Yùlù zīdù shèjiào yí 玉籙資度設醮儀
Offering-Setting Liturgy of the Jade-Register Salvific-Aid Fast
About the work
The shèjiào yí 設醮儀 (“offering-setting liturgy”) of the Yùlù zīdù cycle. The jiào 醮 — the formal Daoist offering — caps the fast: at its close the celebrant lays out the food, wine, fruits, and incense before the assembled deities and conducts the dedication of the offerings to the named deceased on whose behalf the rite was performed. Counterpart in the Jīnlù sequence is KR5b0176 (state-protection jiào) and KR5b0182 (longevity jiào).
Abstract
The text is structured around the threefold xiàn 獻 (presentation: initial, mediating, concluding) of the jiào, with hymns and biǎo 表 invocations interspersed. The dedication directs the merit of the offering to the deceased’s xuánfǔ 玄府 (dark realm) lodgings, the salvation of cognate “lonely wandering souls” (gūyōu 孤幽), and the universal benefit of all sentient beings. Schipper & Verellen (Taoist Canon 2: 1003–1004, John Lagerwey) place DZ 501 in the closing-phase liturgies of the Yùlù alongside KR5b0194 (the jiětán), both of which mark the formal end of the fast.
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 501, entry by John Lagerwey).