《上清靈寶大法(二)》Vol. 12

The Lingbao Great Rites of the Upper Clarity (Volume Twelve): “The Chapter on the Yang De of Sustaining Life”—A Plain-Language Explanation

Classic: The Lingbao Great Rites of the Upper Clarity (Part Two)

The Chapter on the Yang De of Sustaining Life (the seventh of the Eight Divisions)

The merit of sustaining life and keeping vitality going is immense. The Dao values life, and so brings forth Heaven and Earth; Heaven and Earth, too, value life, and so bring forth all things. Since people have been born into the world, they hold life in high regard.

Immortals and advanced practitioners study the Dao and cultivate the truth, yet dislike the burden of this illusory body. Ordinary people, however, do not understand what lies at the heart of the matter, and assume that practitioners care little for life. That is not so. Those who have attained the Dao do not cling to bodily form or become tainted by material desires. Their original clarity remains undisturbed. Thus, when they retain the form (preserve the physical body), they do not pursue worldly entanglements and karmic ties recklessly; when they shed the substance (leave the physical body behind), they do not let their spiritual awareness perish along with the body. Once they refine their Qi and purify it, transcending the ordinary and entering sagehood, they can look back at that embryonic frame of bones and flesh and see that it was once a burden to them.

The Old Lord said, “I have a great affliction because I have a body.” The Supreme Ultimate Perfected One sang, “By holding the body apart, the body endures.” Both express this same idea.

For ordinary people, it is different: while the body lives, the spirit lives; while the body remains intact, one’s inner integrity remains. When the body fails, the hun and shen grow scattered: one may sink into darkness or fall into the distant netherworld. Such a death cannot be followed by a return to life. Who would not cherish a life already attained? To love life and dread death has always been human nature. The unending renewal of life is the proper principle of Heaven and Earth. Therefore, the High God takes pity on humanity and bestows teachings, establishes liturgies, rescues those in distress and aids those in danger, removes demons and dispels delusion, submits petitions and performs rites, and prays for blessings and the prolonging of life. All this is done to illuminate the Dao’s De of ceaseless creation and renewal, and to fulfill the wish of all beings to go on living well.

In the ancient Lingbao rites, there is a Chapter on the Yang De of Sustaining Life, used in rites addressed to the stars of the Dipper to prolong life and deliver souls. But without a petition text—a formal document of appeal—one cannot properly submit the matter to the heavenly court. Even though saving someone is a virtuous deed, it must not be kept hidden. Hence the term “Yang De.”

According to the ancient liturgy, the twentieth of the forty-two grades of ritual is called the Northern Dipper Offering. Here, a sacred altar of the Mysterious Pivot is established, with the throne of the Northern Pole Emperor at its center and the perfected beings arranged around it in front. The Northern and Southern Dippers are set in paired positions, and the rite is similar in practice to the Northern Dipper Offering.

In Heaven, the Dipper constellations are the lords of authority and order, and their role is of great importance: the prolonging of life and deliverance of souls both depend on them. (The following section continues with the specific liturgy.)

A Plain-Language Interpretation of The Great Method of the Upper Clarity Lingbao (II)

1. The Original Purpose of the Rite for Saving Lives

At the Lower Origin festival, on the fifteenth day of the tenth lunar month, the spirits of water, stone, birds, and beasts; unruly deities of the Five Phases; fierce and wicked ghosts of the lower earth; and the souls of goblins, demons, and nightmares roam about, wreaking havoc and creating aberrations. They entangle and bewilder the living, and many such troubles cannot be cured. In addition, within Fengdu in the Northern Yin realm are deities whose blood and flesh are disordered. They implicate ancestors, the recently deceased and those who died long ago, and relatives by blood or marriage on both sides. Their lawsuits are brought before the underworld authorities, reach the living, and bring further connected calamities and harm that often cannot be dispelled. For all these cases, establish this Three Luminaries Mysterious Pivot sacred altar on pure ground, and pray for immediate response, release, protection, and peace.

Practitioners should deeply understand the original purpose of “saving lives” and follow the intentions of the ancients; then this rite can be performed.

2. The Mysterious Pivot Altar (also called the Three Luminaries Altar)

Choose a clean, secluded room, or an open, uninhabited, quiet place, and establish an altar on pure ground:

• Each tier is one foot high.
• Upper tier: two feet wide. At its center, set up the Central Emperor’s Palace and enshrine the Great Emperor of the North Pole and the Great Emperor of the Celestial Sovereign.
• Middle tier: three feet wide. Arrange the Nine Sovereigns of the Northern Dipper, the Three Terraces of the Southern Dipper, and the Sun and Moon according to their stellar positions, beneath the lamps.
• Lower tier: six feet wide. Arrange the Three Origins Generals, the spirits of the twelve earthly branches, the Grand Year deity of the current year, the two attendants Qingyang and Tuoluo, the Four Duty Meritorious Officers, and the local earth deity, among others.

