Tàishàng dòngyuān sānmèi shénzhòu zhāi qīngdàn xíngdào yí 太上洞淵三昧神咒齋清旦行道儀
Dawn-Cultivation Liturgy of the Great-High Dòngyuān Three-Samādhi Spirit-Spell Fast
by 杜光庭 (刪定)
About the work
Second of Dù Guāngtíng’s three Dòngyuān shénzhòu liturgies (cf. KR5b0228, KR5b0230). The opening rubric specifies “the dawn-cultivation rite of the Tàishàng Dòngyuān Sānmèi Shénzhòu Fast (the noon and evening rites in the original are missing)” — i.e. only the dawn rite survives; the noon and evening rites of the cycle have been lost. The fascicle is paired with KR5b0230 under the rubric 二儀同卷化八 (“two liturgies in one fascicle, Huà 8”). The internal attribution again gives 廣成先生杜光庭刪定 (Guǎngchéngxiānshēng Dù Guāngtíng, collated and fixed).
Abstract
The work gives the dawn audience proper to the Sānmèi shénzhòu zhāi. The celebrants stand in formation before the xuánshī 玄師 (“Mysterious Master” — i.e. the master-presiding altar) and chant the chàngdào 唱道 declaration; the Huáxià zàn hymn is sung in procession; the rùhùzhòu 入戸呪 is recited; the five-directional incense is offered, beginning with the dōngfāng 東方 (east). The dawn position of the rite within the day’s three audiences is consistent with the older Língbǎo zhāi schema preserved in Lù Xiūjìng (cf. KR5b0227), confirming that Dù’s “shānd dìng” preserved the structural backbone of the older transmission.
Per Schipper & Verellen (Taoist Canon 2: 1024, John Lagerwey, DZ 526), the loss of the noon and evening rites is already noted in the Zhèngtǒng dàozàng recension.
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: 1024 (DZ 526, 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.