Nándǒu yánshòu dēngyí 南斗延壽燈儀
Southern Dipper Lamp Ritual for Prolonging Life
Anonymous Sòng–Yuán Daoist dēngyí 燈儀, six folios, preserved in the Zhèngtǒng Dàozàng 正統道藏 (DZ 0199 / CT 199 = TC 199), 洞真部 威儀類.
About the work
A lamp-ritual addressed to the six stars of the Southern Dipper (Nándǒu 南斗) — the celestial seat of longevity, conventionally paired with the Northern Dipper as registrar of death — performed within an Offering (jiàolǐ 醮禮) of the Lingbao and Hétú jiào 河圖醮 traditions. The text begins with the establishment of an astral altar (xīngtán 星壇), the invitation of the divinities of the constellation, and the lighting of the six lamps in turn, each accompanied by a prose invocation and a verse hymn. The list of divinities matches that in [[KR5a0199|DZ 198 Shàngqīng shíyī dàyào dēngyí]]. The intentions throughout are for the prolongation of life, the dispelling of illness, and the increase of the votary’s lifespan-register. Notably, this text and [[KR5a0201|DZ 200 Běidǒu qīyuán xīng dēngyí]] are exceptions within the editorial group DZ 197–214: they do not require a sacred-text recitation at the end of the rite (cf. Lagerwey ad loc.).
Prefaces
No preface in the source.
Abstract
John Lagerwey, in Schipper & Verellen eds., The Taoist Canon (2004) 2:964–965 (§3.B.1, Zhèngyī, “Lamp Rituals”), describes the work: “The Southern Dipper of the title is the heavenly seat of longevity, object of the Offering (jiàolǐ) of which the present rite forms a part. In order to perform this Offering, which identifies itself as belonging to both the Lingbao tradition and the Hétú jiào 河圖醮, one must first establish an astral sacred area (xīngtán) and invite all the divinities whose names are given at the beginning of the text. The list of divinities is the same as for [[KR5a0199|DZ 198 Shàngqīng shíyī dàyào dēngyí]].” [[KR5a1224|DZ 1224 Dàomén dìngzhì]] mentions (6.3a) an Offering made simultaneously to the divinities of the Northern and Southern Dippers in order to obtain longevity, treating it as a kind of Hétú jiào; the prayers given in DZ 1224 8.14b–17b, however, correspond not to those given here but to those in [[KR5a0624|DZ 624 Tàishàng shuō Nándǒu liùsī yánshòu dùrén miàojīng]]. Together with DZ 200, this text is exceptional within the editorial group of DZ 197–214 in not requiring the recitation of a sacred text at the end. The frontmatter brackets the work 1100–1400, the canonical SòngYuán range of the dēngyí corpus.
Translations and research
No full translation. Standard scholarly entry: John Lagerwey, “Nandou yanshou dengyi,” in Schipper & Verellen eds., The Taoist Canon (2004), Vol. 2 §3.B.1, 964–965. On the Southern Dipper and the Daoist yánshòu 延壽 ritual cycle: Edward H. Schafer, Pacing the Void (Berkeley 1977); Vincent Goossaert, “Counting the Monks: The 1736–1739 Census of the Chinese Clergy,” Late Imperial China 21 (2000): 40–85 (on the persistence of dipper-rites); Mitamura Keiko 三田村圭子, “Dōkyō girei to seishō” 道教儀礼と星象, Tōyō no shisō to shūkyō (2003).
Links
- Kanseki Repository KR5a0200
- Schipper & Verellen, The Taoist Canon (2004), Vol. 2 §3.B.1, 964–965.