Tàishàng tàixuán Nǚqīng sānyuán pǐnjiè bázuì miàojīng 太上太玄女青三元品誡拔罪妙經
Marvellous Scripture That Abolishes Sins against the Classified Rules of the Three Principles, Spoken by the Most High Most Mysterious Nǚqīng
Táng-era litany-form recension (bǎochàn 寶懺) of the early-Língbǎo [[KR5a0436|DZ 436 Tàishàng dòngxuán língbǎo sānyuán pǐnjiè gōngdé qīngzhòng jīng 太上洞玄靈寶三元品誡功德輕重經]], three juan, preserved in the Zhèngtǒng Dàozàng 正統道藏 (DZ 0036 / CT 36), 洞真部 本文類
About the work
A three-juan Táng litany-form (bǎochàn 寶懺) expansion of the early-Língbǎo scripture DZ 436, which enumerates the Sānyuán pǐnjiè 三元品誡 — the classified rules of the Sānyuán 三元 (the Three Principles: Heaven, Earth, and Water) — according to which sins committed against each of the three are judged, graded, and for which, when acknowledged, absolution can be obtained. The Nǚqīng 女青 invocation-title, from the ancient Nǚqīng 女青 (Nǚqīng guǐlǜ 女青鬼律) demon-taming tradition of the late-Hàn Celestial-Master movement, is attached in the Táng version as authorising frame. The litany form makes the scripture suitable for ritual recitation as a sin-dissolution rite (bázuì 拔罪): the offending practitioner calls up each category of transgression in turn and confesses it before the Sānyuán tribunals.
Prefaces
No prefaces in the source. The text opens directly with the Nǚqīng revelation-frame.
Abstract
Kristofer Schipper, in Schipper & Verellen eds., The Taoist Canon (2004) 1:—, identifies the scripture as a Táng litany-form recension of the earlier-Língbǎo DZ 436, confirming the dating on internal evidence: the reference at 1.10a to the “canons and statutes of the Holy Dào of the Mysterious Origin” (Xuányuán shèngdào zhī diǎnzhāng 玄元聖道之典章) reflects the Táng imperial-Daoist Xuányuánhuángdì 玄元皇帝 cultic apparatus (the imperial deification of Lǎozǐ under the Lǐ 李 Táng dynasty), securing a Táng composition-context. The frontmatter accordingly brackets composition notBefore 618 / notAfter 907, with dynasty 唐.
No author is attributed; no persons are listed in the catalog meta.
Translations and research
No translation or dedicated study. Standard scholarly entry: Kristofer Schipper, in Schipper & Verellen eds., The Taoist Canon (2004), Vol. 1 — DZ 36 entry. For the Sānyuán pǐnjiè doctrinal tradition see Schipper’s entry on DZ 436 (the early-Língbǎo parent text). For the Nǚqīng tradition from which the scripture inherits its authority-name, see Stephen R. Bokenkamp, Early Daoist Scriptures (California, 1997), and Nickerson’s work on the Celestial-Master Nǚqīng guǐlǜ 女青鬼律.
Other points of interest
The scripture is a clear example of the Táng editorial practice of recasting early-Língbǎo confessional scriptures in the bǎochàn 寶懺 (“precious litany”) mode — a form that became foundational in the Sòng and Yuán Daoist liturgical programme. Its deliberate deployment of the archaic Nǚqīng name-authority, combined with the Táng imperial Xuányuán cult-reference, supplies a useful witness to the Táng Daoist editorial stance toward the archaic and imperial components of its own heritage.
Links
- Kanseki Repository KR5a0036
- Schipper & Verellen, The Taoist Canon (2004), Vol. 1 — DZ 36 entry (Kristofer Schipper).