Tàishàng dàojūn shuō jiěyuān bádù miàojīng 太上道君說解冤拔度妙經
Marvelous Scripture for Dissolving Grievance and Delivering from Sorrow, Spoken by the Most High Lord of the Dao
About the work
A short two-folio Táng mortuary scripture, preached by the Tàishàng dàojūn in the Eight-Pennant Grove (Bāqiān lín 八騫林). Transmitted in the Dàozàng in a composite juàn with DZ 371 and DZ 373 (KR5b0055 and KR5b0057).
Prefaces
No prefaces in the source. The text opens directly with the revelation scene at the Bāqiān Grove and carries no author preface or transmission colophon.
Abstract
Dated to the Táng by Lagerwey (Schipper & Verellen, Taoist Canon 2: 548, DZ 372). The Tàishàng dàojūn’s explanation of the Dàoyào 道要 in the Bāqiān Grove illumines the entire universe and dramatises the contrast between the hells and the Palaces of Happiness. What have those who suffer in the hells done? asks the zhēnrén of Great Faith (Dùxìn zhēnrén 篤信真人). The Lord of the Dào explains that the zhēnrén, moved to compassion, has chosen to use the light of “the golden words” to publish on earth this book — which delivers from grievance (yuān 冤) and rescues from sins. Lay people are directed to recite it six times during a retreat in their Pure Chamber.
The scripture is one of the earliest witnesses to the Daoist ritual category of jiěyuān 解冤 (“dissolving grievance”) — the posthumous resolution of karmic debts and unrequited wrongs — which develops into a major ritual genre of the Sòng-era Daoist mortuary repertoire.
Translations and research
- Schipper, Kristofer, and Franciscus Verellen, eds. The Taoist Canon: A Historical Companion to the Daozang. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004, 2:548 (DZ 372).