Luótiān dàjiào shèjiào yí 羅天大醮設醮儀
Offering-Setting Liturgy for the Great Offering Spanning the Heavens
About the work
The fourth and culminating text of the Luótiān dàjiào 羅天大醮 cycle (KR5b0161–KR5b0164). The shèjiào yí 設醮儀 is the offering-rite proper that follows the three preliminary cháo audiences. The structure opens with the xuān wèilíng zhòu 宣衛靈呪 (proclamation of the protective-spirit spell) for the five directions in turn (jiǔqì qīngtiān in the east, jiǔqì chìtiān in the south, jiǔqì báitiān in the west, jiǔqì xuántiān in the north, huángqì zhōngtiān in the centre), then proceeds through the qǐngshèng 請聖 (invocation of the deities), xiànjiǔ 獻酒 three-fold libation, jìnbiǎo 進表 (presentation of the memorial), huàcái 化財 (burning of paper money), zòngjīng 縱經 (recitation of scripture), and sòngshèng 送聖 (dismissal).
Abstract
The Luótiān dàjiào is the largest-scale jiào in the Daoist liturgical repertoire, traditionally invoking all the gods of the Sānshíèr tiān 三十二天 (thirty-two Lingbao heavens), the Jiǔdì 九地, and the Shuǐguān bureaus together. In the historical record it was performed only with imperial or aristocratic patronage; the rite is attested at the Song court (notably under Zhēnzōng 真宗 in 1014) and at Daoist seats during major state crises.
Schipper & Verellen (Taoist Canon 2: 1023–1024, entry by John Lagerwey) describe the cycle as the surviving canonical text of the Sòng-era state Luótiān dàjiào. The diction’s closeness to Dù Guāngtíng’s Jīnlù cycle (KR5b0167 onwards) suggests a common late-Táng / early-Sòng liturgical source. The Luótiān dàjiào survived as a discrete rite into the Yuán and Míng but was gradually absorbed into the more comprehensive huánglù and jīnlù programmes.
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: 1023–1024 (DZ 480, entry by John Lagerwey).
- Lagerwey, John. Taoist Ritual in Chinese Society and History. New York: Macmillan, 1987.
- Cahill, Suzanne E. “Taoism at the Sung Court: The Heavenly Texts Affair of 1008.” Bulletin of Sung-Yüan Studies 16 (1980): 23–44.
Other points of interest
The 1014 Luótiān dàjiào at the Sòng court of Zhēnzōng, performed at the imperial Yùqīnggōng 玉清宮, is the best-documented imperial-Daoist offering of the Northern Sòng and is the historical event that shapes the surviving canonical form of the rite.