Shàngfāng dàdòng zhēnyuán miàojīng pǐn 上方大洞真元妙經品
Chapters from the Marvelous Scripture of True Origin, the Great Cavern, and the Highest Direction
(The catalog attributes the preface to 明皇 Mínghuáng — the posthumous epithet of the Táng Xuánzōng emperor 李隆基 Lǐ Lóngjī, r. 712–756. The attribution is, however, fictitious — cf. Yuán Bǐnglíng in Taoist Canon 3: 1219 — the scripture itself being a Sòng composition.)
About the work
An eight-folio Southern-Sòng Daoist scripture of the Zhēnyuán 真元 textual family, headed by a fictitious preface attributed to the Táng Xuánzōng emperor (“Mínghuáng”). Transmitted together with DZ 437 and DZ 438 (KR5b0121 and KR5b0122) as a three-part complex.
Prefaces
The scripture opens with a preface fictitiously attributed to Tang Minghuang (i.e. Emperor Xuánzōng Lǐ Lóngjī, r. 712–756). The emperor relates his awakening to the Dào and its esoteric traditions, stressing the need to be initiated into the registers (lù 籙) and charts (tú 圖), as revealed by the Divine Ancestor of the True Origin (Zhēnyuán shèngzǔ 真元聖祖) and the Heavenly Worthy of the Highest Direction (Shàngfāng tiānzūn 上方天尊). The preface quotes — with substantial emendation — from DZ 987 Tàishàng dòngxuán língbǎo tiānguān jīng 5b–6a, a short Táng-period Língbǎo scripture. The attribution is fictional: the scripture’s author appears to have inferred that the Shàngfāng tiānzūn named in DZ 987 was identical with Tang Xuánzōng because of the shared posthumous epithet Mínghuáng 明皇.
An undated colophon (6a–b) by an anonymous disciple of the Xiāoyáo 逍遙 school reports a discussion with the master Shí Xiāoyáo 時逍遙 (= Shí Yǒng 時永, fl. 1159), who explained that the Daoist scriptures fall into three grades: the Shàngfāng kāihuà jīng 上方開化經 and the Tánfán jīng 壇梵經 as the lowest; the Zhēnyuán jīng 真元經 as the middle; and the Dàdòng zhēnjīng 大洞真經 as the highest.
Abstract
Dated by Yuán Bǐnglíng (Schipper & Verellen, Taoist Canon 3: 1219–1221, DZ 436) to the Southern Sòng on the basis of the Shí Yǒng colophon. The text is composed of three pǐn 品:
- 1a–2b — bearing the same title as the book; describes the revelation of the Zhēnyuán scriptures.
- The second section presents itself as spoken by an unidentified Shénfēng xiānshēng 神峰先生.
- The third, spoken by an equally unidentified Qīngyún jūshì 青雲居士, deals with the divine efficacy of the scripture. It recommends that each year, on the festival day of the Immortal of the True Origin (Zhēnyuán xiānjié 真元仙節) — the third day of the third lunar month — one should recite the Zhēnyuán jīng a hundred times and present an offering of “life-bestowing spirit money” (shòushēng míngqián 受生冥錢) equivalent to ten thousand strings of cash. Adepts are also to wear a special talisman, reproduced at 5a, which is to be renewed every year on the festival of the Immortal Holy Prince (Shèngwáng xiānjié 聖王仙節 — i.e. the saint Zhēnyuán).
The worship of the great northern saint Xuánwǔ 玄武 (here called Zhēnjūn 真君) is prominent, anchoring the text within the emerging Sòng Xuánwǔ / Wǔdāng shān 武當山 cult complex.
Translations and research
- Schipper, Kristofer, and Franciscus Verellen, eds. The Taoist Canon: A Historical Companion to the Daozang. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004, 3:1219–1221 (DZ 436, with the sequence DZ 436–438).