Tàishàng dòngxuán língbǎo zhìhuì zuìgēn shàngpǐn dàjiè jīng 太上洞玄靈寶智慧罪根上品大戒經
Scripture of the Most-High Cavern-Mystery Numinous Treasure on the Upper-Grade Great Precepts for the Wisdom-Root and Sin-Root
About the work
An early-Lingbao precept scripture in two juàn (DZ 457, fasc. 202–203), one of the principal members of the classical Lingbao corpus as fixed by Lù Xiūjìng 陸修靜 in his Língbǎo jīngmù 靈寶經目 (c. 437). The scripture takes the form of a dialogue between Yuánshǐ Tiānzūn 元始天尊 and Tàishàng Dàojūn 太上道君 in the Nándān Dòngyáng Shàngguǎn 南丹洞陽上館 of the Bǎilíngshè 柏陵舍, on the doctrine of the wisdom-root (zhìhuìgēn 智慧根) and the sin-root (zuìgēn 罪根) — namely, the karmic seeds of liberation and of suffering. The text expounds the historical jié 劫 (kalpa) framework of the Lingbao cosmos (Lónghàn 龍漢, Yánkāng 延康, Chìmíng 赤明, Kāihuáng 開皇, Shànghuáng 上皇), and reveals the shàngpǐn dàjiè — ten “upper-grade great precepts” — for the use of dàoshì in the conferral of registers.
The catalog gives the date ca. 400, matching the consensus dating of the older Lingbao layer.
Abstract
The text is one of a small group of Lingbao jiè 戒 (precept) scriptures fixed before Lù Xiūjìng’s catalog and presupposed by his Língbǎo zhāi shuō guāngzhú jièfá dēngzhù yuànyí 靈寶齋說光燭戒罰燈祝願儀. Schipper & Verellen (Taoist Canon 1: 224–225, entry by Yamada Toshiaki) place its composition in the first half of the 5th century, and identify it as one of the foundational sources of the medieval shíjiè 十戒 tradition. The doctrine of zuìgēn (the karmic seed of misdeeds carried across rebirths) shows clear engagement with Buddhist karma / anusaya concepts but is set within a fully Daoist cosmogonic framework.
Juàn 1 expounds the cosmographic and historical setting; juàn 2 enumerates the ten precepts proper, with detailed commentary on each: (1) do not harbor unfilial thoughts; (2) do not slander the Three Treasures; (3) do not steal; (4) do not engage in sexual misconduct; (5) do not utter false speech; (6) do not betray; (7) do not nurse jealousy; (8) do not envy others’ wealth; (9) do not engage in yīnshí 婬泆 (excess); (10) maintain inward purity. Each precept is correlated with a specific class of post-mortem retribution.
The scripture is cited by name in the Wúshàng bìyào 無上祕要 (c. 583), in the Yàoxiū kēyí jièlǜ chāo of Zhū Jūnxù 朱君緒 (KR5b0147), and in the Sāndòng zhūnáng 三洞珠囊 of Wáng Xuánhé 王懸河 (compiled in the late 7th century), confirming the early-medieval terminus ante quem and its place in the Daoist precept canon.
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: 224–225 (DZ 457, entry by Yamada Toshiaki).
- Bokenkamp, Stephen R. “Sources of the Ling-pao Scriptures.” In Tantric and Taoist Studies in Honour of R. A. Stein, ed. Michel Strickmann, vol. 2: 434–486. Brussels: Mélanges Chinois et Bouddhiques 21, 1983.
- Yamada, Toshiaki 山田利明. Rikuchō dōkyō girei no kenkyū 六朝道教儀禮の研究. Tōkyō: Tōhō shoten, 1999.