Shàngqīng zǐwēi dìjūn nánjí yuánjūn yùjīng bǎojué 上清紫微帝君南極元君玉經寶訣
Precious Instructions of the Jade Scripture by the Zǐwēi dìjūn and the Nánjí yuánjūn, of the Upper Clarity
About the work
A ten-folio Táng Shàngqīng text almost entirely composed of quotations from earlier Shàngqīng scriptures. Transmitted in the Dàozàng in a composite juàn with DZ 407 (KR5b0091).
Prefaces
No prefaces in the source. The text opens directly with its quoted materials and carries no author preface or transmission colophon.
Abstract
Dated to the Táng by Schipper (Schipper & Verellen, Taoist Canon 1: 614, DZ 406). Almost the entire text consists of quotations from earlier Shàngqīng scriptures — principally DZ 405 Shàngqīng zǐjīngjūn huángchū zǐlíng dàojūn dòngfáng shàngjīng 4a–12a, the immediately preceding text in the Dàozàng. Only the sub-title (7a) and the closing few lines of instructions for the ritual of homage on entering the Pure Chamber (jìngshì 靜室) are original additions by the Táng compiler.
The work is one of a cluster of late-Shàngqīng / early-Táng summary-compendia of the Shàngqīng cult-practices — serving as a memorandum-book for the practitioner rather than as an independent revealed scripture.
Translations and research
- Schipper, Kristofer, and Franciscus Verellen, eds. The Taoist Canon: A Historical Companion to the Daozang. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004, 1:614 (DZ 406).