《靈寶文檢》Vol. 12

This is the table of contents for Volume Two of Lingbao Wenjian in the Daozang Jiyao. It lists the names of the various deities and documents to be presented or invoked in sequence during a Yellow Register Grand Retreat (Huanglu dazhai), a large-scale Daoist ritual for seeking blessings and delivering the deceased. It is not a continuous passage of scripture.

Formal Petitions of the Yellow Register Retreat

During the ritual, formal petitions are made to the heavens and the revered deities of the various directions. The contents include:

• Three Pure Ones (Sanqing): Jade Clarity, Highest Clarity, and Great Clarity—the three highest heavenly realms in Daoism and their corresponding revered deities
• Revered deities of Heaven: Haotian, Gouchen, the Star Lords, Houtu, and Tianshu (for transmission)
• Directions and governing powers: the Eastern and Southern Poles, Metal and Wood, the Ten Directions, the Nine Heavens, the Five Elders, and the various heavens
• Sun, moon, and stars: the sun and moon, the Northern Dipper, the Five Planets, the Southern Dipper, the Heavenly Office, and the Five Bureaus
• Three Origins and Five Masters: the Three Origins, the Five Masters (for appointments), and the Five Emperors
• Immortals and inquiries into the Dao: Elder Ge (Ge Xuan), Perfected Lord Xu, and the Nine Heavens’ Inspectors
• Heavenly offices and the descent of saints: the Heavenly Court, the presiding officers of the Heavenly Court’s jiao rites, the descent of the saints of the Three Heavens, and the Nine Heavens’ Director of Fate
• Deliverance from suffering and subjugation of demons: the Great Benefactor who Delivers from Suffering, the demon kings of the Three Realms, the great demons of the Five Emperors, and the Flying Heavenly Spirit Kings
• Matters related to Yellow Register liturgy: Nanchang, the Yellow Register, the Northern Kui, and the Heavenly Physician
• Universal deliverance and the generation of spirits: universal deliverance by the Nine Heavens, the generation of spirits, the Left Office of Qingxuan, and the August Ones
• Offices and the underworld: Perfected Lords of the Three Origins, the Five General Offices, Fengdu, Dongyue, and the Five Sacred Peaks
• Sacred mountains, grotto-heavens, and water offices: grotto-heavens and blessed lands, the Water Office, and the attached Fengdu court records (the Ten Kings)
• Thunder rites and honorific titles: the Nine Earths, the Three Masters of Shenxiao, the Nine Worthies, the Nine Heavens, the Ten Perfected Ones, and the Seven Luminaries

“Formal petition” refers to the ritual practice of writing the names and offices of these deities into memorials, then burning or reciting them at the ritual altar to invite the deities to attend.

Formal Notices and Dispatches of the Yellow Register

The following are the names of the various dispatches and notices used in the ritual. Most are orders or registrations addressed to divine offices, local deities, or stages of the altar proceedings:

A “dispatch” is an official-style document submitted to a divine office; a “notice” is an announcement or invocation. Through these documents, the Yellow Register retreat links the stages of inviting deities, summoning spirits, refining and delivering the dead, extending deliverance universally, and recording merit into a complete ritual sequence.

This passage presents the table of contents for Volume 2 of the Lingbao Wenjian (Numinous Treasure Document Collection), primarily recording various ritual documents and talismanic tablets used in Daoist ceremonies. Each of these documents and tablets serves specific purposes in Daoist rituals:

Land Deity documents (Tudi Wenshu) facilitate communication with local earth gods (deities governing specific territories). Cold Grove documents (Hanlin Wenshu) are employed for soul salvation (the Cold Grove refers to the underworld). Treasury Official documents (Kuguan Wenshu) involve underworld treasury officers (officials managing the netherworld's wealth repositories). Summoning documents (Cuizhao Wenshu) are used to invoke deities or departed souls.

Escort documents (Husong Wenshu) guide wandering spirits, while Fire Registers (Huoce) and Water Passes (Shuiyin) are utilized respectively in fire-element and water-element rituals. General Thanksgiving documents (Xiejiang Wenshu) express gratitude to divine generals. Strip-form documents (Tiaozhuang Wenshu) follow official petition formats, and City God dispatches (Chenghuang Dieyin) enable communication with City Gods (urban guardian deities).

The Edict Tablet (Nao Yu Pai, possibly an imperial command tablet) transmits divine decrees, and the Soul-Summoning Tablet (Tihun Pai) retrieves departed spirits. These documents and tablets constitute essential ritual implements in Daoist Zhaijiao (purification rituals) and Keyi (liturgical ceremonies), through which Daoist priests establish communication with deities and spirits.