Yùlù zīdù jiětán yí 玉籙資度解壇儀
Altar-Dismissal Liturgy of the Jade-Register Salvific-Aid Fast
About the work
The closing rite (jiětán yí 解壇儀, “altar-dismissal liturgy”) of the Yùlù zīdù 玉籙資度 cycle. Where KR5b0193 inaugurates the fast with the sùqǐ vigil, the present text formally dismisses the gods and disassembles the altar at its conclusion. Counterpart in the Jīnlù series is KR5b0175.
Abstract
The jiětán sequence comprises (1) a final huíxiàng 迴向 of merit, dedicated to the deceased on whose behalf the zīdù was performed; (2) the xièshén 謝神 thanksgiving to all summoned deities; (3) the bàisòng 拜送 dismissal proper; and (4) the dismantling of the tánjiè 壇界 altar boundary. The opening rubric stands directly on f. 1a without a Lǜ numbering, indicating that DZ 500 was transmitted as a standalone fascicle within the Yùlù series.
Following Schipper & Verellen (Taoist Canon 2: 1003–1004, John Lagerwey), the jiětán and shèjiào texts (DZ 500, DZ 501) frame the daily cháo rites and the recitation-cycle (KR5b0196–KR5b0200) of the Yùlù. Cosmologically, the dismissal is the inverse of the sùqǐ and completes the ritual closure of the spatio-temporal field that the fast had opened.
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 500, entry by John Lagerwey).