Shàngqīng hòushèng dàojūn lièjì 上清後聖道君列紀
Annals of the Latter-Day Saint of the Dào, of the Upper Clarity
About the work
A thirteen-folio Eastern-Jìn Shàngqīng scripture on the Latter-Day Saint Lǐ Hóngyuán 李弘元 — an eschatological figure central to the Shàngqīng messianic tradition. Transmitted in the Dàozàng in a composite juàn (èr piān tóng juàn 二篇同卷) with DZ 443 (KR5b0127). Part of the larger Língshū zǐwén 靈書紫文 textual family (cf. DZ 639 Huángtiān shàngqīng jīnquè dìjūn língshū zǐwén shàngjīng and following), and position 10 of the canonical Shàngqīng corpus list.
Prefaces
No prefaces in the source. The text is authenticated through citations in DZ 1016 Zhēn’gào 真誥, Sāndòng zhūnáng 三洞珠囊, and other early compilations.
Abstract
Dated to the Eastern Jìn — within the original Shàngqīng revelation-stratum — by Robinet (Schipper & Verellen, Taoist Canon 1: 152–153, DZ 442). Tradition holds that the text was transmitted by the Green Lad (Qīngtóng 青童君) to Wáng Yuányóu 王元游, one of the legendary immortals of the Shàngqīng corpus.
The Latter-Day Saint (hòushèng 後聖) is Lǐ Hóngyuán 李弘元 — “Lǐ Hóng” being the traditional name of Lǎozǐ as messiah (cf. Seidel, “The Image of the Perfect Ruler,” 236–247). He is the Lord of the Golden Portal (Jīnquè jūn 金闕君) and divine intermediary. The text opens with his biography, practising Shàngqīng methods toward his apotheosis; he is then represented as the judge at the end of time (3b–4a) and as a mediator (7b–8a), sending twenty-four teachers under the guidance of Wáng Yuányóu to transmit the Shàngqīng scriptures (enumerated at 8a). The Latter-Day Saint ultimately descends to reign over the world.
The text’s main purpose is to establish a hierarchy among the elect to be saved at the end of the world. From 9b onward it describes the different marks or signs of physical immortality (xiānxiàng 仙相) that differ according to the celestial palace in which the name of each of the elect has been inscribed. These palaces correspond to those given in DZ 1379 Shàngqīng yùdì qīshèng xuánjī huítiān jiǔxiāo jīng 17b–29b.
Translations and research
- Seidel, Anna. “The Image of the Perfect Ruler in Early Taoist Messianism.” History of Religions 9 (1969–1970): 216–247, esp. 236–247.
- Bokenkamp, Stephen R. “Time After Time: Taoist Apocalyptic History and the Founding of the T’ang Dynasty.” Asia Major (1994): 59–88.
- Robinet, Isabelle. La révélation du Shangqing dans l’histoire du taoïsme. 2 vols. Paris: École française d’Extrême-Orient, 1984.
- Schipper, Kristofer, and Franciscus Verellen, eds. The Taoist Canon: A Historical Companion to the Daozang. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004, 1:152–153 (DZ 442).