Língbǎo bànjǐng zhāiyí 靈寶半景齋儀
Liturgy of the Half-Daylight Língbǎo Fast
About the work
A short Língbǎo fast-rite numbered huà 1 (化一) in the Dòngxuán mortuary-liturgy series of the Dàozàng (immediately following the chǎng sequence ending at KR5b0219). The internal subtitle is glossed by an interlinear note: 自旦至午謂之半景 (“from dawn to noon, this is called the half-daylight”). The work is therefore a single-day, morning-only Língbǎo zhāi, designed for a half-day observance rather than the full multi-day programmes of DZ 507–508.
Abstract
The text presents a single full morning audience (qīngdàn dìyī cháo 清旦第一朝) with the canonical Língbǎo sequence: opening declaration of intent (ménqǐbái 門啓白), chàngdào 昌道, Huáxià zàn hymn leading the procession to the dìhù 地戸 (earth-gate), individual lǐshī cúnniàn 禮師存念 (reverences and visualisations), wèilíng shénzhòu 衞靈神呪 (protective deity spell), twenty-four strokes of the fǎgǔ, fālú (firing of the censer), qǐngchēng fǎwèi with the standard summoning of the Wúshàng sāntiān Xuányuánshǐ sānqì Tàishàng lǎojūn, and the dispatch of the body’s Sānwǔ gōngcáo 三五功曹, zuǒyòu guān shǐzhě 左右官使者, etc. The remainder follows the standard morning zhuǎnjīng. The terseness of the work and its archaic vocabulary (the Wúshàng sāntiān formula, the Yìlóng qílì 驛龍騎吏 attendants) suggest a pre-Sòng origin, consistent with the catalog’s assignment to 唐.
Per Schipper & Verellen (Taoist Canon 1: 568–569, John Lagerwey, DZ 517), the work is a Táng-period abbreviated Língbǎo zhāi preserved through the Míng canon.
Translations and research
- Schipper, Kristofer, and Franciscus Verellen, eds. The Taoist Canon: A Historical Companion to the Daozang. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004. 1: 568–569 (DZ 517, entry by John Lagerwey).