Jīnlù shèjiào yí 金籙設醮儀
Offering-Setting Liturgy of the Golden-Register Fast
About the work
The tenth of the Dù Guāngtíng Jīnlù 金籙 cycle (KR5b0167–KR5b0181) and the climactic shèjiào 設醮 offering rite that crowns the multi-day fast. Transmitted with KR5b0175 and KR5b0177 in a single fascicle (三儀同卷軆五). The opening hymn Wǔxīng lièzhào 五星列照 — invocation of the Five Planets in their apotropaic function — is shared with KR5b0157 Hóng’ēn Língjì qíxiè and KR5b0164 Luótiān dàjiào shèjiào, evidencing the common late-Tang liturgical hymn-corpus.
Abstract
The shèjiào is the highest moment of the Jīnlù rite, in which the patron formally offers thanks for the response of the deities to the multi-day fast and confirms the petitions for benefit. Schipper & Verellen (Taoist Canon 2: 996, entry by John Lagerwey) describe this as the canonical Daoist jiào template, on which all later jiào rites — including the Sòng Dōnghuá Língbǎo dàfǎ and the Míng Hóng’ēn Língjì cycles — were modelled.
The rite proceeds through qǐngxuān shénzhòu (invocation of the spirit-spell), qǐngshèng (invocation of the deities), xiànjiǔ (three-fold libation), jìnbiǎo (presentation of memorial), huàcái (burning of paper money), huíxiàng (dedication of merit), and sòngshèng (dismissal).
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: 996 (DZ 490, 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.