Tàishàng Tàiqīng bázuì shēngtiān bǎochàn 太上太清拔罪升天寶懺
Precious Litany of the Most High Tàiqīng Heaven for Eradicating Guilt and Ascending to Heaven
Anonymous Táng–Sòng Daoist bǎochàn 寶懺, seven folios, preserved in the Zhèngtǒng Dàozàng 正統道藏 (DZ 0192 / CT 192 = TC 190-3), 洞真部 威儀類.
About the work
The third and concluding member of the sānqīng 三清 set of repentance-litanies, addressed to the saints of the Tàiqīng 太清 (“Great Purity”) heaven, paired with DZ 190 and DZ 191. As the title indicates, its specific function is the eradication of accumulated guilt and the lifting of the votary into the celestial paradises. The text opens with a revelation from Yuánshǐ tiānzūn 元始天尊 about the painful suffering humanity must endure in the various hells, the cause of which is identified as ignorance of the Daoist scriptures: most people, “led astray by wrong convictions” (xiéjiàn 邪見), are unable to renounce sin and guilt. Recitation of the litany of the Heavenly Worthies — supplemented by the Tàiqīng pantheon — is presented as the most effective method of deliverance, and as a defense against future sin. The work closes with a verse and a final yī xīn chànhuǐ formula: “May the past faults and ancient defilements all be washed away in a single bow… by sounding the holy names from the Jade Books, the burdens of sin’s dust are at once exhausted, the body fixes itself in the realm of pure tenuity, the names of the dead are stricken from the black register and recorded in cinnabar on the Cinnabar Terrace.”
Prefaces
No preface in the source.
Abstract
Florian C. Reiter, in Schipper & Verellen eds., The Taoist Canon (2004) 1:573 (§2.B.7, Lingbao), groups DZ 190, 191, and 192 as one work: “The above three titles form one work. There is no indication as to the date of the text. This type of scripture seems to have emerged during the Tang period.” The 192 Bázuì shēngtiān bǎochàn is again divided into two parts. A revelation made by the Heavenly Worthy of Primordial Beginning introduces the first part. In this respect the text may be compared with [[KR5a0190|DZ 189 Tàishàng língbǎo cháotiān xièzuì dàchàn]]. The Heavenly Worthy speaks about the painful suffering that humanity has to endure in hell. This suffering is due to ignorance of the Daoist scriptures. Being led astray by wrong convictions, most people are unable to renounce sin and guilt. The methods of repentance, especially the recitation of the names of all saints, are praised as the best way to accomplish this renunciation; such recitations can also bolster the defenses against future sin and guilt. The second part speaks about those who have indulged in profane affairs and not restrained their sensual desires; they must admit their faults, and, showing repentance, they should recite the litanies presented in this part. The frontmatter brackets the work to the Táng–Sòng range, since no internal evidence permits a tighter date.
Translations and research
No full translation. Standard scholarly entry: Florian C. Reiter, “Taishang taiqing bazui shengtian baochan,” in Schipper & Verellen eds., The Taoist Canon (2004), Vol. 1 §2.B.7, 573. On the iconography and ritual context of the Three Pure Ones see Stephen Bokenkamp, Early Daoist Scriptures (Berkeley: U. of California Press, 1997); on the bǎochàn genre, Maruyama Hiroshi, Dōkyō girei monjo no rekishiteki kenkyū (Tōkyō 2004).
Links
- Kanseki Repository KR5a0193
- Schipper & Verellen, The Taoist Canon (2004), Vol. 1 §2.B.7, 573.