Tàishàng shuō jiǔyōu bázuì xīnyìn miàojīng 太上說九幽拔罪心印妙經
Marvellous Heart-Seal Scripture in which Tàishàng Explains the Nine Hells and Release from Sin
Sòng Daoist soul-salvation scripture for the Jiǔyōu 九幽 nine-hell cosmology, two folios, preserved in the Zhèngtǒng Dàozàng 正統道藏 (DZ 0074 / CT 74), 洞真部 本文類
About the work
A two-folio Daoist scripture in which Tàishàng (here identified with Yuánshǐ tiānzūn) explains to Jiǔkǔ zhēnrén 救苦真人 that people “drown in the Sea of Suffering” because of their evil thoughts, for “all comes from the heart” (萬法唯心). In order “not to give rise to the heart of this world,” one need only recite the present text, thereby saving one’s ancestors from the nine hells.
Prefaces
No prefaces in the source.
Abstract
John Lagerwey, in Schipper & Verellen eds., The Taoist Canon (2004) 2:984 (§3.B.3, Língbǎo), identifies the scripture as a required recitation in the context of a Huánglù zhāi 黃籙齋 Retreat, according to [[KR5a1224|DZ 1224 Dàomén dìngzhì 道門定制]] 5.8a: it is the recitation to be used at the “sixth hour,” the hour of the hungry souls (cf. [[KR5a0466|DZ 466 Língbǎo lìngjiào jìdù jīnshū]] 308.20a and [[KR5a0219|DZ 219 Língbǎo wúliàng dùrén shàngjīng dàfǎ]] 71.8b, both of which mention the recitation of a Jiǔyōu bázuì miàojīng). This integration within the Sòng Daoist Huánglù zhāi and Língbǎo dàfǎ ritual programmes fixes a Sòng date. The xīnyìn 心印 heart-seal vocabulary is Sòng-era; the “all comes from the heart” doctrine reflects the Sòng Chán-Daoist doctrinal dialogue. The frontmatter brackets composition notBefore 1100 / notAfter 1279, with dynasty 宋. No author is attributed.
Translations and research
No translation. Standard scholarly entry: John Lagerwey, “Taishang shuo jiuyou bazui xinyin miaojing,” in Schipper & Verellen eds., The Taoist Canon (2004), Vol. 2 §3.B.3, 984.
Other points of interest
The scripture is a compact Sòng-era Daoist Chán-influenced soul-salvation text: the scriptural authority of the xīnyìn (“heart-seal”) doctrine is deployed in a Daoist ritual-context to underwrite a scripture-recitation practice for hungry-ghost salvation. Its integration into the Sòng Huánglù zhāi liturgical programme — specifically the “sixth hour” of the Retreat — gives it a secure institutional-liturgical anchor.
Links
- Kanseki Repository KR5a0074
- Schipper & Verellen, The Taoist Canon (2004), Vol. 2 §3.B.3, 984 — DZ 74 entry (John Lagerwey).