《靈寶文檢》Vol. 24

Contents of Volume Eight of the Lingbao Document Compendium

This volume is a catalog of document templates used in Lingbao school Daoist Zhaijiao (purification rituals). It helps Daoist priests select the appropriate petitions, formal documents, and ceremonial texts for each occasion.

1. Categories of Yin-Yang Rituals

Rituals are divided into two broad categories, “disaster relief” and “salvation and elevation,” then further distinguished by ritual divisions—the scale of the ceremony and the sections of its liturgy:

Smaller rituals are also included:

• Zhaijiao with 36 divisions
• Zhaijiao with 24 divisions

The volume also includes ritual petitions and closing and offering notices, a format for official ritual documents used when a ceremony is completed and offerings are presented.

Disaster relief: Prayers for people living in this world, asking that calamities and misfortunes be dispelled and peace and good fortune granted.
Salvation and elevation: Rituals for delivering the deceased and raising them to realms of blessing. This is similar to Buddhist rites for the dead; Daoism calls such practices salvation and elevation, refinement and deliverance, and related terms.
Ritual divisions: The sections and scale levels of a ceremony’s liturgy. The more divisions, the more elaborate the liturgy.

2. Petition and Address Texts

These are standard forms that can be used in various ceremonies, rather than texts tied to a particular festival:

• Petition to the Five Masters — A petition inviting the masters of the five directions, or the true spirits of the five directions
• Text for Welcoming the Divine Presence — Words inviting the Celestial Worthy or founding master to descend to the ritual altar
• Text for Opening the Altar — An announcement and invocation when opening the altar and beginning the ritual
• Text for Disaster Relief for the State and Its Borders — Prayers for blessing and protection from calamities for the state and its frontiers
• Text for Salvation and Elevation — Ceremonial words specifically for delivering the souls of the dead

3. Seasonal and Occasion-Specific Texts

Blessings and paired couplets are arranged by solar terms, months, and traditional festivals, so that the appropriate texts can be chosen for each ritual date. The titles listed in the volume are as follows. Parentheses indicate that a festival has two consecutive pieces or related entries.

Spring: Beginning of Spring (2), first month (2), New Year’s Day, Lantern Festival (2), second month (2), Hanshi Festival, third month (2), Qingming, Shangsi Festival

Summer: fourth month (2), fifth month (2), Dragon Boat Festival (2), sixth month (2)

Autumn: seventh month (2), Double Seventh Festival, Zhongyuan Festival, eighth month (2), Mid-Autumn Festival (2), ninth month (2), Double Ninth Festival

Winter: tenth month (2), Xiayuan Festival, eleventh month (2), Winter Solstice, twelfth month (2), New Year’s Eve

Other: intercalary months, the Twelve Pitch Pipes, songs illustrating the Twelve Pitch Pipes, couplets for Zhaijiao

Shangsi (in early spring, during the third lunar month), Hanshi (before Qingming), Zhongyuan (the middle of the seventh lunar month), and Xiayuan (the fifteenth day of the tenth lunar month) are among the observances shared with popular custom. The Twelve Pitch Pipes are associated with the coordination of musical pitches, times of day, and ritual liturgy.

4. End of the Volume

End of the contents of Volume Eight of the Shangqing Lingbao Document Compendium — This indicates that the volume’s contents list ends here.

In sum: Volume Eight is not the main body of a scripture. It is an index of texts in a Lingbao Zhaijiao document manual. Daoist priests first choose a ritual according to whether it is for disaster relief or salvation and elevation, and according to its divisions; they then consult the petitions, standard texts, and seasonal couplets to prepare the documents for the appropriate time and occasion. To find the actual classical Chinese wording of any entry, consult the corresponding text in the Daozang Jiyao or a related facsimile edition.