Jīnlù zhāi tóujiǎn yí 金籙齋投簡儀
Tablet-Deposit Liturgy of the Golden-Register Fast
by 張商英 (編)
About the work
The one-fascicle tóujiǎn yí 投簡儀 (“tablet-deposit liturgy”) of the Sòng-Huīzōng-era state edition of the Jīnlù fast, edited by Zhāng Shāngyīng 張商英 (Wújìn jūshì 無盡居士, 1043–1121) on imperial commission. The internal subtitle of the fascicle is 金籙齋投簡儀軆十一 (“the Golden-Register Fast Tablet-Deposit Liturgy, Tǐ 11”), placing the rite as the eleventh in a numbered series of Jīnlù sub-liturgies; the present canonical position immediately after the kāishōu and zhuǎnjīng sets (KR5b0186–KR5b0191) makes it the structural climax of the Jīnlù — the formal deposit (tóu 投) of inscribed tablets (jiǎn 簡) at sacred mountains and water-marts as the material seal of the rite.
Prefaces
The fascicle preserves at f. 9a–11a Zhāng Shāngyīng’s Jīnlù zhāi kēyí xù 金籙齋科儀序 (“Preface to the Liturgical Code of the Golden-Register Fast”), addressed to the emperor (Huīzōng 徽宗). The preface is, in fact, less a preface to the tóujiǎn yí alone than a memorial-preface to the whole Sòng-Huīzōng-period redaction of the Jīnlù code: it summarises the textual history of the rite and the editorial principles Zhāng applied.
Zhāng presents the lineage of transmission as follows: the Zìrán miào jīng 自然妙經 expounded the original schema; Lù Xiūjìng 陸修靜 (cf. KR5b0227) “practised it in the former [age]” (行之於前); Dù Guāngtíng “compiled it in the latter [age]” (集之於後); the Shénzōng emperor ordered the lapsed canon revived; Yáng Jié 楊傑 was commissioned to compile a draft (編纂而成書); Huīzōng inherited the project and Zhāng Shāngyīng was charged with the final discussion and refinement (討論而潤色). The preface then enumerates the nine articles by which Zhāng restructured the inherited material, on topics ranging from qǐngshī 請師 (invitation of the masters) through bǔzhí 補職 (filling of ritual offices), shòujiè 授戒 (transmission of precepts), chìtán 敕壇 (consecration of the altar), dēngtiānmén 登天門 (ascent of the gates of Heaven), bàibiǎo jìnzhāng 拜表進章 (presentation of memorials), the zhēnwén yùpiān 真文玉篇 (true scripts) for orienting the four directions, the zhòngmiào tán 衆妙壇 (after the Wángwūshān 王屋山 model of Sīmǎ Chéngzhēn 司馬子微), and the tiānbǎo tái 天寳臺 (taken from the xuántán 玄壇 tradition).
Abstract
The body of the fascicle gives the rite proper: the jìngtán 淨壇 (altar purification), chìshuǐ 敕水 (consecration of the water), the wǔfāng wèilíng zhòu 五方衛靈呪 (five-directional protective spell) sung in succession, the wǔxīng dūzhòu 五星都呪 (consolidated five-planet spell), fǎgǔ èrshísì tōng 鳴法鼓二十四通, and the celebrant’s fālú 發鑪. Two kinds of tablet are then prepared — shānshuǐ jiǎn èr miàn 山水簡二面 (paired mountain-and-water tablets) and lóng jiǎn 龍簡 (dragon tablets). In spring and summer the mountain tablet is deposited at the Sūgàizhōu 蘇盖州 Wángwūdòngtiān 王屋洞天 and the water tablet at the Jǐdú shuǐfǔ 濟瀆水府; in autumn and winter at the Āndù qiánshānsīzhēn dòngtiān 安度潜山司眞洞天 and the Tàipíng Cǎishí shuǐfǔ 太平采石水府. Seven ritual specialists assist; one shòufǎlù dàoshì 授法籙道士 (Daoist with formally transmitted register) is selected as gāogōng 高功 (principal celebrant).
Schipper & Verellen (Taoist Canon 2: 1003, John Lagerwey) treat DZ 498 as a key documentary witness to the Huīzōng-era state codification of the Jīnlù (compare the parallel imperial projects under Línlíngsù 林靈素 and the Shénxiāo 神霄 ascendancy). The composition window is bracketed by Zhāng’s tenure in senior court office, conventionally 1110–1119 (he died in 1121).
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: 1003 (DZ 498, entry by John Lagerwey).
- Strickmann, Michel. “The Longest Taoist Scripture.” History of Religions 17 (1978): 331–354 — for the Dùrén jīng-centred liturgical context.
- Ebrey, Patricia. Emperor Huizong. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard, 2014 — for Zhāng Shāngyīng’s role in the Huīzōng court.
Other points of interest
The preface is one of the rare extant documents in which a senior Sòng minister gives an explicit, sequential genealogy of the Jīnlù liturgical tradition by name (Lù → Dù → Yáng → Zhāng himself), explicitly tying his own redactional work to Huīzōng’s imperial project of restoring Daoist ritual. As such it is a primary source for the historical reconstruction of the Jīnlù canon.