Xuánmén bàoxiào zhuījiàn yí 玄門報孝追薦儀
The Mysterious-Gate Liturgy of Filial Recompense and Posthumous Memorial
About the work
A Daoist funeral / posthumous-memorial liturgy in one juàn (DZ 481, fasc. 232) belonging to the early-Míng Xuánmén 玄門 corpus. The text supplies the complete procedural sequence for a zhuījiàn 追薦 (posthumous-merit-transfer) rite intended to be performed by a filial son on behalf of his deceased parent. The structure: zìrán cháo xíngdào 自然朝行道 (self-initiated audience), shītáng xùlì 師堂序立 (ordering at the master-hall), bùxū 歩虛 (pacing-the-void hymn), qǐshī 啟師 (announcement to the master), shāoxiāng sòng 燒香頌 (incense hymn), drumming, jiàngshèng and full zòubiǎo sequence — drawing on the older Língbǎo dàfǎ Liándù 鍊度 templates of KR5b0150 but adapted for a less elaborate (one-day) familial context.
Abstract
Schipper & Verellen (Taoist Canon 2: 1199, entry by Vincent Goossaert) date this work to the early Míng, on the strength of its diction (close to but simpler than the KR5b0151 Lìchéng zhāijiào yífàn template of 1374) and its inclusion in the Zhèngtǒng Dàozàng alongside the Hóng’ēn Língjì and Luótiān cycles. The work belongs to the broader bàoxiào 報孝 genre — Daoist filial-recompense liturgy — that became prominent in late-imperial popular Daoism and has remained central to southern-Chinese Daoist funerary practice down to the present.
The text invokes the Tàiyī jiùkǔ Tiānzūn 太一救苦天尊 (the Salvific Heavenly Worthy) as the principal deity of redemption, the Dōngjí qīngxuán cífù 東極青玄慈父 (“Compassionate Father of the Eastern Pole Pure Mystery”) in his role as merciful arbiter of the souls of the dead, and asks for the transformation of the jiànshù 劎樹 (sword-trees of hell) into qióngshù 瓊樹 (jasper-trees of paradise). The huíxiàng dedication transfers the merit of the rite to the patron’s deceased parent, securing their release from the zhòngquán 重泉 underworld and elevation to the immortal realms.
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: 1199 (DZ 481, entry by Vincent Goossaert).
- Lagerwey, John. Taoist Ritual in Chinese Society and History. New York: Macmillan, 1987.
- Mollier, Christine. Buddhism and Taoism Face to Face. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2008. — for the parallels with the Buddhist Mùlián 目連 / Yúlán-pén 盂蘭盆 filial-merit literature.