Tàishàng Yuánshǐ tiānzūn shuō xiāotiǎn chónghuáng jīng 太上元始天尊說消殄蟲蝗經
Scripture for Dispelling Plagues of Insects and Locusts, Pronounced by the Most High Yuánshǐ Tiānzūn
short Daoist agricultural-plague prophylactic scripture for the jiào 醮 offering, two folios, preserved in the Zhèngtǒng Dàozàng 正統道藏 (DZ 0067 / CT 67), 洞真部 本文類
About the work
A two-folio Daoist scripture on the ritual elimination of insect and locust plagues (chónghuáng 蟲蝗). In response to a question by Tàijí zhēnrén 太極真人 as to why there have recently been crop failures due to untimely weather and plagues of locusts, Yuánshǐ tiānzūn explains that this is punishment for a farming population that wastes its crops and is ungrateful for plentiful harvests. Yuánshǐ tiānzūn is now about to dispatch various divinities to extinguish the afflictions. In return, the people should improve their conduct, establish a sacred area (dàochǎng 道場), offer sacrifices, and invoke the divinities.
Prefaces
No prefaces in the source.
Abstract
Hans-Hermann Schmidt, in Schipper & Verellen eds., The Taoist Canon (2004) 2:956 (§3.B.1, Zhèngyī), identifies the scripture as part of the community-jiào 醮 ritual programme: the recitation was probably part of a minor jiào offering held when a rural community was threatened by locusts. Various rituals for the same purpose are found in [[KR5a0466|DZ 466 Língbǎo lìngjiào jìdù jīnshū 靈寶領教濟度金書]] 259 and [[KR5a1224|DZ 1224 Dàomén dìngzhì]] 7.252–30a. The frontmatter brackets composition notBefore 618 / notAfter 1279 (a conservative TángSòng window covering the attested liturgical use), with dynasty 唐—宋. No author is attributed.
Translations and research
No translation. Standard scholarly entry: Hans-Hermann Schmidt, “Taishang yuanshi tianzun shuo xiaotian chonghuang jing,” in Schipper & Verellen eds., The Taoist Canon (2004), Vol. 2 §3.B.1, 956.
Other points of interest
The scripture is a useful witness to the Daoist agricultural-ritual programme: community-level jiào offerings for specific ecological-agricultural crises (locust plagues, droughts, epidemics), each supplied with a short scripture-text authorising the ritual and supplying the divine addressees. The scripture-text is short enough to be reproduced in a single pamphlet and recited at the altar in one pass.
Links
- Kanseki Repository KR5a0067
- Schipper & Verellen, The Taoist Canon (2004), Vol. 2 §3.B.1, 956 — DZ 67 entry (H.-H. Schmidt).