Place a ritual table in front. Write the names of the two Dippers, and light lamps. Run five-colored threads from the mouths of the Dippers down to beneath the ritual table, then perform the invocations and petitions according to the rite.

Purpose: Conceal misdeeds and deep transgressions in the hidden darkness; bring to light the obscure, secret wrongs of the living; harmonize their years and destinies; avert and dispel calamities; restore order among people and quiet the demons and ghosts. Its effects are especially remarkable when performed with utmost sincerity.

If there is not enough time to build the altar by piling up earth, draw three tiers on the ground with white clay and construct it according to the rite. A permanent altar is preferable.

3. Flying Dipper

Use large sheets of paper to make cloud horses. In the open space above each saddle, write the talismanic signs of the Southern and Northern Dippers in red cinnabar. Prepare one petition for each honored deity, along with one horse, and present them in succession according to the stars. Depict the horses running and the clouds soaring swiftly. Alternatively, if a printing block can produce the prescribed design, have a craftsman draw it.

4. Northern Dipper: Talisman for Harmonizing Years and Destinies

(Called “Nurturing the Dead and Closing the Situation”)

Respectfully we invite the numinous and responsive Five Planets Emperor Lords to harmonize the years and destiny of (so-and-so). May this be done with all haste, in accordance with the statutes and commands.

Note: This text belongs to the Lingbao Zhaijiao liturgical tradition. It describes rites for averting and dispelling calamities at the Lower Origin festival, the design of the Mysterious Pivot Altar, and the presentation of petitions by flying Dipper. Its ideas accord with beliefs about Fengdu, lawsuits in the underworld, and the involvement of ancestors. The altar must be established on pure ground, and its tiers, divine images, five-colored threads, and lamp flames are all prescribed.

A Vernacular Reading of The Great Lingbao Rites of Shangqing (II)

1. Petitions and the Northern Dipper’s Pardon of Sins

Following the command of the Celestial Worthy of Primordial Beginning, write beneath the talisman: “So-and-so was born in such-and-such a year, month, day, and hour, and belongs under the authority of such-and-such Star Lord of the Northern Dipper. In life, this person concealed a certain sin and now humbly begs for pardon.” Write three or five lines, then burn the paper over a lamp flame.

2. The Two Dipper Star Lords and the Secretly Transmitted Talisman of the Seven Primordial Ones: Spirit Flight

Kui, Gui, Xi, Xing, Bi, Zuo, Piao, and Chi—ancient names for the stars of the Northern Dipper.

Spirit-Flight Rite

1. Treading the Dipper: Enter the Dipper from its handle and proceed to its mouth, as far as “Piao.” Visualize the Dipper covering your body. Then step into its mouth again and bow three times.

2. Visualizing the spirit’s departure: Let the spirit depart and enter directly into the Dipper. Call the Four Duty Envoys, state the purpose of the purification rite in full, and watch them enter the Dipper.

3. The Envoys Qiangyang and Tuoluo: The two envoys descend to inspect the ritual banquet, then return to report to the Star Lords.

4. The ritual master: Stand within the Dipper and wait until the envoys have returned. Then enter the Southern Dipper and perform the same rite as for the Northern Dipper.

5. General of the Fire Bell and the six star youths: They inspect the rite and report back; only then do the Dipper stars descend.

6. Response: After a long while, purple clouds or a strange fragrance may appear, or a red light may enter the room. These signs mean that the two Dippers have descended.

Prohibitions: Monks and nuns, children in mourning, women, and chickens and dogs must not witness the rite.

3. Arranging the Altar and Presenting the Petition

First set up a table before the altar. Light lamps and candles, and lay out fresh seasonal offerings of five kinds of fruit, sweet wine, and rare incense. Do not use sandalwood or frankincense. If pure wine is unavailable, use dark, unfermented water. Above all, maintain purity and cleanliness, and follow the prescribed rites when presenting petitions and making formal announcements. When the rite is complete, present the petition and paper money and horses, then burn them. With utmost sincerity, all calamities will be dispelled.

4. Editor’s Note: Yunzong and the Tiantai School

The Great Lingbao Rites received by Yunzong are an old text from the Central Plains. This compilation follows the transmission from his teacher throughout, without daring to alter it. When a matter accords with reason, why spend time disputing or explaining it? How can one speak of differences between the North and the South?

The reason for this discussion is that the Tiantai school has gradually spread widely, while many of its teachings depart from the ancient tradition and differ greatly from those of other lineages. If these differences were left unexamined, people would inevitably become doubtful and would not know which way to follow. It has therefore become necessary to explain them: where other books differ from Tiantai, the reasons for the differences are set out; where Tiantai resembles other books, evidence is also given to show that its teachings are not unfounded.

