Tàishàng dòngxuán língbǎo zhòngjiǎn wén 太上洞玄靈寶眾簡文
Compilation of the Tablet Formulae, of the Most High Cavern-Mystery Numinous Treasure by 陸修靜
About the work
A thirteen-folio ritual compilation by Lù Xiūjìng 陸修靜 (406–477) codifying the tóu lóngjiǎn 投龍簡 (“Casting of Tablets and Dragons”) rite — the ordination oblation of wooden tablets accompanied by golden dragons by which Daoist disciples passing through successive stages of initiation announce their new status to the divine powers. Transmitted in the Dàozàng in a composite juàn with DZ 411 (KR5b0095).
Prefaces
No prefaces in the source. The text opens directly with the tablet-formulae and carries no author preface or transmission colophon; Lù’s own compilatorial work is not explicitly advertised in the received edition.
Abstract
Dated to the mature period of Lù Xiūjìng’s liturgical career — i.e. after his integration of the Língbǎo canon in 437 and before his death in 477 — by Schipper (Schipper & Verellen, Taoist Canon 1: 255–256, DZ 410). The protocol draws on many identifiable sources, foremost DZ 1411 Dòngxuán língbǎo chángyè zhīfǔ jiǔyōu yùguì míngzhēn kē 洞玄靈寶長夜之府九幽玉匱明真科, from which all tóu lóngjiǎn ceremonies descend via one paragraph (37b–38a). The True Writs (zhēnwén 真文) to be inscribed on the tablets, as well as the other ritual texts to be chanted, come from DZ 352 Tàishàng dòngxuán língbǎo chìshū yùjué miàojīng (KR5b0036), which in turn draws on DZ 22 Yuánshǐ wǔlǎo chìshū yùpiān zhēnwén tiānshū jīng (cf. Lagerwey, Wu-shang pi-yao, 232–233).
The Zhòngjiǎn wén organises the rites across two successive levels of initiation into the Língbǎo tradition:
- The Median Oath (zhōngméng 中盟), confirmed by transmission of the Covenant of Spontaneity (zìrán quàn 自然券), requires the oblation of one tablet addressed to the Official of Water (Shuǐguān 水官).
- The Great Oath (dàméng 大盟; cf. DZ 528 Tàishàng dòngxuán língbǎo shòudù yí) requires three tablets, cast respectively on a mountain, in a body of water, and in the earth — the last being buried in the disciple’s own residence. The ritual is to be repeated at least three times in the disciple’s career.
The work is the definitive codification of the medieval Daoist tablet-casting rite and is the direct ancestor of the later Sòng-period tóujiǎn 投簡 ceremony, several inscribed examples of which survive on physical tablets found at sacred sites.
Translations and research
- Lagerwey, John. Wu-shang pi-yao: Somme taoïste du VIe siècle. Paris: École française d’Extrême-Orient, 1981, 232–233.
- Chavannes, Édouard. “Le jet des dragons.” Mémoires concernant l’Asie Orientale 3 (1919): 53–220 — foundational on the rite.
- Chen Guofu 陳國符. Dàozàng yuánliú kǎo 道藏源流考. Beijing: Zhōnghuá shūjú, 1963 (rev. ed.).
- Schipper, Kristofer, and Franciscus Verellen, eds. The Taoist Canon: A Historical Companion to the Daozang. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004, 1:255–256 (DZ 410).