Běidǒu běnmìng yánshòu dēngyí 北斗本命延壽燈儀
Lamp Ritual of Northern Dipper Individual Destiny for Extending Longevity
Anonymous Sòng–Yuán Daoist dēngyí 燈儀, four folios, preserved in the Zhèngtǒng Dàozàng 正統道藏 (DZ 0201 / CT 201 = TC 201), 洞真部 威儀類.
About the work
A short personal lamp-ritual extending the Northern Dipper sequence of the editorial group, addressed to the běnmìng 本命 — the Lord of the Seven Stars personally identified with the votary’s birth-date — for the prolongation of the votary’s life. The text is to be performed on the votary’s birthday: he is to “invite a True Friend” (qǐng zhēnyǒu 請真友, i.e. a Daoist priest) to celebrate the present ritual of confession and wishes. Unlike the parent texts [[KR5a0200|DZ 199 Nándǒu yánshòu dēngyí]] and [[KR5a0201|DZ 200 Běidǒu qīyuán xīng dēngyí]] — composed of as many sections as there are stars in the corresponding constellation — this text contains only five sections, one for each of the Five Directions, each addressed to the běnmìng zhī xīngzhǔ 本命之星主 (“astral lord of fundamental destiny”) corresponding to that direction.
Prefaces
No preface in the source.
Abstract
John Lagerwey, in Schipper & Verellen eds., The Taoist Canon (2004) 2:965 (§3.B.1, Zhèngyī, “Lamp Rituals”), notes: “The destiny of every human being is determined by the lord of the seven stars of the Northern Dipper associated with his or her birth date. People should ‘invite a True Friend’ to celebrate the present ritual of confession and wishes on their birthday. Contrary to [[KR5a0200|DZ 199 Nándǒu yánshòu dēngyí]] and [[KR5a0201|DZ 200 Běidǒu qīyuán xīng dēngyí]], each of which is composed of a number of prose and verse sections equal to the number of stars in the Southern or Northern Dippers, this text contains only five such sections — one for each of the five directions, no doubt — each of which is addressed to an astral lord of Fundamental Destiny (běnmìng 本命).” The text shares the standardised liturgical formulae of the editorial group DZ 197–214 (the zhìxīn guīmìng homage formula and the fúyuàn statement of wishes) and concludes with the prescribed sacred-text recitation. The frontmatter brackets the work 1100–1400.
Translations and research
No full translation. Standard scholarly entry: John Lagerwey, “Beidou benming yanshou dengyi,” in Schipper & Verellen eds., The Taoist Canon (2004), Vol. 2 §3.B.1, 965. On the běnmìng concept and the Northern-Dipper destiny-cult: Edward H. Schafer, Pacing the Void (Berkeley 1977); Mugitani Kunio 麥谷邦夫, “Hokkutosin shinkō no isei to tenkai” 北斗信仰の生成と展開, Tōhō shūkyō 91 (1998); Mark Halperin, “Pieties and Responsibilities: Buddhism and the Chinese Literati, 780–1280” (Cambridge, MA: Harvard, 2006), Chap. 4.
Links
- Kanseki Repository KR5a0202
- Schipper & Verellen, The Taoist Canon (2004), Vol. 2 §3.B.1, 965.