Dòngxuán dù língbǎo zìrán quànyí 洞玄度靈寶自然券儀
Liturgy of the Spontaneous-Tally Salvation Rite of the Dòngxuán Língbǎo
About the work
Short Língbǎo rite paired with the immediately following Dòngxuán língbǎo zìrán zhāiyí KR5b0226 under the rubric 二儀同卷化五 (“two liturgies in one fascicle, Huà 5”). The work is a quàn 券 ritual — the formal granting of a “spontaneous-tally” (zìrán quàn), a Daoist analogue of the contractual tally (fúquàn 符券) by which the initiate’s standing in the celestial bureaucracy is registered.
Abstract
The text opens after the gàozhāi 告齋 (announcement of the fast) has concluded. The celebrant faces east, offers three pinches of incense, claps the teeth three times, and recites the zhòuxiāng 呪香 (incense-spell): “Wúshàng sāntiān Xuányuánshǐ sānqì Tàishàng lǎojūn…” summoning the Sānwǔ gōngcáo 三五功曹, zuǒyòu guān shǐzhě 左右官使者, zuǒyòu pěngxiāng yìlóng qílì shìxiāng yùtóng 左右捧香驛龍騎吏侍香玉童, and the standard formal company of celestial attendants. The quàn itself is then granted to the named beneficiary, who thereby gains entry into the zìrán 自然 (spontaneous) cosmic order — i.e. is formally enrolled among the saved. Per Schipper & Verellen (Taoist Canon 1: 569, John Lagerwey, DZ 522), the work preserves an archaic Língbǎo formulary and is plausibly Six-Dynasties in origin, transmitted 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: 569 (DZ 522, entry by John Lagerwey).
- Bokenkamp, Stephen R. Early Daoist Scriptures. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997 — for the zì-rán doctrine of the early Língbǎo corpus.