Yùlù zīdù sùqǐ yí 玉籙資度宿啟儀
Vigil-Opening Liturgy of the Jade-Register Salvific-Aid Fast
About the work
The opening rite of the Yùlù 玉籙 (Jade-Register) cycle that parallels the Jīnlù 金籙 set: where the Jīnlù fast is conducted for state-protection or imperial longevity (cf. KR5b0167–KR5b0192), the Yùlù zīdù 玉籙資度 fast is performed for the salvific aid (zīdù 資度 — “provisioning toward deliverance”) of deceased ancestors of the imperial family and high nobility. The sùqǐ 宿啟 (“nightly opening”) is the inaugural vigil that consecrates the altar and announces the fast to the celestial powers. The fascicle is labelled in its opening rubric 三儀同卷率一 (“three liturgies in one fascicle, Lǜ 1”), indicating that DZ 499 belongs to a numbered SòngYuán series of Yùlù sub-rites.
Abstract
The text proceeds through the standard inaugural sequence: hymn of the Sānbǎo dàoshī 三寳道師 (Three-Jewel Masters of the Way) and the jiǔyōu jiàozhǔ 九幽教主 (Master of the Nine Dark Hells), summoning of the celestial officers, the qǐngxuān 啓宣 announcement of the rite of zīdù for the named deceased, and culminates in the gàofú jiǎn 告符蕳 (announcement-talisman tablet) and the cúnshén shāoxiāng 存神焼香 (visualisation and incense). The dedication targets the Dōngjí cízūn 東極慈尊 (Compassionate Honoured One of the Eastern Pole) and the Qīngxuán shàngdì 青玄上帝 — the Daoist deities of the eastern paradise where deceased souls are received — distinguishing the Yùlù dedication clearly from the southern-polar longevity gods of the Jīnlù.
Schipper & Verellen (Taoist Canon 2: 1003–1004, John Lagerwey) treat the Yùlù zīdù cycle (DZ 499–504) as a SòngYuán codification parallel to the Jīnlù state edition associated with Zhāng Shāngyīng (see KR5b0192), with the Yùlù program developed especially for posthumous deliverance of the imperial dead — the salvific counterpart to the imperial-longevity Jīnlù.
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: 1003–1004 (DZ 499, entry by John Lagerwey).