Tàishàng língbǎo yùguì míngzhēn dàzhāi yángōng yí 太上靈寶玉匱明真大齋言功儀
Liturgy of the Declaration of Merit for the Great Fast of the Great-High Língbǎo Jade-Casket Luminous-Perfected
by 杜光庭 (修)
About the work
Third and concluding member of Dù Guāngtíng’s Yùguì míngzhēn trilogy (cf. KR5b0222, KR5b0223); explicitly numbered huà 4 (化四) in the source rubric, with attribution 廣成先生杜光庭修. The yángōng 言功 (“declaration of accomplished merit”) is the closing component of any major Daoist zhāi: at its conclusion the celebrant formally enumerates the meritorious acts performed, presents them to the responsible celestial bureaucracy, and seeks confirmation of their efficacy.
Abstract
The rite opens with the celebrants ascending the altar in formal procession, the rùhùzhòu 入戸呪 (entrance spell) recited, the five-directional incense offered (beginning with the běifāng 北方 = north), and incense offered separately at the dòngàn 洞案 (cavernous altar) with the shàngxiāngzhòu 上香呪 (incense-offering spell). The standard preparatory sequence — lǐshī cúnniàn 禮師存念, the wèilíngzhòu 衞靈呪, twenty-four strokes of the fǎgǔ, fālú (firing of the censer) — is then followed by the summoning of the body’s Sānwǔ gōngcáo, zuǒyòu guān shǐzhě, and the dispatch of these to summon the local tǔdì lǐyù zhēnguān zhèngshén 土地里域眞官正神. The body of the rite is the actual yángōng declaration: a structured enumeration of the rituals performed in the preceding fast, presented under the cosmic seal of the Daoist Yuánshǐ tiānzūn. Per Schipper & Verellen (Taoist Canon 2: 1083, John Lagerwey, DZ 521), Dù’s yángōng preserves the most fully developed late-Táng form of this closing rite.
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: 1083 (DZ 521, entry by John Lagerwey).
- Verellen, Franciscus. Du Guangting (850–933): Taoïste de cour à la fin de la Chine médiévale. Paris: Collège de France, IHEC, 1989.