Língbǎo lǐngjiào jìdù jīnshū 靈寶領教濟度金書
Golden Writings on Salvation Transmitted in the Lingbao Tradition foundational transmission attributed to 寧全真; compiled and redacted by 林靈真
About the work
The largest single-work liturgical compendium in the Zhèngtǒng Dàozàng — 321 juàn, occupying fascicles 208–263 (one tenth of the entire canon) — and the principal monument of the Dōnghuá 東華 transmission of the Língbǎo dàfǎ 靈寶大法 founded by Níng Quánzhēn 寧全真 (1101–1181) and given its final form by his eleventh-generation successor Lín Língzhēn 林靈真 (1239–1302). The compendium covers in exhaustive detail the rites for the dead (jìdù 濟度 = “rescue and crossing-over”) and the propitiation-rites for the living (qíráng 祈禳), together with their altar plans, ritual texts, talismans, registers, deity rosters, music, and pastoral instructions.
Lín Língzhēn produced the compendium in the last decade of the 13th century, on the basis of older Língbǎo dàfǎ materials transmitted through his lineage. The work was approved by the contemporary Celestial Master, printed under the patronage of the Wēnzhōu Xuánsī 玄司, and Lín was conferred the rank Língbǎo tōngxuán hóngjiào fǎshī 靈寶通玄弘教法師.
Prefaces
The compendium opens with a Sìjiào lù 嗣教錄 (Record of Lineage Succession), one juàn, which is the principal hagiographic source for both Níng Quánzhēn and Lín Língzhēn (see person notes). The biography of Níng (1a–6b) is one of the most detailed Daoist hagiographies of the Southern Sòng, including the famous accounts of his weather-control rite for Gāozōng’s 1146 southern-suburb sacrifice, his oracle “Heaven shall destroy this hú” 天亡此胡 in the 1161 campaign against Wánnyán Liàng 完顏亮 (here named 逆亮), his subsequent persecution and qíng 黥-tattoo by the rival Liú Néngzhēn 劉能真 during the failed campaign of Zhāng Jùn 張浚 (1163), and his peaceful death on the zhōngyuán festival of 1181 with the miraculous restoration of his face and sight (“how can a tattooed man, how can a blind man, serve at the Jade Pure court?”). The biography of Lín (6b–9b) describes his Wēnzhōu origins, conversion to Daoism, lineage of teachers (Lín Xūyī, Xuē Dōnghuá), compilation of the present work, and appointment as Dàolù of Wēnzhōu.
Abstract
Schipper & Verellen (Taoist Canon 2: 1027–1029, entry by John Lagerwey) call the Lǐngjiào jìdù jīnshū “the most important liturgical compendium in the Daoist canon” and the central source for the study of the late-imperial Daoist zhāijiào genre. The structure is articulated through the mùlù (KR5b0149):
- Altars and tabernacles (juàn 1): the sānjí tán, the various ritual tabernacles, the yù 獄- and xiù 宿-lamp plans.
- Donations and observance schedules (juàn 2): the multi-day programmes for each major zhāi.
- Rosters of the divine assembly (juàn 3 ff.): the deity rosters by altar level.
- Ritual texts (the largest section): the yǔyán 語言 prayers and zòubiǎo 奏表 memorials for each rite.
- Funeral and salvation rites: the huánglùzhāi 黃籙齋, the qīngxuán 青玄 and míngzhēn 明真 liàndù 鍊度 rites, the xuèhú dàochǎng 血湖道場 (Blood Pond, for women dying in childbirth), the jiǔtiān shēngshén zhāi 九天生神齋, the wǔliàn shēngshī zhāi 五鍊生尸齋, and the qīyào 七曜, léitíng 雷霆, and xuánjī 璇璣 specialised rites.
- Pastoral and apotropaic rites: the bǎobìng zhāi 保病齋, the ānzhái zhāi 安宅齋, the shíhuí dùrén dàochǎng 十迴度人道場.
- Talismans, registers, and concluding chants: the fúzhāng 符章 and yúyīn 餘音 sections.
The work is the principal source for the reconstruction of SòngYuán Daoist liturgical practice in the WúYuè region and the foundational text of all subsequent Língbǎo lineages in southeast China. Its 321 juàn preserve in fully articulated form the great syncretic-liturgical achievement of the SòngYuán Daoist fǎshī tradition, integrating Lingbao scriptural learning, Tiānxīn 天心 / Léifǎ 雷法 exorcism, liàndù alchemical salvation, and the older zhāi-form into a single liturgical system.
Translations and research
- Schipper, Kristofer, and Franciscus Verellen, eds. The Taoist Canon: A Historical Companion to the Daozang. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004. 2: 1027–1029 (DZ 466, entry by John Lagerwey).
- Boltz, Judith M. A Survey of Taoist Literature, Tenth to Seventeenth Centuries. Berkeley: IEAS, 1987. Pp. 47–50.
- Lagerwey, John. Taoist Ritual in Chinese Society and History. New York: Macmillan, 1987. — extensive use of the Jìdù jīnshū.
- Davis, Edward L. Society and the Supernatural in Song China. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2001.
- Hsieh, Shu-wei 謝聰輝. Xīntiānshī dàoyè zhī kēyí yǔ sī-xiǎng 新天師道之科儀與思想. Taipei: Xinwenfeng, 2010s — for the later transmission.
Other points of interest
The Yí Jiān zhì 夷堅志 of Hóng Mài 洪邁 contains contemporary anecdotes of Níng Quánzhēn’s ritual interventions (Dīng jí 丁集 juàn 1 — explicitly cross-referenced in the Sìjiào lù at 4b); this is one of the rare cases where a Daoist hagiographic source is corroborated by a non-religious Southern Sòng bǐjì.