Yùlù dàzhāi dìyīrì wǎncháo yí 玉籙大齋第一日晚朝儀
Evening-Audience Liturgy of the First Day of the Great Jade-Register Fast
About the work
Third of the eight-part Yùlù dàzhāi programme (DZ 505 a–h), closing the first day of the three-day fast. The evening audience completes the sānyuán 三元 (three-prime) day-cycle by addressing the xiàyuán 下元 (lower prime), the descending dusk-axis associated in Yùlù theology with the descent of the salvific gods into the yīnfǔ 隂府 (yin court) to gather the deceased.
Abstract
The evening rite follows the morning–noon pattern (fālú, declaration of rank, three incense-offerings) but its dedicatory hymns are oriented toward the deliverance of the dead rather than imperial longevity: the jiǔyōu 九幽 (nine dark hells) are invoked by name, and the huíxiàng directs the day’s accumulated merit to the gūyōu 孤幽 (lonely wandering souls) and the named beneficiaries. The evening close also rehearses the structure of the dawn (sùqǐ 宿啟) opening, since in Daoist diurnal cosmology the xiàyuán of one day prepares the shàngyuán 上元 of the next.
Per Schipper & Verellen (Taoist Canon 2: 1004–1006, John Lagerwey, DZ 505), this wǎncháo element is the structurally crucial moment at which the Yùlù programme — directed at posthumous deliverance — diverges most sharply from its imperial-longevity Jīnlù counterpart.
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: 1004–1006 (DZ 505, entry by John Lagerwey).