Tàishàng dòngyuān cíwēn shénzhòu miàojīng 太上洞淵辭瘟神咒妙經
Marvellous Scripture of Divine Incantations of the Abyssal Caverns, [Pronounced by] the Most High for Averting Epidemics
two-folio Táng Daoist epidemic-apotropaic scripture, preserved in the Zhèngtǒng Dàozàng 正統道藏 (DZ 0054 / CT 54), 洞真部 本文類
About the work
A two-folio Táng Daoist scripture on the apotropaic use of short Retreat (zhāi 齋) rituals to save the sick from epidemic illness. The scripture describes how Yuánshǐ tiānzūn revealed it in the Supreme Yáng Palace (Shàngyáng gōng 上陽宮) to Dòngyuān tiānzūn 洞淵天尊 (“Celestial Worthy of the Abyssal Caverns”), for the purpose of saving people from devastating illnesses. The calamities are explained as due to the perverted hearts of those who do not respect the Three Treasures (Sānbǎo 三寶); the perpetrators’ names are recorded by the emissaries of the Five Emperors (wǔdì 五帝) and other divine authorities, who send epidemics and disasters in retribution, not only to humans but also to domestic animals. To obtain release and have one’s name erased from the celestial registers, families should establish sacred areas (dàochǎng 道場) and practise Retreats, reciting this scripture and offering incense.
Prefaces
No prefaces in the source.
Abstract
Christine Mollier, in Schipper & Verellen eds., The Taoist Canon (2004) 1:512 (§2.B.6, “Dongyuan and Shengxuan Scriptures and Rituals”), dates the scripture to the Táng. She notes that the text was joined to three other short scriptures in the same juan of the Míng Daozang, and that, like the other three, it dates from 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: Christine Mollier, “Taishang dongyuan ciwen shenzhou miaojing,” in Schipper & Verellen eds., The Taoist Canon (2004), Vol. 1 §2.B.6, 512. For the wider Dòngyuān 洞淵 apotropaic-epidemic-ritual tradition see Mollier, Une apocalypse taoïste du Ve siècle (De Boccard, 1990).
Other points of interest
The scripture is a clean example of the Táng Daoist cíwēn 辭瘟 (“averting plague”) short-scripture genre, in which an authoritative revelation-frame and a Sānbǎo-reverence exhortation together supply the theological backing for a local family-household plague-aversion ritual. Its inclusion of domestic animals among the victims of divine retribution is distinctive and reflects the Táng Daoist concern with the household economy of retribution.
Links
- Kanseki Repository KR5a0054
- Schipper & Verellen, The Taoist Canon (2004), Vol. 1 §2.B.6, 512 — DZ 54 entry (Christine Mollier).