《上清靈寶大法(二)》Vol. 2

Great Methods of the Shangqing and Lingbao Traditions, Fascicle Two, Part Three

Chapter Divisions and Applications

The Wondrous Scripture of the Supreme Lingbao (Numinous Treasure) Upper-Grade Chapters on the Limitless Salvation of Beings

Chapter One: Narrating the Mystery

The scripture says: "Long ago, in the Azure Beginning Heaven (one of the thirty-six heavens of Daoism, the eastern celestial realm), in the land of Bi Luo Kong Ge Da Fu Li (an imperial title of the heaven, explained under esoteric terms), the Primordial Heavenly Worthy (Yuanshi Tianzun) received the supreme method of limitless salvation."

Chapter Two: Initiating the Cycle

When the Primordial Heavenly Worthy was about to expound this scripture, he circled ten times and thereby summoned the ten directions. ("About to expound" refers to the moment when, in this kalpa cycle, the charts were opened and the teaching was made manifest.)

Chapter Three: Responses of the Perfected (The phrase "Naturally" and what follows belong to the meaning of the Great Cavern world.)

At the outset, he ascends the seat. (Note: Pulling and raising from the upper section of the Zi hour through the Wu hour belongs to the writing methods for hastening birth and securing the fetus; the talisman is swallowed and then used.) The Great Divine Perfected, the High Sage Venerables, and the Wondrous Conduct Perfected (the middle finger, with the preceding section written again; above the Si hour, the evil spirits are dispelled) arrive together with a multitude beyond number, riding the void. Flying clouds and crimson skies, green carriages and jade wheels, feathered canopies hanging down in shade, streams of essence and jade light (above the Hai hour, the streaming jade light takes the nine colors, governs the kidneys, and has a round form, treating dream disturbances), five colors surging and billowing (above the You hour, qi is deficient; write and swallow), illuminate the great void.

Chapter Four: Fixing the Extremes

For seven days and seven nights, the celestial sun, moon, stars, and lunar mansions, together with the jade pivot and jade balance, halt their wheels at once; divine winds fall silent, and mountains and seas conceal their clouds. (Above the Zi hour, this treats shortness of breath; write, burn the seal, and swallow.) The sky has no drifting haze, and the four qi are clear and bright. (From "seven days" down to this point, this treats eye and vision ailments; write, burn the seal, and swallow.) The soil, mountains, rivers, forests, and trees of a whole country become level and uniform, with no more high or low; the earth all turns into green jade, with no differing colors. The assembled perfected attend the seat. (The middle finger, middle joint, establishes the dwelling and moves the earth; a spell is recited on the earth, and the earth is used.)

Chapter Five: Returning to the Origin (The Yuan is established from the generating numbers of the Five Phases, and the Xuan seat is what the Dharma-body dwells upon.)

The Primordial Heavenly Worthy sits in mystery upon a five-colored lion floating in the void. (Above the Wu hour, this treats a restless heart.)

Note: This section gives the chapter headings of the Lingbao school's commentary on the Wuliang Du Ren Jing (Scripture of Limitless Salvation). The annotations outside the main text are mostly practical notes on ritual operations such as finger-joint writing, talisman swallowing, and seal burning, compiled by masters from the Tang and Song periods onward. They were used together with internal alchemy, liturgy, and talismanic practice.

Explanatory Notes on Selected Passages from the Shangqing Lingbao Dafa

I. Ten Recitations of the Scripture and Their Effects on Healing and Salvation

When the Celestial Worthy of Primordial Beginning (Yuanshi Tianzun) recited the scripture once, its resonance reached all the heavens, and the great sages praised it in unison. At that time, throughout one country, the first recitation opened the ears of the deaf so that they could hear, and the second restored sight to the blind. The third enabled the mute to speak, and the fourth allowed the lame, the paralyzed, and those with long-standing chronic illnesses to rise and walk. The fifth recitation restored the body and spirit of those who had been seriously ill for a long time. The sixth turned white hair black again and caused fallen teeth to regrow. The seventh restored the elderly to vigor and made the young stronger still. The eighth ensured that women who were pregnant and animals carrying young, whether already born or not yet born, all achieved smooth gestation and birth. The ninth brought hidden things out of the earth, so that gold and jade were revealed. The tenth restored dry bones to life, and they all rose as full-grown adults.

At that time, the men and women of the country turned their hearts toward the teaching, took refuge in it, and were protected and delivered. All of them attained long life. (Those who practice this Way do not die.)

II. Chapter Six, "Chongxuan": The Great Divine Beings of the Boundless Ten Directions Arrive Together

The Lord of the Dao (Daojun) says that at this time the Celestial Worthy of Primordial Beginning preached the scripture. (According to the ritual regulations, whenever incense is burned, one first summons the boundless beings of the ten directions and only then enters into focused intention.)

