Tàishàng dòngxuán língbǎo zhēnwén yàojiě shàngjīng 太上洞玄靈寶真文要解上經
Superior Scripture with Essential Explanations on the True Writs, of the Most High Cavern-Mystery Numinous Treasure
About the work
A one-juàn liturgical scripture of the early Língbǎo corpus, one of the “eleven juàn purportedly transmitted to Gě Xuán 葛玄.” Despite its title, it is not a verbal commentary on the Five True Writs (Wǔpiān zhēnwén 五篇真文) but a manual of the liturgical practice centred on them.
Prefaces
No prefaces in the source. The scripture opens with a transmission tag — 高玄大法師受 (“Received by the Great Preceptor of the Lofty Mystery”) — and then proceeds directly into its cosmological/liturgical exposition. There is no author preface or postface.
Abstract
Dated to the Six Dynasties (220–589), and more specifically to the original Gě-family Língbǎo stratum of ca. 397–430 (Cedzich in Schipper & Verellen, Taoist Canon 1: 240, DZ 330). Cited in Wúshàng bìyào 無上祕要 32.18a and in the Dūnhuáng manuscript Pelliot 2455 (Língbǎo zìrán zhāiyí 靈寶自然齋儀; Ōfuchi, Tonkō dōkyō: Zurokuhen 146, line 32).
Its structure: (i) an introductory narrative on the genesis of the Five True Writs, drawing plainly on DZ 22 Yuánshǐ wǔlǎo chìshū yùpiān zhēnwén tiānshū jīng 元始五老赤書玉篇真文天書經 1a–2b; (ii) an enumeration of the “twelve universal virtues” (shí’èr dé 十二德) of the cosmic symbols and of the “twelve vows” (shí’èr yuàn 十二願); (iii) invocations to the Protective Deities of the Five Directions (wèilíng shénzhòu 威靈神咒), a basic element of the classical Língbǎo zhāi 齋 liturgy (cf. DZ 528 Tàishàng dòngxuán língbǎo shòudùyí 10a–11b); (iv) formulae of repentance and requests for pardon addressed to the Ten Directions (chànxiè shífāng 懺謝十方, paralleled in DZ 1411 Dòngxuán língbǎo chángyè zhīfǔ jiǔyōu yùguì míngzhēn kē 17b–24a); and (v) hymns and instructions for paying homage to Dōnghǎi qīngtóng jūn 東海青童君 and Dàdào yùchén jūn 大道玉晨君 — material directly borrowed from the early Máoshān Shàngqīng literature (cf. DZ 1016 Zhēn’gào 真誥 3.9a–b, 3.16a–b, 9.15a–b).
The scripture corresponds to number 22 of the canonical list of the Língbǎo corpus, falling within the first (Língbǎo “new-text”) stratum of Lù Xiūjìng’s Jīngmù.
Translations and research
- Yamada Toshiaki 山田利明. Rikuchō dōkyō girei no kenkyū 六朝道教儀禮の研究. Tokyo: Tōhō shoten, 1999.
- Ōfuchi Ninji 大淵忍爾. “On Ku Ling-pao Ching.” Acta Asiatica 27 (1974): 33–56.
- Ōfuchi Ninji. Tonkō dōkyō: Zurokuhen 敦煌道經：圖錄編. Tokyo: Fukutake shoten, 1979, p. 146.
- Schipper, Kristofer, and Franciscus Verellen, eds. The Taoist Canon: A Historical Companion to the Daozang. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004, 1:240 (DZ 330).