Yùlù shēngshén zīdù kāishōu yí 玉籙生神資度開收儀
Opening-and-Closing Liturgy of the Jade-Register Birth-of-the-Gods Salvific-Aid Fast
About the work
The kāishōu yí 開收儀 (“opening-and-closing liturgy”) of the Yùlù zīdù cycle, labelled in the source 玉籙生神資度開收儀率四 (“Lǜ 4”). The kāishōu is the framing rite for the recitation of the Shēngshén jīng in KR5b0199, with successive kāijīng 開經 and shōujīng 收經 formulae bracketing the nine huí of recitation through the day’s three audiences.
Abstract
The rite cycles, huí by huí, through opening hymns invoking the cosmogonic content of each chapter of the Shēngshén jīng and closing dedications redirecting the regenerative qì of the nine huí toward the deceased. The closing passage (f. 16b–17a) dedicates the cumulative merit to all gūyōu 孤幽 (lonely wandering souls), the deliverance of the dead in the yīnfǔ 隂府 (yin court), and the salvific ascent of the named beneficiary. The closing rubric prescribes the sān wén jīng 三聞經 (three audience-recitations), the shī shōu jīng 師收經 (master’s closing of the scripture), the fùlú 復鑪, dismissal (báilíng cháocí 白靈朝辭), and the xiè shī 謝師 (thanksgiving to the master).
The catalog entry assigns the work to 明; following Lagerwey (Taoist Canon 2: 1003–1004), DZ 504 is in fact best understood as a SòngYuán Daoist development of the parallel kāishōu mechanism seen in the Jīnlù set (KR5b0186–KR5b0188), preserved through the Míng Zhèngtǒng dàozàng (1444).
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 504, entry by John Lagerwey).