Yunzong did not lack texts received from his teacher and borrow the Tiantai methods to make this book. Moreover, many of the ancient forms Yunzong compiled and put into circulation are not recorded in the Tiantai rites.

Note: “Kui, Gui, Xi, Xing, Bi, Zuo, Piao, and Chi” are ancient written names for the stars of the Northern Dipper. The “Four Duty Envoys,” “Qiangyang and Tuoluo,” and the “General of the Fire Bell,” among others, are protective divine generals in Lingbao ritual practice. Treading the Dipper, visualization, and presenting and burning petitions are all standard procedures in Daoist purification rites.

The scripture states that the ancient Lingbao tradition called this section “The Chapter on the Yang Virtue of Saving Lives.” Its original text is given first here. Since Du Dazhen of Tiantai established the “Xuanji Rite,” a ritual centered on the Northern Dipper, he has liked to invent new names for everything, disregarding ancient liturgies. He gave the Northern Dipper jiao, a ritual offering to the Dipper, the separate name “Mansion of Mysterious Spirits and the Celestial Pivot,” created the post of “Inspector,” and also called its holder the “Director of the Celestial Pivot Mansion,” urging people to accept these practices. They violate Daoist liturgy and run counter to ordinary social norms, and are therefore unsuitable. The author has discussed them in detail in the general preface.

One should therefore follow the ancient practice and call it simply the “Northern Dipper jiao.” The person presiding over the ritual should be referred to by the title prescribed in their own tradition and use the seal stipulated for that office. For example, when performing the “Proper Method of the Celestial Heart,” one should use a seal such as the Seal of the Exorcism Office, not change one’s title or alter the seal’s inscription. If one abandons the name “Northern Dipper jiao” for another, even borrowing obscure and unfamiliar titles associated with the stars beside the Dipper, the result is merely strange and liable to deceive people. This is like the phrase “yellow silk, young woman” on the back of Cao E’s stele: it later circulated among ordinary people as a riddle to be guessed. Altering proper liturgy so that people must puzzle out its meaning is little more than child’s play. Can one’s heart truly be at ease while showing such disrespect to the High Perfected, the exalted beings revered in Daoism?

Moreover, when memorials and proclamations are presented to the Dipper stars, the etiquette should be the same as when submitting petitions to the Celestial Emperor. Yet some people write “Submitted to the Jade Palace of the Nine Mornings” on the outside of their sealed documents. This practice is especially presumptuous and disrupts the courtly order of Heaven. The gates of the heavens where the Three Pure Ones and the Jade Emperor dwell may be called the “Jade Palace,” but the Dipper stars may not. The arrangement of the celestial realm provides a clear basis for this distinction: the Purple Tenuity Enclosure, the northern celestial region regarded as the Celestial Emperor’s residence, is surrounded by a screen known as an “enclosure.” Seven stars stand on either side, and the Canopy stars cover it above; the Great Emperor of the North Pole and the Great Emperor of the Celestial Sovereign dwell within. The opening at the front is called the “Gate of Heaven.” This is the palace gate of the Purple Tenuity Enclosure, and it may be called the “Imperial Gate.”

The Northern Dipper stands before the Gate of Heaven. It oversees the ordering of affairs, conveys commands, and governs the four directions, serving an important role like the voice of the court. In the human world, the ministers of the Secretariat are also regarded as the court’s voice. Though the Dipper is a star charged with major affairs in Heaven, its office is of the utmost importance and its authority immense, it still cannot be honored as the Celestial Emperor—just as the ministers of the Secretariat cannot be treated as the Son of Heaven. To call the Northern Dipper the “Jade Palace” is an extreme act of presumption and absurdity.

The tradition of Master Du’s lineage was first valued for its departure from common practice and its taste for novelty. In the end, however, it often ran counter to the prescribed liturgical rules and fell short of proper ritual conduct. To follow and imitate it without question can hardly be considered a way of upholding restraint and sincerity or conforming to orthodox standards.

Likewise, in accounts of the Northern Dipper—the seven northern lodges—there is also a “Central Dipper.” One ritual manual prescribes setting up a Zhaijiao (purification rite) with the Central Dipper placed opposite the Southern Dipper, apparently drawing on a passage in the Southern Dipper scripture. In fact, the Southern Dipper is the Dipper Lodge among the twenty-eight lodges, and lies in the northeastern region of the sky. Though it is also called the Southern Dipper in astronomical terminology, it cannot ultimately stand as the counterpart of the “Central Dipper.” Since the old ritual system already includes it this way, I dare not alter the inherited text on my own authority.