Tàishàng dòngxuán língbǎo chìshū yùjué miàojīng 太上洞玄靈寶赤書玉訣妙經
Marvelous Scripture of the Jade Instructions on the Red Writing, of the Most High Cavern-Mystery Numinous Treasure
About the work
A two-juàn scripture of the original Língbǎo corpus, the practical-liturgical counterpart to DZ 22 Yuánshǐ wǔlǎo chìshū yùpiān zhēnwén tiānshū jīng 元始五老赤書玉篇真文天書經. Where the Yùpiān zhēnwén presents the celestial Five True Writs (wǔpiān zhēnwén 五篇真文), the present scripture provides the manual for their practical deployment in ritual: precepts, tablet-casting rites, registers of cosmic correspondences, talisman-swallowing practices, and the regulations for their transmission.
Prefaces
No prefaces in the source. The text opens directly with the revelation to the zhēnrén Wáng Lóngcí 王龍慈 and carries no author preface or transmission colophon.
Abstract
Dated to the original Gě Cháofǔ 葛巢甫 Língbǎo revelation-stratum of ca. 397–402 by Ōfuchi (“On Ku Ling-pao Ching,” 41–42, 46) and Schmidt (Schipper & Verellen, Taoist Canon 1: 216–217, DZ 352). Ōfuchi considered it to have originally comprised a single juàn, but both the present text at 2.4b and DZ 22 Yùpiān zhēnwén 3.15b indicate a two-juàn division from an early date. An integral commentary, probably of roughly the same date, accompanies the scripture (DZ 1124 Dòngxuán língbǎo xuánmén dàyì 11b already reports that its date was uncertain even in the Táng).
The revelation frame addresses a certain Wáng Lóngcí 王龍慈, exhorting him to save all people in the Ten Directions. The content comprises:
Juàn 1:
- Two series of Língbǎo Precepts (identical to DZ 177 Tàishàng dòngzhēn zhìhuì shàngpǐn dàjiè 1b–3a);
- The ritual for redemption from sin by casting inscribed wooden tablets into the realms of the Three Origins of Heaven, Earth, and Water — tóu sānyuán yùjiǎn 投三元玉簡 (1.5a–8a), a seminal elaboration of what becomes the Sòng tóujiǎn 投簡 tablet-casting rite;
- An elaboration on DZ 22 Yùpiān zhēnwén 1.7b–30a: a terrestrial-script rendering of the True Writs (on the textual differences see Kobayashi 1990, 24–28) with explanations of ritual use;
- Instructions for swallowing the fú 符 of the Five Emperors and for the preparation of a sealed bamboo rénwáng stick (taken largely from DZ 22 1.35a–39b).
Juàn 2: 5. An avadāna-style tale of meritorious deeds in previous existences, probably adopted from the Lóngshī nǚ jīng 龍施女經 (Taishō T 558, pp. 909c–910a; see Bokenkamp, “Sources,” 474–475); 6. The practice of ingesting the Five Shoots (shí wǔyá 食五牙), in which the Five Ancients are visualised, transmuted into the qì of the corresponding directions, incorporated by the adept and directed to the associated viscera (2.4b–14a); 7. Fú, invocations, and instructions for swallowing qì largely paralleled in DZ 388 Tàishàng língbǎo wǔfú xù 太上靈寶五符序 1.11b–12a, 3.14b–16a, 3.21a–22a; 8. The sacrifice (jiàojì 醮祭) to the Five Língbǎo Emperors (2.20a–28b), again based on DZ 388 Wǔfú xù 3.4b–7b; 9. The closing transmission-rite for the True Writs and talismans.
The scripture is therefore one of the foundational manuals of the Língbǎo liturgical repertoire, sitting structurally between the cosmological revelations of DZ 22 and the systematised ritual of Lù Xiūjìng’s reformed Retreats.
Translations and research
- Kobayashi Masayoshi 小林正美. “Reihō sekisho gohen shinbun 靈寶赤書五篇真文.” In Rikuchō dōkyōshi kenkyū 六朝道教史研究. Tokyo: Sōbunsha, 1990, 24–28.
- Bokenkamp, Stephen R. “Sources of the Ling-pao Scriptures.” In Tantric and Taoist Studies in Honour of R. A. Stein, edited by Michel Strickmann, vol. 2, 434–486. Brussels: Institut belge des hautes études chinoises, 1983, esp. 474–475.
- Ōfuchi Ninji 大淵忍爾. “On Ku Ling-pao Ching.” Acta Asiatica 27 (1974): 33–56, at 41–42, 46.
- Schipper, Kristofer, and Franciscus Verellen, eds. The Taoist Canon: A Historical Companion to the Daozang. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004, 1:216–217 (DZ 352).