Língbǎo wǔjīng tígāng 靈寶五經提綱
Compendium of the Five Língbǎo Scriptures
About the work
First member of a three-text fascicle (三經同卷被一 = “three scriptures in one fascicle, Bèi 1”), bundling KR5b0232, KR5b0233, and KR5b0234 in DZ 529–531. The work is a short tígāng 提綱 (“compendium”; literally “lifting the headrope of the net”) of the Wǔjīng 五經, the five core Língbǎo scriptures. The catalog assigns the work to the twelfth or thirteenth century.
Abstract
The opening rubric is unusual: Fūzuò fǎshì 敷座法事 — “setting out the seats; ritual matters” — followed by an invocation of the Dàshèng wénjīng wùdào tiānzūn 大聖聞經悟道天尊 (the Great Sage Heavenly Worthy Who Awakens to the Way through Hearing the Scriptures). A four-line opening verse summarises the work’s purpose: “The Most-High subtle words rest in the Five Scriptures; / the Five Scriptures hang in the world like cinnabar and azurite. / Earnestly attempt to expound them anew, / thereby releasing departed souls from the night-bound gate.” (太上微言在五經 / 五經垂世若丹青 / 丁寧試爲重宣演 / 解脫亡靈出夜扄). The body of the work treats each of the five canonical Língbǎo scriptures in turn, summarising the doctrinal content and ritual application of each for the salvation of the dead. The liúzōng 流宗 — release of the deceased souls — is the explicit organising motif, indicating that the work was composed for mortuary use within the Huánglù fast.
Per Schipper & Verellen (Taoist Canon 2: 1012, John Lagerwey, DZ 529), the Wǔjīng tígāng is a late-Sòng or Yuán compendium drawing on the established Língbǎo canon for service within the contemporary mortuary liturgical apparatus.
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: 1012 (DZ 529, entry by John Lagerwey).