Tàishàng dòngxuán língbǎo sìfāng dàyuàn jīng 太上洞玄靈寶四方大願經
Scripture of the Great Supplications in the Four Directions, of the Most High Cavern-Mystery Numinous Treasure
About the work
A Táng five-folio liturgical scripture transmitted in a composite juàn with DZ 342 (KR5b0026). The title refers to the “Great Supplications” (dàyuàn 大願) that an adept pursuing the Way, whether in mountain retreat or in a monastic observatory, is to address each morning and evening toward the four cardinal directions.
Prefaces
No prefaces in the source. The text opens directly with the Heavenly Worthy’s exhortation and carries no author preface or transmission colophon.
Abstract
Dated to the Táng by Lagerwey (Schipper & Verellen, Taoist Canon 2: 538, DZ 343). The Heavenly Worthy promises those who seek the Dào — whether in mountain seclusion or in monasteries — that their goal will be reached if morning and evening they pronounce the sìfāng dàyuàn to the four directions and intercalate the associated zhùyuàn 祝願 (“benedictions”) before and after eating and drinking. The body of the scripture prescribes the text of each of the four directional supplications in order, with associated hymns, and interleaves them with the benedictions-of-meals formulae and with regulations for the coordinated burning of incense.
The text is one of the important witnesses to the liturgical harmonisation of private ascetic practice and communal monastic discipline in Táng Daoism. Its regulations are quarried by the later compilation DZ 508 Wúshàng huánglù dàzhāi lìchéng yí 無上黃籙大齋立成儀 and by the Sòng ritual corpus.
Translations and research
- Schipper, Kristofer, and Franciscus Verellen, eds. The Taoist Canon: A Historical Companion to the Daozang. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004, 2:538 (DZ 343).