When the scripture was recited once, its effect reached the east, and the Great Perfected Divine Beings of boundless, immeasurable ranks, together with their countless multitudes, floated through the air and arrived. The second recitation reached the south, the third the west, and the fourth the north. The fifth reached the northeast, the sixth the southeast, the seventh the southwest, and the eighth the northwest. The ninth reached the upper direction, and the tenth reached the lower direction.

In every direction were the Great Perfected Divine Beings of boundless, immeasurable ranks, the highest-ranking perfected beings, whose numbers cannot be counted. They all came together to listen to the teaching and to protect and sustain it.

Note: The terms "water, fire, metal, earth, and wood" that appear in parentheses in the original generally correspond to the Five Phases, or to visualization sequences tied to directions and recitation counts in Daoist liturgy. Versions differ on these details. The vernacular reading focuses on which recitation, which direction, and which category of calamity or illness the scripture responded to, and it does not add further theological interpretation.

Daoist liturgy (keyi) has its own official ranks, titles, and ways of conferring office, which have always differed from those of the secular world. A gentleman may therefore take office or withdraw into seclusion, and the two need not be bound together. This is like two birds, one flying east and one flying west, yet originally a matched pair. They do not reckon the distance between them. When they meet, they call and answer each other, and when they part, they are by no means strangers. The passage uses the idea of "different paths, one origin" to draw an analogy with notions such as "changing the Way." Wang Qian's view of the "Green Ox transforming into a male" in the Fahua xuanlun should be read alongside the account of Youxing in the Jin shu.

Hongya, an immortal, cultivated the Jade Morning Way, and clouds descended from the sky. This is probably a lineage of the immortal school. When the immortal Yuan Cheng made a request, Youxing prepared a fine meal to entertain him, and there is nothing in the episode that calls for doubt. The author's meaning is already plain. The author says that he is only a student of Yin-Yang who has heard of such things, and asks how he could claim the same lineage or standing as a high immortal. He has only heard from afar and has not received their direct instruction. His gratitude is so great that even the image of the barren northern wasteland from the Zhuangzi cannot express it.

According to the Qi zhi, this mountain has long been linked with immortals by a covenant, and the Zifang Cavern was the dwelling of the immortal Hongya. Hongya lived in Chicheng and is known as the ancient immortal and Supreme Perfected Lord Hongya, also called the Lord of Feathered Ascension. Another version of the text gives the name as "Shami Hongya," and says that clouds rose from the Zifang Cavern in the rock and piled up like valleys in heaven. Yet few readers, past or present, can fully explain the meaning of the words and the sense of the passage. Where the variant readings and altered characters occur, one can often grasp the sense only by intuition. For this reason the author sets out the forms of the characters here, so that readers can compare them with the earlier draft and understand the original intention.

On the Hidden Rhymes of the Inner Names

The so-called "sounds of the hidden rhymes of the inner names" are also the secret names of the demon kings and the concealed names of the hundred kinds of spirit-things. They are not the ordinary names used in the world.

Chapter Nine: On the Supreme Sage (This chapter describes the responsiveness and merit of the Primordial Heavenly Venerable.)

When a Supreme Sage who has already become a Perfected, one who can penetrate the profound and examine the subtle and fully comprehend this chapter, recites it ten times, the heavens respond from afar and the myriad sovereigns offer ritual salutations. (That the heavens respond in chorus and the myriad sovereigns perform ceremonies is precisely why the Dadong Jing is so highly honored.)

Rivers and seas fall still, mountains conceal their clouds, sun and moon halt their light, the armillary sphere ceases to turn, the hosts of demons are bound in their forms, and ghostly essences lose their vigor. Corpses return to life, and white bones become human again. (What is described from "sun and moon" onward refers to the fact that, within the fixed concentration of emptiness, one naturally sees all the unrighteous ghosts. When ghosts see one's body or hear one's voice, they disperse. If one's merit has not yet been accomplished, they still cannot be controlled, and for those without firm concentration, the method of penetrating vision described later may be used.)

Chapter Ten: On the Adept of Highest Learning

When an adept of the highest learning recites this chapter ten times, the Five Emperors attend and guard him, the Three Realms bow their heads to him, demonic essences lose their sight, ghosts and monsters lose their vigor, and he can save the dying and grant them life.

The reason for this is that the scholar's defilement has not yet been dispelled and his body has not yet attained Dongzhen (Cavern of Perfection). Though he can summon and subdue the ten directions and his majesty can bind the rule of heaven, and though his virtue can subdue the earth spirits and restrain the demonic spirits, he can only repel death. He cannot restore the dead to life.

