Tàishàng jiǔzhēn miàojiè jīnlù dùmìng bázuì miàojīng 太上九真妙戒金籙度命拔罪妙經
Marvellous Scripture of the Golden Register for the Salvation of Life and Redemption from Sin, [Containing] the Marvellous Precepts of the Nine Perfected
a Táng-period Língbǎo soteriological scripture for the salvation of the dead in the Nine Hells
About the work
A nine-folio Língbǎo soteriological scripture, preserved in the Zhèngtǒng Dàozàng 正統道藏 (DZ 0181 / CT 181 = TC 181), 洞真部 戒律類. Set in the Three-Origins Palace of the Nine-Pure Marvellous Realm 九清妙境三元宮, where Yuánshǐ tiānzūn 元始天尊 sits in radiant assembly with Tàishàng dàojūn, Tàishàng lǎojūn, and the host of perfected beings, the scripture presents the revelation of the Jiǔzhēn miàojiè 九真妙戒 (Nine Perfected’s Marvellous Precepts) in response to a plea from Fēngdū běidì 酆都北帝 — Lord of the Nine Hells — that the suffering souls under his charge be saved. The Tiānzūn in turn addresses the assembled spirits of the underworld and reveals nine precepts (loyalty to ruler, filial piety, no killing, no fornication, no theft, no anger, no slander, no arrogance, single-minded observance), together with two life-protecting talismans: the Jiǔkǔ zhēnfú 九苦真符 (True Talisman of the Nine Sorrows) and the Chángshēng língfú 長生靈符 (Numinous Talisman of Long Life). Recitation of the precepts and use of the talismans are prescribed for the Jiǔyōu dàzhāi 九幽大齋 (Great Retreat of the Nine Realms of Darkness), for the protection of state and ruler, for sailors at sea, for prisoners, and for the salvation of the deceased.
Prefaces
No preface in the source. The text opens directly with the cosmic-assembly frame: “At that time Yuánshǐ tiānzūn was in the Three-Origins Palace of the Nine-Pure Marvellous Realm, controlling the huábǎo cloud-jewel-throne of the Three Pneumas under the qiān-grove…”
Abstract
John Lagerwey, in Schipper & Verellen eds., The Taoist Canon (2004) 1:544–545 (§2.B.7 Língbǎo), identifies the work as a Táng-period Língbǎo scripture, securely datable by a Dūnhuáng manuscript witness (Ōfuchi Ninji, Tonkō dōkyō: Mokurokuhen 326). The text may be as early as the seventh century, if it corresponds to the Jiǔyōu jīng 九幽經 attributed by Xuán Yì 玄嶷 (Táng) to Liú Wǔdài 劉無待 (cf. Yoshioka Yoshitoyo, “Eisei e no negai,” 237; see [[KR5b0426|DZ 370 Tàishàng dòngxuán língbǎo sānyuán yùjīng xuándū dàxiàn jīng]]). The work is quoted under the present title in [[KR5a0307|DZ 1167 Tàishàng gǎnyìng piān]] 26.6a. The term jiǔyōu 九幽 (Nine Realms of Darkness) appears between dùmìng 度命 and bázuì 拔罪 in the Dūnhuáng manuscript title, suggesting that the present canonical title is slightly abbreviated. The scripture envisages the redemption of sin both for the dead in the Nine Hells and for the living, through transmission of the Jīnlù bǎijiǎn jiǔzhēn miàojiè 金籙白簡九真妙戒 during a Jiǔyōu dàzhāi (5a). All Southern-Sòng (1127–1279) liturgical manuals advocate this transmission ([[KR5b0286|DZ 1224 Dàomén dìngzhì]] 4.30b; [[KR5b0298|DZ 547 Língbǎo yùjiàn mùlù]] 27.1a, the latter reversing the order of the first two precepts; the original order is restored in [[KR5b0596|DZ 466 Língjiào jǐdù jīnshū 290.10a]]). Dù Guāngtíng cites a Jiǔzhēn miàojiè jīnlù dùmìng miàojīng that does not match the present text ([[KR5b0598|DZ 507 Tàishàng huánglù zhāiyí]] 56.9a). Pages 1a–7a of the present scripture are also embedded in [[KR5b1573|DZ 1412 Tàishàng yuánshǐ tiānzūn shuō běidì fúmó shénzhòu miàojīng]] 6.1b–7a. The frontmatter brackets composition between the early seventh century (the earliest plausible date for the Jiǔyōu jīng attestation) and ca. 750 (the date of the Dūnhuáng manuscript witness).
Translations and research
No full translation. Standard scholarly entry: John Lagerwey, “Taishang jiuzhen miaojie jinlu duming bazui miaojing,” in Schipper & Verellen eds., The Taoist Canon (2004), Vol. 1 §2.B.7, 544–545. On the Jiǔyōu hells and Táng-period Daoist soteriology see Anna Seidel, “Post-mortem Immortality, or: The Taoist Resurrection of the Body,” in Gilgul: Essays on Transformation, Revolution and Permanence in the History of Religions, Dedicated to R. J. Zwi Werblowsky, ed. S. Shaked et al. (Leiden: Brill, 1987), 223–237; Stephen R. Bokenkamp, Ancestors and Anxiety: Daoism and the Birth of Rebirth in China (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007).
Links
- Kanseki Repository KR5a0182
- Schipper & Verellen, The Taoist Canon (2004), Vol. 1 §2.B.7, 544–545.