Dòngxuán língbǎo fēixiān shàngpǐn miàojīng 洞玄靈寶飛仙上品妙經
Upper-Grade Marvelous Scripture of the Flying Immortals, of the Cavern-Mystery Numinous Treasure
About the work
A five-folio Six-Dynasties Daoist scripture on the preconditions for becoming a Flying Immortal (fēixiān 飛仙). Transmitted in the Dàozàng in a composite juàn (sì jīng tóng juàn 四經同卷) with DZ 382, DZ 383, and DZ 384 (KR5b0066–KR5b0068).
Prefaces
No prefaces in the source. The text opens directly with the heavenly-assembly scene and carries no author preface or transmission colophon.
Abstract
Dated by Schmidt (Schipper & Verellen, Taoist Canon 1: 274, DZ 381) to the Six Dynasties. At a heavenly meeting where the “predication on Earth” of the Sānmèi wúliàng shénzhòu dàjīng 三昧無量神咒大經 is under discussion, the audience asks the Tiānzūn what to do about “the superficial and inconstant world of today, where most people believe neither in Daoist methods nor in the teaching of the Three Caverns” (1b), despite the imminent cataclysm.
The dào yán 道言 response traces the history of salvation. Anyone aspiring to immortality must renew it. First one has to receive the registers — beginning with those linked to the Yellow and Red Talismans (huángchì zǐfú 黃赤字符) of the Celestial-Master tradition, then those of the Three Caverns, and finally the Divine Formulas (shénzhòu 神咒) that destroy demons and save people (2a). After receiving the scriptures and the corresponding registers, the adept must observe the calendar of the fasts — which are to be practiced not alone but in community with others (2b). The Dào continues with a litany of fifty-one actions that enable one “to become a Flying Immortal,” of which “the keeping of the fasts is the first” (4a).
The present scripture is then revealed. During the revelation, an altercation arises between an immortal and a zhēnrén; the Tiānzūn declares the zhēnrén to be in the right and banishes the immortal to the moon, there to “cut the cassia tree” (4b — an interesting Daoist claim on the Wú Gāng 吳剛 lunar-cassia myth). This triggers a question from the immortal King of the Flying Skies concerning the hierarchy of merits; the Tiānzūn answers that his response will itself be “an oar, a bridge of good karma, a good field of merit” — and rehearses the meritorious actions the assembled saints have performed since the first year of the Opening-of-the-Canon era.
Translations and research
- Schipper, Kristofer, and Franciscus Verellen, eds. The Taoist Canon: A Historical Companion to the Daozang. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004, 1:274 (DZ 381).