Chapter Eleven: On Exhorting to the Way

If one recites this chapter with arrogance and contempt, calamity will befall oneself. If one makes offerings and shows reverence, then one's household will flourish and prosper for generations, form bonds with goodness, be free from the myriad disasters, and have the spirit-lights guard the gate.

Chapter Twelve: In Praise of the Mysterious (Because this scripture is honored for its wondrous uniqueness, surpassing even the Jade Capital, it is called the Scripture of the Great Cavern True.)

This scripture is exalted and wondrous, standing alone above the Jade Capital. It delivers countless beings and serves as the source of the myriad Dao. Lofty and vast is its great Brahman-like majesty, and its merit is beyond measure. (In the Great Luo Heaven there is the Jade Capital Mountain, and in the Upper Palace of Purple Tenuity there is the Jade Capital Hall. Its thirty-six tiers, rising one above another, are vast and empty, ten thousand li across, with eaves stretching for five thousand five hundred li.)

Chapter Thirteen: On Recitation and Practice

The Dao declares: whoever recites this scripture ten times will have all the heavens arrive together. The myriad ancestors and the ghostly souls of a hundred generations, suffering in darkness, will all receive deliverance, ascend to the Vermilion Palace, and after nine years in its transforming influence, be reborn as persons of nobility. Furthermore, one who loves learning and reaches the end of the scripture, whose merit is complete and whose virtue is accomplished, will attain (accomplishment).

Vernacular Interpretation of the Scripture

Opening Principle

Immortals can ascend to the Golden Gate and feast in the Jade Capital. If a diligent student's merit and virtue (gongde) outweigh mere recitation, their practice accords more fully with the scripture's intent.

Chapter 14: On Superior Scholars

Superior scholars (advanced students of the Dao) who recite this scripture may be delivered and ascend to the Southern Palace (a celestial mansion in the south where refinement and salvation are conferred). Ordinary people who recite it can extend their lives and reach old age. In time, all may attain the Way of Shijie (liberation by corpse-release, in which the body dies while the spirit ascends and temporarily leaves the physical form). The hun and shen are briefly extinguished without passing through the underworld, then return to bodily form (fanxing) and roam through outer space.

Chapter 15: On Subtle Expansion

This scripture is subtle and profound, and its salvation is boundless. All celestial beings and humans receive its blessings, immeasurable good fortune, and grace across birth and death. (It also includes regulations on codes and gradations.)

Chapter 16: On Covenant and Secrecy

Students of the highest attainment who divulge the text carelessly bring calamity upon their remote ancestors. Ordinary people must not transmit it recklessly, and there are prohibitions against doing so. If one harbors defiled or arrogant attitudes, the consequences will not stop there. Keeping the text secret, by contrast, earns merit equal to that of countless generations of ancestors. What Heaven treasures is not passed down to later generations. The superior adepts purify themselves with the golden treasure and transmit the scripture only after swearing a covenant before Heaven. Careless disclosure, defilement, and arrogance bring calamity upon the Nine Ancestors, condemning them to long service in the ghostly bureaucracy. (Earlier, careless recitation brought calamity upon one's own afterlife; careless disclosure and arrogance burden one's ancestors.)

Chapter 17: On the Mysterious Bureau

The Nine Palaces and Twenty-Four Qi (within the body) all dwell in the body's spirits. The Five Emperors attend the scripture through twenty-four Jade Youths and twenty-four Jade Maidens, who guard the spirit-writings of the nutritive and defensive qi (yingwei) at the middle joint of the middle finger, protecting the body of the one who receives the scripture. On the first day, one wears the talisman and recites the incantation. On the second day, one circulates the qi-channels. By swallowing the four characters of the spirit-writings of the nutritive and defensive qi, the practice takes effect immediately. The Five Emperors' attendants total two hundred and forty, twenty-four Jade Youths and Maidens for each emperor, and they accompany the emperors on their journeys.

Chapter 18: On the Three Primes

The Dao says: Fasting long in the first month while reciting this scripture releases the ancestors' wandering spirits from the earth's bonds and delivers them to the Southern Palace. Fasting long in the seventh month while reciting it makes one a immortal, and one's name is entered in the Yellow Registers and White Tablets (celestial rolls of immortals), striking away death and enrolling one among the living. Fasting long in the tenth month while reciting it for the sovereign, the ruler, the ministers, and the family of father and son secures the state's fortune, preserves Heaven's enduring favor, and sustains the line without end. It allows one to rule long as sovereign and pacify the realm, so that the people will call it a great peace. Reciting the scripture on the days of the Eight Seasonal Nodes (Lichun, Chunfen, Lixia, Xiazhi, Liqiu, Qiufen, Lidong, and Dongzhi) makes one a Perfected of the Nine Palaces.

