Tàishàng sāndòng shénzhòu 太上三洞神咒
Divine Spells from the Most High Three Caverns
vast Míng-dynasty collection of Daoist ritual incantations, invocations, spells, and formulas in twelve juan, preserved in the Zhèngtǒng Dàozàng 正統道藏 (DZ 0078 / CT 78), 洞真部 本文類
About the work
A twelve-juan unsigned, undated Daoist compilation of invocations, incantations, spells (zhòu 咒), magic formulas, and prayers for ritual purposes. The spells are loosely classified under vague headings placed at the beginning of each juan, and are mainly exorcistic in nature; only juan 6 and juan 12 carry formulas accompanying soul-salvation and repose-of-the-dead rituals.
The collection opens with a version of the famous Jīnguāng shénzhòu 金光神咒 (“Divine Spell of Golden Light”), in which the text is interspersed with pseudo-Sanskrit dhāraṇī; the exact same esoteric version is found in [[KR5a1220|DZ 1220 Dàofǎ huìyuán 道法會元]] 89.2a. Many other formulas are drawn from popular ritual practice: the Ān tǔdì zhòu 安土地咒 (“Spell for Pacifying the Earth-God”; 9.5a), the Huàqián zhòu 化錢咒 (“Spell for Burning Sacrificial Money”; 9.3b), and so on.
Prefaces
No prefaces in the source.
Abstract
Kristofer Schipper, in Schipper & Verellen eds., The Taoist Canon (2004) 2:1040 (§3.B.3, Língbǎo — end of subsection), dates the collection to the Míng on the strength of its popular-ritual content — in particular the huàqián 化錢 burning-of-sacrificial-money spell, which belongs to late-Míng popular practice — and its extensive overlap with DZ 1220 and other Míng-era ritual compendia. The catalog-meta dynasty 明 is accepted. The frontmatter brackets composition notBefore 1386 / notAfter 1644, with dynasty 明. No author is attributed.
Translations and research
No complete translation. Standard scholarly entry: Kristofer Schipper, “Taishang sandong shenzhou,” in Schipper & Verellen eds., The Taoist Canon (2004), Vol. 2 §3.B.3, 1040. For the Jīnguāng shénzhòu and related popular spells: Florian C. Reiter, Basic Conditions of Taoist Thunder Magic (Harrassowitz, 2007); John Lagerwey, Taoist Ritual in Chinese Society and History (Macmillan, 1987).
Other points of interest
The collection is one of the most extensive assemblies of Daoist ritual formulas in the Daozang, supplying a useful working compendium of the late-Míng ritual idiom — particularly the popular-ritual register drawn from Taiwan and Fujian temple practice. The presence of pseudo-Sanskrit dhāraṇī interspersed through the formulas is a signature feature of Míng ritual-magic, and the integration of the huàqián burning-of-sacrificial-money ritual under a dedicated spell shows the formalisation of this popular practice in Daoist canonical ritual by the late Míng.
Links
- Kanseki Repository KR5a0078
- Schipper & Verellen, The Taoist Canon (2004), Vol. 2 §3.B.3, 1040 — DZ 78 entry (Kristofer Schipper).