Tàishàng Yuánshǐ tiānzūn zhèngguǒ zhēnjīng 太上元始天尊證果真經

True Scripture of the Most High Yuánshǐ Tiānzūn on Rewards

brief one-folio Táng Daoist short-scripture on the rewards (zhèngguǒ 證果) obtained through recitation, preserved in the Zhèngtǒng Dàozàng 正統道藏 (DZ 0047 / CT 47), 洞真部 本文類

About the work

A one-folio Táng Daoist short scripture on the zhèngguǒ 證果 (“rewards” — the Buddhist-calqued term for the fruits of practice) that can be obtained through transmission and constant recitation of the scripture. For adepts: heavenly protection, roaming the Shàngqīng heaven, immortality, and destruction of demonic powers. For ordinary mortals: longevity, domestic happiness, and redemption of the souls from postmortem punishment. The scripture concludes with a hymn recapitulating these promises.

Prefaces

No prefaces in the source. The text opens directly with Yuánshǐ tiānzūn’s revelation and ends with the closing hymn.

Abstract

Ursula-Angelika Cedzich, in Schipper & Verellen eds., The Taoist Canon (2004) 1:556 (§2.B.7.a.3, “Short Doctrinal and Prophylactic Texts”), assigns the scripture to the Táng. The frontmatter brackets composition notBefore 618 / notAfter 907, with dynasty 唐. No author is attributed.

Translations and research

No translation. Standard scholarly entry: Ursula-Angelika Cedzich, “Taishang yuanshi tianzun zhengguo zhenjing,” in Schipper & Verellen eds., The Taoist Canon (2004), Vol. 1 §2.B.7.a.3, 556.

Other points of interest

The scripture is a compact specimen of the Táng “reward-promise short scripture” genre, in which a brief revelation-frame and efficacy-list together constitute a complete devotional charm. Its two-tier reward structure — Daoist-visionary rewards for adepts, worldly-and-posthumous rewards for lay recipients — is characteristic of Táng Mahāyāna-Daoist devotional stratification.