Dai Jiu Lü Yi and the Huoluo Dipper

"Carry nine on the back and tread one; three on the left and seven on the right; two and four form the shoulders, six and eight the feet, and five dwells in the central palace as the solid belly." This is the method of visualization (cunxiang) for the Huoluo Dipper (Huoluo Dou). On one's birthday, if this scripture is recited, the hun and shen spirits become clear and upright, the myriad qi endure, one is free from suffering and distress, and the body shines with light. The Three Realms guard and attend, the Five Emperors welcome, the myriad spirits pay homage, one's name is inscribed in heaven, merit is complete and virtue fulfilled, and one ascends to Shangqing (Highest Clarity). (The upper joint of the middle finger is the place where the mind and spirit are settled.)

The Heavenly Positions of the Three Clarities

The Central Capital of Shangqing. According to the Longjiao Jing, above the four Brahmic heavens are the Heavens of the Three Clarities. The first is the twelve heavens of Taiqing (Grand Clarity), where the Nine Immortals dwell; next are the twelve heavens of Shangqing (Highest Clarity), governed by the Nine Perfected; then the twelve heavens of Yuqing (Jade Clarity), where the Nine Sages dwell, for a total of thirty-six heavens. Yuqing is the highest of them.

Chapter Nineteen: Practicing the Way

(When reciting scriptures and practicing the Way, each practice should follow its prescribed visualization, as transmitted orally and by heart.)

(Recite with the mouth and bow with the heart, and align with the Gen trigram above, down to the downy hairs beneath the nail of one finger.)

The Dao says: On a day of practicing the Way, one should always bathe in fragrant water, observe the fast, and enter the chamber. Facing east, knock the teeth thirty-two times so that the sound reaches the thirty-two heavens, and bow with the heart thirty-two times. Close the eyes and sit in quiet contemplation: the body sits within clouds of qi in three colors, blue, yellow, and white, dense and lush inside and out. The Four Holy Generals (the Four Sacred Generals), namely the Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, and Black Tortoise, together with the lion and the white crane, are arrayed to the left and right. The sun and moon shine brightly and illuminate the room. A round image forms above the head, its light reflecting in the ten directions. (The three qi are the Mysterious Qi of blue, the Primordial Qi of yellow, and the Initial Qi of white. All arise from the One Qi. Having the practitioner dwell within these three qi expresses the Way of holding the Three and guarding the One, for this is the mother of qi, and this is truly the constant Dao.) Visualize all of this clearly.

The secret incantation says: "Supreme Mysterious Primordial Most High Lord of the Dao, summon forth from my body the Merit Officers of the Three and Five, the left and right official envoys, the Golden Youths who attend the incense, the Jade Maidens who carry messages, the Duty Talismans of the Five Emperors, and the Incense Officers of each day, thirty-two of each." (The incantation is to be conferred on the day.) Then submit the memorial, saying: "Today is auspicious. I keep a long fast in a pure hall and cultivate the scripture of the Wuliang Dujing (Scripture of Salvation Without Limit)."

On How to Perform "Chen and Jia-Yi"

If Chen (I, the practitioner) and Jia-Yi (a fellow practitioner, here meaning another person who recites this scripture together with me, seeking the way of longevity) recite together, then face the direction of Wood Virtue (the east). If you recite alone, still face the east, draw in the three qi of azure, yellow, and white, and recite "Chen and Jia-Yi."

The Dadong Neizhang (Inner Chapters of the Great Cavern) explains the meaning of huifeng hunhe (circulating wind and mingling) through the Palace of Fusang in the east, the mythical place where the sun rises from the Eastern Sea. There stands the Ruomu (a legendary great tree at the place of sunrise). When the sun rises, the three qi of azure, yellow, and white billow and gather at its crown. At this moment, the immortals in the palace chant the scripture and walk the Way, offering reverence to the virtue of the Divine Sovereign. Because the scripture being recited is connected with the Jia and Yi directions, which belong to the east, it instructs that one should face the east while reciting.

Recitation and Rebirth (zhuanjing shousheng)

Opening the petition (qiyuan): The petition rises to the highest heavens and goes directly before the presence of the Yuanshi Shangdi (Primordial Celestial Sovereign) of the Thirty-Two Heavens, the Supreme Lord.

Upon completion: Draw in qi thirty-two times (yinqi), and face the east while reciting the scripture. The east is the direction of longevity and is esteemed by all the heavens. Write the talismans (shufu). The Dadong Koujue (Oral Instructions of the Great Cavern) states that practice carried out in the tenth month should likewise face the east.

Source note: This section belongs to the recitation liturgy of the Shangqing Lingbao Zhaijiao (Shangqing Lingbao purification ritual). It deals with the fine details of ritual: the directions and the three qi for solitary recitation and for recitation by two people together, the opening petition, and the number of times to draw in qi.