Tàishàng dòngyuān sānmèi shénzhòu zhāi shífāng chànyí 太上洞淵三昧神咒齋十方懺儀
Liturgy of the Ten-Direction Confession in the Great-High Dòngyuān Three-Samādhi Spirit-Spell Fast
by 杜光庭 (刪定)
About the work
Third in Dù Guāngtíng’s Dòngyuān shénzhòu triad (cf. KR5b0228, KR5b0229); paired with KR5b0229 in a single fascicle (二儀同卷化八). Internal attribution: 廣成先生杜光庭刪定. The work supplies the shífāng chàn 十方懴 (ten-direction confession) for the Sānmèi shénzhòu fast — the comprehensive directional confession that supplements the chànxiè yí of KR5b0228.
Abstract
The rite proceeds direction by direction. Each section opens with “臣等謹爲齋主某甲等” (“Your servants respectfully on behalf of the fast-sponsor [named beneficiary]…”) declaring the rite to be a Dòngyuān Sānmèi shénzhòu great fast undertaken for the dispelling of calamity and the seeking of grace. The petitions are characteristic of the shénzhòu tradition: the dispatch of the Sīshā 殺鬼吏兵 (demon-slaying officers), the Dàfán tiānwáng 大梵天王 (the Great Brahmā kings — note the Indianised vocabulary), and the fǎzāilìshì 法災力士 (calamity-power knights), with the request that they sweep up the Gōuyíngzǐ děng túlǚ 勾盈子等徒侣 (the named ones of the demon-cohort, here including the Hàn-period nepotic demon Gōu Yíng 勾盈) and remove every variety of household evil. The dedicatory rhetoric (xiāoxiāng wúbìng zēngxù niánlíng 千殃蕩消増續年齡) is centred on health and longevity for the living rather than salvation of the dead, marking the work as a Daoist “long-life” fast in distinction to the Huánglù mortuary observances.
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 527, 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.
- Mollier, Christine. Une apocalypse taoïste du début du Vᵉ siècle. Paris: Collège de France, IHEC, 1990.