Tàishàng shuō niúhuáng miàojīng 太上說牛𠘛妙經
Marvelous Scripture of the Most High on Cattle Plague
(The catalog title uses the rare graph 𠘛, a variant of 癀 huáng (“epizootic disease, cattle pest”); the Taoist Canon records the title as 太上說牛癀妙經.)
About the work
A short two-folio Daoist exorcistic scripture against cattle plague (niúhuáng 牛癀). Transmitted in the Dàozàng in a composite juàn with DZ 362, DZ 363, DZ 364, and DZ 365 (KR5b0046–KR5b0049).
Prefaces
Source file missing in the working corpus. The directory /home/Shared/krp/KR5b/[[KR5b0050]]/ is absent from the filesystem and could not be consulted directly; the present entry is therefore based solely on the Taoist Canon notice. On any re-acquisition of the source text, this entry should be rewritten with direct reference to the scripture itself.
Abstract
Dated by Lagerwey (Schipper & Verellen, Taoist Canon 3: 960, DZ 366) with the note “the date is uncertain,” placing the text within the Táng–Sòng cluster of short apotropaic-veterinary scriptures in the composite juàn. The scripture was intended for use in a ritual of exorcism of cattle plague. Given the placement in the composite juàn alongside other agrarian / household / veterinary apotropaia (rain-making, tomb-dragons, stove-goddess, silkworm-kings), the work belongs clearly to the late-medieval ritual-economic corpus; the vocabulary of niúhuáng for cattle epidemics is attested primarily in Sòng and later materials.
Translations and research
- Schipper, Kristofer, and Franciscus Verellen, eds. The Taoist Canon: A Historical Companion to the Daozang. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004, 3:960 (DZ 366).