Jīnlù dàzhāi bǔzhí shuōjiè yí 金籙大齋補職說戒儀
Office-Investiture and Precept-Proclamation Liturgy for the Great Golden-Register Fast
About the work
The fourth of the Dù Guāngtíng Jīnlù 金籙 cycle (KR5b0167–KR5b0181), transmitted together with KR5b0168 and KR5b0169 as “three liturgies in one fascicle.” The bǔzhí shuōjiè yí 補職說戒儀 (“office-investiture and precept-proclamation liturgy”) is the rite by which the participating Daoists are formally assigned their ritual offices for the multi-day Jīnlù fast: gāogōng 高功 (high-priest), jiānzhāi 監齋 (supervisor of the fast), dūjiǎng 都講 (lector), jiànjīng 監經 (scripture-supervisor), zhāngtài 章太 (memorial-clerk), and various assistants. After the office-investiture, the gāogōng expounds the precepts (shuōjiè 說戒) appropriate to each office.
Abstract
The bǔzhí rite is a defining structural moment of the multi-day Daoist zhāi: from this point onward each celebrant operates within a formal office, bound to specific duties and precepts. Schipper & Verellen (Taoist Canon 2: 994–996, entry by John Lagerwey) note that the office-investiture procedure was already codified in the Six Dynasties Lingbao corpus (cf. KR5b0146 Fǎshēn zhìlùn) but receives its full liturgical articulation in Dù Guāngtíng’s Jīnlù compilation.
The text’s opening lines characterise the high-priest’s office: “Within, full of dàodé; without, displayed in dignified deportment; toward whom humans and gods turn, on whom spirits and demons gaze; treading the light and ascending the dawn.” The shorter precept-proclamations to the lesser offices articulate the obligations of seclusion (chūrù 處出 properly bordered), of speech (no boasting, no slander), of fidelity (to the master, to the patron, to the text).
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: 994–996 (DZ 486, entry by John Lagerwey).
- Verellen, Franciscus. Du Guangting (850–933). Paris, 1989.
- Lagerwey, John. Taoist Ritual in Chinese Society and History. New York: Macmillan, 1987.