Shàngqīng pèi fúwén báiquàn jué 上清佩符文白卷訣

Instructions Concerning the White-Register Talismans of the Upper Clarity

About the work

An eleven-folio Táng-era anthology of Shàngqīng protective talismans under the “white register” (báiquàn 白卷) category. Second of the five-part Pèi fúwén series (DZ 412–416 = KR5b0096KR5b0100), transmitted together in a composite juàn.

Prefaces

No prefaces in the source.

Abstract

Dated to the Táng by Schipper (Schipper & Verellen, Taoist Canon 1: 614–615, group entry for DZ 412–416). See KR5b0096 for the full anthology context: the five Pèi fúwén booklets together form an anthology of excerpts from the major Shàngqīng scriptures concerning protective talismans. The color-organisation (here white, associated in the Five-Agents scheme with the West and Metal) does not in fact correspond to any tight functional or directional criterion within the excerpts. Originally probably accompanied by talisman drawings, now mostly lost.

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).