Yuánshǐ tiānzūn shuō sānguān bǎohào jīng 元始天尊說三官寶號經
The Heavenly Worthy of the Primordial Beginning Utters the Precious Titles of the Three Officials
short Daoist scripture on the titles of the Sānguān 三官 (Three Officers of Heaven, Earth, Water), two folios, preserved in the Zhèngtǒng Dàozàng 正統道藏 (DZ 0071 / CT 71), 洞真部 本文類
About the work
A two-folio Daoist scripture on the Sānguān 三官 — the Three Officers of Heaven, Earth, and Water, the archaic Celestial-Master divinities who preside over the cosmic tribunals of the Sānyuán 三元 (Three Principles) days. While Yuánshǐ tiānzūn is preaching in the Dàluó 大羅 Heaven, the Chìjiǎo dàxiān 赤腳大仙 (“Barefoot Immortal”) asks him how to dispel the misfortunes that plague human beings. Tiānzūn responds: let them recite “the precious titles of the Three Officers” — and himself proceeds to pronounce them.
Prefaces
No prefaces in the source.
Abstract
John Lagerwey, in Schipper & Verellen eds., The Taoist Canon (2004) 2:959 (§3.B.1, Zhèngyī), does not commit to a narrow date but classes the scripture within the SòngYuán Sānguān devotional cluster that extends the archaic Celestial-Master Sānguān tradition. The frontmatter brackets composition conservatively notBefore 618 / notAfter 1279, with dynasty 唐—宋. No author is attributed.
Translations and research
No translation. Standard scholarly entry: John Lagerwey, “Yuanshi tianzun shuo sanguan baohao jing,” in Schipper & Verellen eds., The Taoist Canon (2004), Vol. 2 §3.B.1, 959.
Other points of interest
The scripture is a compact devotional witness to the Sānguān bǎohào 三官寶號 invocation-practice — the recitation of the canonical titles of Heaven’s, Earth’s, and Water’s tribunals as an apotropaic exercise — which remains a core element of modern Daoist temple liturgy.
Links
- Kanseki Repository KR5a0071
- Schipper & Verellen, The Taoist Canon (2004), Vol. 2 §3.B.1, 959 — DZ 71 entry (John Lagerwey).