Yùlù dàzhāi dìsānrì wǔcháo yí 玉籙大齋第三日午朝儀
Noon-Audience Liturgy of the Third Day of the Great Jade-Register Fast
About the work
Last of the eight-part Yùlù dàzhāi programme (DZ 505 a–h). The noon audience of day 3 is the final regular audience of the fast; the closing wǎncháo function is performed not by a parallel wǎncháo yí but by the dedicated jìyōu pànhú 濟幽判斛 salvation rite that follows in DZ 506 (KR5b0209). Thus the three-day, nine-audience programme is structurally 3 + 3 + 2 ordinary audiences plus one specialised closing salvation, totalling nine offices.
Abstract
The noon rite of day 3 carries the culminating dedication: the merit of the preceding eight audiences is brought to a focus on the Dōngjí Qīngxuán shàngdì 東極青玄上帝 and the Tàiyī jiùkǔ tiānzūn 太乙救苦天尊, the salvific deities who will receive the deceased in the eastern paradise. The body of the fascicle includes the jiǔzhuǎn shēngshén 九轉生神 (nine-fold regeneration of the spirit), the tōujiǎn 投簡 (tablet-deposit) addressed to the celestial zhēngyīn 徵引 (summoners), and the kāimén 開門 (opening of the celestial gates) by which the released souls ascend. The final huíxiàng anticipates the immediately following jìyōu pànhú rite, in which the salvific deliverance is concretely effected.
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).