirtuous and unrighteous people have already become clearly visible. So are these shameful deeds truly worth committing?

The subsequent eulogy states: The hidden misdeeds of ancient people were all recorded by the gods. Evil committed in darkness cannot escape divine punishment. Though actions may be concealed, one's conscience cannot be deceived. Only by recognizing one's faults can one truly demonstrate Virtue (De).

The text then explains the meaning of "hui-la": "Hui" refers to the last day of each lunar month, when the Kitchen God (Siming Zaojun) reports people's merits and faults to the celestial court. "La" denotes five important La days:

1. The "Celestial La" on the first day of the first lunar month, when deities gather in the Nine Qi Azure Heaven to determine human lifespans and descendants' fortunes

2. The "Earthly La" on the fifth day of the fifth month, when deities in the Cinnabar Heaven assess official positions, blessings, and physical health

3. The "Dao-Virtue La" on the seventh day of the seventh month, when deities in the Plain Heaven evaluate scholarly achievements and fame

4. The "Annual La" on the first day of the tenth month, when deities in the Mysterious Heaven determine salaries, official careers, and longevity

5. The December La day (exact date unspecified)

During these special days, deities meticulously record each person's good and evil deeds, determining the trajectory of their blessings, prosperity, and lifespan.

Those lords and kings who bear official titles gather in the twelfth lunar month, the month of year-end sacrifices, at places such as the Mysterious Capital Grotto, the Jade Palace of the Primordial Sovereign, and the Golden Gate of Wu and Ji. In the Hall of the Eight Radiances in the Upper Origin Palace, the Celestial Emperor of the Primordial Beginning reviews the lives and deaths of people, the offices and ranks allotted to them, their appointed destinies, wandering souls and strange dreams, as well as every kind of calamity and blessing, good and ill fortune, favorable and adverse circumstances, and matters of timing, travel, decline, and prosperity.

Alas! If ordinary people still commit wrongs on these days, and their names are entered in the register of offenses, can their sins still be redeemed? What is more, the Northern Emperor of Fengdu and the Celestial Lord of Great Yin summon the long-deceased ancestors, grandparents, parents, and relatives of the living on these days, even calling forth souls from the underworld prisons for questioning. They ask how long they have dwelt in the underworld, what offenses they have accumulated, what their karmic ties are, where their graves now lie, and the names and surnames of their descendants. Once the names of descendants, siblings, relatives by marriage, and the wider family are known, they are gathered and examined, and the living are charged with their ancestors’ offenses. If these debts have gone unredeemed through kalpas, they will surely implicate later generations.

On these days, the departed ancestors and relatives may all be released and return to their families to receive offerings and enjoy the sacrifices. Their descendants should rely on Daoist methods to make offerings and redeem their ancestors’ offenses. If they truly do so, the scripture says, those in the underworld will each receive blessings. So on the last day of the month and in the twelfth lunar month, should one redeem the departed, or sing, dance, and feast?

Praise

The dark moon marks the month’s end; the twelfth month marks the year’s end. The months and years flow on, and time cannot be held back. Consider the good and evil one has done: merit and fault cannot be concealed. One should examine oneself inwardly and feel apprehension. If one sings and feasts wildly indoors, will that not undermine proper restraint?

Anger on the First Day of the Lunar Month

A tradition says: in the Daoist canon, the first day of the month is called the new moon, the fifteenth the full moon, the eighteenth the “partial” moon, and the last day the dark moon. One should be cautious on all of these days. The same applies when the two Qi (vital energies) meet.

Another text says that on the third, thirteenth, and twenty-third nights of each month, the three Hun souls leave the body and wander outside it. On the new moon, full moon, and dark moon, the seven Po souls likewise drift and wander. The Perfected One of the Highest Clarity says that on the dark moon and new moon, one should observe a pure fast, enter a quiet room, wash away bodily grime, and sit upright on a proper mat. This is done to restrain the souls and dispel corpse demons; above all, one should not sleep. The Jade Candle Treasury says that on the morning of the new moon, men and women should put on clean clothes and pour wine beside a body of water to ward off misfortune. So, on such days, may one give oneself over to anger?

The Taishang Ganying Pian (Treatise on the Response of Heaven to Human Conduct) teaches that people should hold to the good Dao and accumulate De through good deeds. They should not become absorbed in empty reputation and outward show, or let jealousy and resentment diminish their De.

“Raging in anger”—shouting angrily or scolding—and “boasting”—praising oneself or showing off—are both to be avoided. Some people enjoy addressing one another by nicknames, or give themselves empty titles such as “True Person” or “Lay Buddhist.” Though this may seem lively, it undermines a pure mind and can invite misfortune.

Craving fame does the greatest harm to one’s merit and virtue. When someone thinks only of earning praise or being remembered by posterity, the good they accumulate may count for little, and their blessings may be reduced. In severe cases, they may even face Heaven’s punishment, lose blessings, or forfeit rank, salary, and years of life. Zhang Lian and Deng Yi, in ancient times, brought misfortune upon themselves by seeking and competing for fame; their stories serve as warnings.

Jealousy and resentment are roots of wrongdoing. Unable to bear seeing others prosper, a person grows envious and is more likely to entertain harmful thoughts and commit harmful acts. Xuan Yongzhong, who endured humiliation without competing, and the Virtuous Immortal Maiden, who risked herself to save others, offer examples of how to overcome jealousy.

The concluding praise says, in essence: Give up anger and boastfulness, do not crave fame, and put an end to jealousy; when the mind is settled, good fortune will come of its own accord. But if anger, pride, and the pursuit of fame are indulged, and the heart harbors envy, one harms one’s own blessings and De and acts against the Dao of response.