Wúshàng dàshèng yàojué miàojīng 無上大乘要訣妙經
Marvellous Supreme Epitome of the Great Vehicle
Táng Daoist dàshèng 大乘 scripture-summary, eleven folios, preserved in the Zhèngtǒng Dàozàng 正統道藏 (DZ 0058 / CT 58), 洞真部 本文類
About the work
An eleven-folio Daoist yàojué 要訣 (“epitome”) revealed by Yuánshǐ tiānzūn 元始天尊 to Tàishàng dàojūn 太上道君 in the Dàfútáng guó 大福堂國 (“Land of the Great Good-Fortune Hall”). The scripture is framed as a summary of the great Daoist scripture-cycles of the seventh–eighth centuries, structured around a modified version of the Lotus Sūtra’s Parable of the Burning House (3b–4a): in order to entice his children out of the burning house, a father promises them three kinds of vehicles, but once they are safe he gives them only one Great Vehicle. In like manner, Yuánshǐ tiānzūn urges Tàishàng dàojūn to abandon the methods of the Lesser Vehicle (xiǎoshèng 小乘) and to spread the “true methods of the Língbǎo teaching” (3a). In decadent times, Tiānzūn adds, there is no merit greater than organising Retreats (zhāijiè 齋戒) and preaching the present text, nor any demerit greater than criticising this text (8a–10a); helping others to understand the text will likewise be abundantly rewarded.
Prefaces
No prefaces in the source.
Abstract
John Lagerwey, in Schipper & Verellen eds., The Taoist Canon (2004) 1:540–541 (§2.B.7, Língbǎo), dates the scripture to the mid- or late Táng — the use of the term shòujì 受記 (“receive the imprint”; 1b, 6a) makes it later than [[KR5a0009|DZ 9 Tàishàng yīshèng hǎikōng zhìzàng jīng]], which is itself securely dated to the early eighth century; and the Dàshèng yàojué calque on the Buddhist sūtra-saṃgraha epitome-genre is characteristic of mature Táng Mahāyāna-Daoist scripture-culture. The frontmatter brackets composition notBefore 700 / notAfter 907, with dynasty 唐. No author is attributed.
Translations and research
No translation. Standard scholarly entry: John Lagerwey, “Wushang dacheng yaojue miaojing,” in Schipper & Verellen eds., The Taoist Canon (2004), Vol. 1 §2.B.7, 540–541.
Other points of interest
The scripture is one of the clearest Daoist appropriations of the Mahāyāna Lotus Sūtra Parable of the Burning House: a narrative motif translated from the Buddhist Parable-Scripture tradition into a Daoist scriptural summary, with the “three vehicles” rhetoric redeployed in the Daoist dàshèng 大乘 vs. xiǎoshèng 小乘 argument against the older practice-oriented (longevity, terrestrial-immortality) Daoism in favour of the Mahāyāna-calqued Língbǎo dàfǎ.
Links
- Kanseki Repository KR5a0058
- Schipper & Verellen, The Taoist Canon (2004), Vol. 1 §2.B.7, 540–541 — DZ 58 entry (John Lagerwey).