Shàngqīng pèi fúwén qīngquàn jué 上清佩符文青卷訣
Instructions Concerning the Green-Register Talismans of the Upper Clarity
About the work
A ten-folio Táng-era anthology of Shàngqīng protective talismans under the “green register” (qīngquàn 青卷) category. The first of a five-part sequence — the Pèi fúwén 佩符文 “register booklets” for colours Green, White, Crimson, Black, and Yellow — transmitted in the Dàozàng in a composite juàn (wǔ quàn tóng juàn 五券同卷) with DZ 413, DZ 414, DZ 415, and DZ 416 (KR5b0097–KR5b0100).
Prefaces
No prefaces in the source. The text opens directly with the talismanic excerpts and carries no author preface or transmission colophon.
Abstract
Dated to the Táng by Schipper (Schipper & Verellen, Taoist Canon 1: 614–615, DZ 412–416). The five Pèi fúwén works together form an anthology of excerpts from major Shàngqīng scriptures (sources are generally indicated in the text) concerning protective talismans. Although the organisation by colour presupposes a classification by direction or function, the excerpts under each colour do not actually correspond to any tight criterion, and the five texts are not linked to any specific ritual of liturgical transmission.
The excerpts were probably originally accompanied by drawings of the talismans (largely missing in the received edition). The anthology appears to have been a collector’s item rather than a functional ritual manual. The five texts are mentioned in Tōngzhì 通志 “Yìwén lüè” 藝文略 (VDL 76).
Translations and research
- Schipper, Kristofer, and Franciscus Verellen, eds. The Taoist Canon: A Historical Companion to the Daozang. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004, 1:614–615 (DZ 412–416 as a group).