Shàngqīng huòluò qīyuán fú 上清豁落七元符
Talismans of the Seven Primordials of the Vast Clarity, of the Upper Clarity
About the work
A five-folio collection of fourteen Shàngqīng talismans. Transmitted in the Dàozàng in a composite juàn (sān piān tóng juàn 三篇同卷) with DZ 393 and DZ 394 (KR5b0077, KR5b0078).
Prefaces
No prefaces in the source. The text opens directly with the talismanic diagrams and the accompanying formulae, and carries no author preface or transmission colophon.
Abstract
Dated to the Táng by Schipper (Schipper & Verellen, Taoist Canon 2: 717, DZ 392). The expression huòluò qīyuán 豁落七元 (“vast-clarity seven primordials”) is a poetic designation of the seven stars of the Northern Dipper constellation; it pre-dates the Shàngqīng scriptures and occurs in many of them, and is sometimes explained as a name for the cosmic emanations that structure the universe (cf. Yúnjí qīqiān 9.2a).
The text essentially contains the reproductions of fourteen talismans which, together with their colophon, also occur in DZ 1392 Shàngqīng qǔsù juécí lù 上清曲素訣辭籙 3b–6b.
Translations and research
- Schipper, Kristofer, and Franciscus Verellen, eds. The Taoist Canon: A Historical Companion to the Daozang. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004, 2:717 (DZ 392).