Tàishàng dòngzhēn xiánmén jīng 太上洞真賢門經
Book of the Gate of Sages, Most High Dòngzhēn Scripture
Táng Daoist confession-litany scripture, thirty-four folios, originally titled Lǎojūn xiánmén jīng 老君賢門經, preserved in the Zhèngtǒng Dàozàng 正統道藏 (DZ 0061 / CT 61), 洞真部 本文類; also in Dàozàng jíyào JY080
About the work
A thirty-four-folio Táng Daoist confession-litany scripture structured as a litany of [[KR5a0903|DZ 903 Tàishàng língbǎo jìngmíng fēixiān dùrén jīngfǎ 太上靈寶淨明飛仙度人經法]] (not of DZ 573 Xuánzhū gē, as the text announces at 1a — probably a mis-citation), enumerating the yìngshēn 應身 (“response-bodies”) of Yuánshǐ tiānzūn in each of the Ten Directions. The scripture was originally titled Lǎojūn xiánmén jīng 老君賢門經 (“Book of the Gate of the Sages of Lord Lǎo”; 1a), Lǎozǐ’s name appearing twice in the text at its beginning and end. The present Daozang title is probably due to the scripture’s inclusion under the Dòngzhēn 洞真 division of the Daozang.
The confessions linked to these litanies of names deal with only three sins: killing, theft, and concupiscence — the first three of the five sins prohibited by the Five Commandments given during the Táng to Daoist initiates (see [[KR5a0784|DZ 784 Tàishàng Lǎojūn jièjīng]] 6b–7b). In each sequence, the adept first confesses these sins in the religious realm (killing to make a sacrifice to gods and demons; 7a), and then confesses the same sins in the profane realm.
Prefaces
No prefaces in the source.
Abstract
John Lagerwey, in Schipper & Verellen eds., The Taoist Canon (2004) 1:572–573 (§2.B.7), assigns the scripture to the Táng, noting that the litanies are of the same type as the “obeisances-followed-by-confessions” litanies associated with the Cíbēi 慈悲 (“Compassion of the Most High”) liturgies — six times ten obeisances per juan, followed by confessions. The frontmatter brackets composition notBefore 618 / notAfter 907, with dynasty 唐. No author is attributed.
Translations and research
No translation. Standard scholarly entry: John Lagerwey, “Taishang dongzhen xianmen jing,” in Schipper & Verellen eds., The Taoist Canon (2004), Vol. 1 §2.B.7, 572–573.
Other points of interest
The scripture is a substantial Táng witness to the confession-litany genre of Daoist ritual literature, in which litanies of divine names are paired with threefold-sin confessions as the operative structure. The transformation of the original Lǎojūn xiánmén jīng into a Dòngzhēn scripture reflects the Míng editorial rearrangement of the canon.
Links
- Kanseki Repository KR5a0061
- Schipper & Verellen, The Taoist Canon (2004), Vol. 1 §2.B.7, 572–573 — DZ 61 entry (John Lagerwey).